Full report LR.pdf - DLIST Benguela

NACOMA Project – Preparation PhaseAnalysis of the Institutional Capacity in the Namib Coast Regional Councils5.3 CAPACITY BUILDING – TOWARD UNFOLDING THE ‘BIG PICTURE’It is widely accepted that there is a dearth of skills in Regional Councils. This isparticularly true in terms of environmental planning and management capacity. Withoutthis capacity and little more than a rudimentary knowledge of the available naturalresources it is very difficult for these authorities to make provision for sustainabledevelopment. These shortcomings pose serious challenges in terms of the conservationand development mandate of the Regional Councils, in effecting natural resource-baseddevelopment and in curbing the continued degradation of sensitive areas.Capacity building is the obvious intervention for creating and enhancing planning andmanagement of the regions’ distinct environments. The tacit assumption is that basicunderstanding and knowledge of biodiversity and conservation fundamentals will enableRegional Councils and relevant stakeholders (particularly communities) to takeadvantage of the natural resource base while reducing over-exploitation of resources anddegradation of their fragile natural resources at the same time.Limited knowledge and planning capacity is the first and foremost obstacle in effectivecontrol and management over the coastal regions’ sensitive and diverse biodiversityassets. But the underlying problem is much wider. It is well known that the constructiveengagement of local communities as the primary custodians of their natural resources iscritical for conservation to be widely understood and practiced on ground level. Toengage those primary custodians one can make use of representative structures such asthe DCC’s, RDCC’s, etc. Yet, while partnerships between government, private sector andlocal communities have been constantly advocated and encouraged, the reality is thatlimited benefit sharing has resulted thus far and local communities have remained on theperiphery of development. This has led to scepticism regarding the relevance andessence of conservation.Prevailing inequities provide pertinent challenges to Regional Councils and centralgovernment as it is difficult to convince poor people to refrain from plundering naturalresources, or from pursuing activities that are not necessarily friendly to conservation. Areal-life case is a proposed black empowerment agricultural project situated along theOrange River – right in the corridor that would join the Sperrgebiet and the GreaterGariep TFCA 29 . Yet, it is difficult to convince people who have not benefited for acentury from the destructive mining in the area that their Orange River based agriculturedevelopment is ‘bad’. Thus the critical question might still be posed: Does effectivecapacity building guarantee positive outcomes, namely equitable development and propercontrol and management of own natural resources? Posing the question another way,29 A TFCA refers to a cross-border region whose different component areas have different forms ofconservation status such as national parks, private game reserves, communal natural resource managementareas and even hunting concession areas. The proposed Greater Gariep TFCA straddles the South Africanand Namibian borders while the Skeleton Coast/Iona Park TFP straddles the Namibian and Angolanborders. For more information, see www.dlist.org.29