Linking Women’s Participation and Benefits within the Namibian Community Based Natural Resource Management Program

Selma Lendelvo,Helen Suich,Faith Munyebvu

doi:10.5539/jsd.v5n12p27

Abstract

Women are important resource users and managers and their participation in community based natural resource management activities can create a platform for their empowerment and enhance their role in decision-making, including benefit sharing. The purpose of this paper is to examine the levels of participation of women in activities Namibia’s communal area conservancies and the benefits they receive. The study was carried out in four conservancies in Namibia. It reveals that women participate in diverse activities. With respect to conservancies, women’s participation appears to be highest in conservancy activities where their satisfaction levels with conservancy benefits are highest. Further, women from older and less populated conservancies prioritize conservancy activities above general community engagements. Benefits to women were conservancy-specific, although game meat emerged as a prominent benefit to all conservancies. Allowing women to actively participate in initiatives that are related to their traditional roles is essential in enhancing women’s participation and improved benefits, and is desired by women in all of the conservancies studied.

Highlights

Community-based conservation is regarded as a practical approach to stemming biodiversity loss in developing countries (Mehta & Kellert, 1998; Munthali, 2007)
The project was initiated by a non-government organization (NGO) facilitating conservancy activities, and resulted in an historic agreement made in 2010 between the Kunene Commiphora Conservancy Association (Orupembe and four other conservancies) and a South African company, to buy commercially harvested Commiphora resin
The strength of this research has been in examining the participation of women in non-domestic activities in their communities, focusing on their role in conservancy activities

Summary

Introduction

Community-based conservation is regarded as a practical approach to stemming biodiversity loss in developing countries (Mehta & Kellert, 1998; Munthali, 2007). The community based natural resource management (CBNRM) program in Namibia is one such example, where the sustainable use and conservation of biodiversity aims to allow local communities to derive direct benefits from their wildlife management efforts (Paterson et al, 2008). These benefits, (e.g. income, employment, skills, etc.) are most often derived from tourism activities (e.g. photographic tourism and/or trophy hunting), but can be derived from other activities including hunting for own use, etc. This is because participation is expected to generate quality and durable decisions (Reed, 2008), while local stakeholders are assumed to be more likely to maintain their participation if they are assured that their input in collective efforts will provide them with benefits (Nuggehalli & Prokopy, 2009)

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Discussion

Conclusion