Kunene Regional Conservation Assessment
Predominately the Damara and smaller numbers of Himba and Herrero survive mostly on herds of goats and small family gardens in the 28 million acre Kunene Region in northwestern Namibia. The deserts of the Kunene represent one of the last true wildernesses remaining in southern Africa. This very distinctive desert ecoregion is home to the black rhino, the famed desert elephants, as well as, lion, cheetah, leopard, hyena, mountain zebra, giraffe, springbok, oryx and kudu.
The Namibian government, working with local traditional authorities and conservancy leaders, is creating a new national park in the Kunene to conserve this vast wilderness and its wildlife, while also linking the Skeleton Coast and Etosha National Park. Thereby, facilitating wildlife migrations and creating one of the largest conservation area complexes in the world.
While state lands that will eventually form the park comprise a large area, they do not effectively connect the Skeleton Coast with Etosha. The surrounding communal conservancy lands – must also support the protective area system if the park is to be viable and serve as an effective corridor.
Even though current land-use plans throughout the Kunene are nonexistent or rudimentary in nature, the conservancies have put fortrh great effort and made progress in conserving their wildlife. To best facilitate a long-term viable Kunene region, a multi-level conservation strategy is needed to coordinate the various management plans associated with the sorted land components.
Since 1998 Round River staff has developed strong relations with local organizations, government and the local tribal people of the Kunene. In 2006 Round River entered into agreements with the Namibia Minister of Environment and Tourism, the Kunene Regional Governor and the Paramount Chief of the Damara People, to support the proposed park by contributing to the long-term conservation of regional biodiversity. Towards this end, our project encompasses two interrelated objectives.
Objective One is to identify and protect important wilderness areas. The primary targets associated with this objective involve land-mass, and include those areas identified as important key wilderness habitat, regional connectivity, and conflict reduction. Objective Two is to identify and protect key species. This objective is associated with specific land use activities/impacts related to individual species, primary the rhino, lion, elephant, and mountain zebra.
In 2008, Round River completed the Kunene Regional Ecological Analysis (KREA), to identify the ecological values across the region. While assisting the new park designation the KREA was also accepted by the traditional conservancy leaders to provide input into their land management plans. In 2008 we began mapping and developing land-use plans with the conservancies of the Kunene. 2009 presents an exciting opportunity to continue the development of these plans.
Download 2008 KREA Reports:
