Did you know that Namibia is the first country in Africa to incorporate environmental protection in its constitution?

Article 95 of Namibia’s Constitution has allowed for the formation of several policies that enable rural communal communities to directly benefit from natural resources, one of them being the National Policy on Community Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM).

In Namibia and in most parts of Southern Africa, wildlife does not only serve an ecological purpose, but it also offers a crucial supplementary nutritional and economic gain to rural communities. Through initiatives, such as Ecotourism and Wildlife Credits, payments for ecosystem services have not only generated sustainable income but also give incentives to environmental custodians for protecting habitat and crucial wildlife corridors.

The European Union (EU) recently approved 2 grants to organisations working to improve governance in Namibia’s Community Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM) sector.

The Community Conservation Fund of Namibia (CCFN) was officially launched on 13 February 2020 by the Minister of Environment and Tourism, Hon. Pohamba Shifeta, in Windhoek, at the National Institute of Public Administration and Management (NIPAM).