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Namibia's community-based natural resource management programme: an unrecognized payments for ecosystem services scheme

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 September 2011

ROBIN NAIDOO ,
L. CHRIS WEAVER ,
MARIE DE LONGCAMP  and
PIERRE DU PLESSIS
ROBIN NAIDOO*
Affiliation:
WWF-US, 1250 24th Street NW, Washington, DC 20037, USA
L. CHRIS WEAVER
Affiliation:
WWF In Namibia, 19 Lossen Straat Ausspannplatz, Windhoek, Namibia
MARIE DE LONGCAMP
Affiliation:
WWF-US, 1250 24th Street NW, Washington, DC 20037, USA
PIERRE DU PLESSIS
Affiliation:
CRIAA SA-DC, 22 Johann Albrecht Street, PO Box 23778, Windhoek, Namibia
*
*Correspondence: Dr Robin Naidoo e-mail: robin.naidoo@wwfus.org
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Summary

Payments for ecosystem services (PES) programmes are widely recognized as novel and innovative mechanisms that seek to promote the conservation of biodiversity while simultaneously improving human livelihoods. A number of national-level PES programmes have made significant contributions to advancing knowledge of these mechanisms. Namibia's community-based natural resources management (CBNRM) programme effectively operates as one such large-scale PES programme, making it one of the world's longest-standing schemes. In this review, Namibia's CBNRM scheme is compared and contrasted with the formal definition of a PES programme, some of the outcomes that the programme has produced illustrated by examples, and the challenges that must still be faced identified. Most of the requirements for a PES programme are present in Namibia's CBNRM programme, and when it does not meet these criteria, it is not exceptional. Notwithstanding the increases in wildlife populations and financial benefits that have been associated with the programme, a major challenge going forward revolves around diversifying the number of services produced. Namibia's CBNRM programme has much to contribute to the design of large-scale PES schemes.

Keywords

Africabiodiversitycommunityconservationecosystem servicesfinancial benefitswildlife
Type
THEMATIC SECTION: Payments for Ecosystem Services in Conservation: Performance and Prospects
Information
Environmental Conservation , Volume 38 , Issue 4: Thematic section. Payments for Ecosystem Services in Conservation: Performance and Prospects , December 2011 , pp. 445 - 453
Copyright
Copyright © Foundation for Environmental Conservation 2011

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