The Protected Landscape Approach - Centre for Mediterranean ...

8. Pastoralists, conservation and livelihoods in East and Southern Africa
habitats that hold key resources. Thus it might be necessary in some years to move westwards
towards the desert but in others to move eastwards to the escarpment. It is important that access
options are kept open for the pastoralists of this region. Another key feature is the system of
negotiation and reciprocity that governs access to grazing and water. Although certain
resources might be deemed to be “owned” by a certain group of people, other people can gain
access in times of need through negotiation or through having helped the owners in the past.
Pastoralists and conservation in Kunene Region
In Kunene Region a number of conservation activities have impacted on (or have the potential
to impact on) pastoralist range management systems. Firstly the proclamation of a protected
area, the Skeleton Coast Park, along the Atlantic seaboard and stretching some distance inland,
has cut off areas that were available to pastoralists as emergency grazing. This experience made
local leaders wary of later attempts in the early 1990s to establish a “contractual park” in the
region. They were concerned that the proposed contractual park would lead to similar re -
strictions on residents’ access to key grazing areas and springs. Confusion over the distinction
between the word “boundary” and the word “fence” in translation during negotiations led to the
failure of local leaders to agree to the park.
Despite the spread and success of community-managed areas in the form of conservancies
across the Kunene Region, some conservationists have remained strong proponents of govern -
ment proclamation. A move to proclaim a “Contractual Peoples’ Park” was signalled in
September 2002 when the Namibian Cabinet approved a proposal for a feasibility study to take
place for the proclamation of an IUCN Category VI protected area. A Concept Plan was
developed that included a vision statement and a number of objectives and strategies for
achieving the vision. Although the concept plan paid homage to the need for community
involvement and benefit, the government would have controlled decision-making, with com -
munities being “consulted”. The vision and objectives reflected the conservation objectives of
the government and certain NGOs, but did not reflect the development objectives of local
people who were not involved in developing the plan. At this writing these plans are somewhat
in abeyance and government appears to be rethinking its approach.
The attempts to promote formal conservation in the Kunene Region of Namibia raise a
number of key issues for conservation policies and strategies. Conservation approaches that are
being applied rest very strongly on conventional western scientific approaches to land use
planning. Units of land are identified and designated for specific purposes according to a
formal written plan, based largely on conservation criteria and an assumption that land use does
not need to change over time. Thus the Skeleton Coast Park was proclaimed with the
assumption that the land was not owned or used by anyone. The proposals for contractual and
peoples’ parks are based on classic park management plan methodologies, and the objectives
and strategies are largely pre-determined by wildlife officials and biologists before any
community involvement. This approach represents a planning and management paradigm that
conflicts strongly with the pastoralist planning and management paradigm.
The likely impact on the mobile peoples of the Kunene Region of such approaches is that the
key features of their rangeland management strategies ( e.g., mobility, flexibility, reciprocity
and access to emergency grazing) are likely to be restricted. Boundaries (or “fences” in the
local language) that are drawn on the map according to conservation criteria will cut across the
existing “mind-maps” that people in these communities have of who owns what resources and
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