Livelihood activities in a Namibian wildlife conservancy: a case study of variation within a CBNRM programme

Approaches to community-based natural resource management tend to vary among programmes based on the needs and characteristics of the communities in which the programmes operate. Variation also exists within individual programmes, creating the potential for conflict if management does not recognize that these differences can indicate competing interests and needs. In this study we examine livelihood activities at the household level in a wildlife conservancy along the Kwando River in the Caprivi region of Namibia. We ask how people in the conservancy make their livelihoods and what differences exist between the conservancy’s riverside and inland populations. The study finds that the inland population, c. 20 km from the river on slightly heavier soils, engages in fewer livelihood activities and has greater food security than does the riverside population. We further establish that differences between the two populations are significant enough to indicate two distinct combinations of livelihood activities with different environmental interactions. These findings suggest that any management action taken by the conservancy will affect household livelihoods differently based on location and that these differences must be considered if the conservancy is to make a successful transition from a subsistence-based agricultural system to a wildlife-based economy.