Wild Landscapes
4 million hectares
Across Namibia’s communal conservancies, land has been designated as core wildlife zones. These areas boast a diverse range of habitats from forests to desert, savannas to escarpments; this land is home to a spectacular array of life. These areas are also home to critically endangered black rhino, desert dwelling elephants and lions to reptiles, plants and birds, many of which are endemic to Namibia.
Individually and collectively, these lands not only harbor unique species, but also support essential ecosystems services that are vital to our planet’s health. They play a crucial role in effectively expanding the land under conservation at a time when these ecosystems are facing significant threats.
Zonation is a critical part of conservancy management plans. Wildlife zones are categorized based on the level of disturbance allowed, ranging from exclusive areas with no human impact to zones that permit tourism and conservation hunting. Recognising these wildlife zones is crucial for reducing local environmental and social pressures.
Conservation organisations are working with conservancies to strengthen the protection of their core wildlife zones. This includes cataloguing the diverse life these areas support and assessing the opportunity costs to communities of setting this land aside for conservation rather than pursuing alternative land uses.
The Wild Landscapes initiative focuses on protecting habitats for biodiversity within these wildlife zones. In each conservancy, indicators for mammal, plant, and bird endemism and biodiversity are used to establish an overall diversity ranking, which is one factor in determining Wildlife Credits payment.
Through the Wildlife Credits contract, conservancy members commit to the protection of wildlife zones as established in their management plans. Verification of these commitments is conducted through various methods, including ground truthing, camera traps, satellite imagery, and in some areas eDNA analysis.
As the world works towards the goal of protecting 30% of the land by 2030, incentivizing and rewarding rural communities for their role in this quest is essential to its success. Wildlife Credits plays a key role, and Wild Landscapes is a timely and important conservation initiative.