Socio-economics

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Around 13,000 people live in the seven conservancies within Mudumu Landscape. Residents of the Landscape engage in a variety of livelihood activities including livestock herding, crop production and natural resource use. Many practise subsistence agriculture, making their living on the banks of the Zambezi, Kwando, Linyati and Chobe Rivers, with some cash cropping. Women provide much of the labour involved in resource utilisation. Natural resources such as trees, wild fruits, fish, water lilies, reeds and grasses are utilised for food, grazing, shelter, fuel and farming implements. There is some honey production through bee-keeping activities supported by the Department of Forestry in Katima Mulilo. Sustainable harvesting of Devil's claw provides income to many families in the landscape.

Sifwe and Thimbukushu are the main languages spoken in the Mudumu Landscape area.

According to the 2012 Namibia Labour Force Survey, unemployment in the Zambezi Region is 28.0%. Zambezi has 102 schools with a total of 39,808 pupils.

Tourism is becoming an increasingly important activity in the region, providing employment opportunities as well as promoting conservation. Conservancy enterprises such as community campsites help draw tourists to the Landcsape and provide income and employment. Tourism provides a variety of economic opportunities. Joint-venture enterprises, such as Camp Kwando, provide significant income, employment, training and other benefits. The success of Namibia's CBNRM (Community Based Natural Resource Management) programme is evident. For example, the combined income of the seven conservancies in the landscape in 2013 exceeded N$16 million. This is generated through a combination of consumptive and non-consumptive means: key sources of income are trophy hunting and joint venture tourism, with additional income earned through a range of indigenous natural products, crafts and other ventures. All of these activities are dependent on the long-term sustainable utilisation of the landscape's natural resources.

Crocodile farming is another planned activity, with a facility currently being constructed at Kongola.

Relevant literature

  • "The person with the idea for the campsite is a hero." Institutional arrangements and livelihood change regarding community-owned tourism enterprises in Namibia (Case studies from Caprivi and Kavango Regions)

     Murphy, C. and Halstead, L. 2003. "The person with the idea for the campsite is a hero." Institutional arrangements and livelihood change regarding community-owned tourism enterprises in Namibia (Case studies from Caprivi and Kavango Regions). Research Discussion Paper No 61, Directorate of Environmental Affairs, Ministry of Environment and Tourism, Namibia

    The Namibian CBNRM programme is based on the premise that communities will receive direct benefits through the protection and sustainable use of common property natural resources. Workshop data reveals that people responsible for the establishment and management of the COT enterprises are making the link between benefits from the enterprises and improved natural resource management. This paper focuses on understanding the institutional aspects of the enterprises and how these institutions have shaped the impact of the enterprises on people's livelihoods.
  • A Preliminary Economic Assessment of the Contribution of Fishing Lodges in the Caprivi Region to the Local Economy

    2010. A Preliminary Economic Assessment of the Contribution of Fishing Lodges in the Caprivi Region to the Local Economy.

    A survey was carried out in 2009 in the Caprivi region of Namibia to establish the economic benefits that fishing lodges bring to local communities and the local economy. Five fishing lodges were surveyed and estimates for costs, revenues and fish catch were determined. These estimates were in turn used to inform an economic model designed to provide estimates for the net benefits of the operations.
  • A Preliminary Economic Assessment of the Contribution of Fishing Lodges in the Caprivi Region to the Local Economy, April 2010

    Sweeney, L., Baker, A., Thaniseb, A., Brown, C., Tweddle, D., Hay, C. and van der Waal, B. 2010. A Preliminary Economic Assessment of the Contribution of Fishing Lodges in the Caprivi Region to the Local Economy, April 2010. Integrated co-management of the Zambezi/Chobe River Fisheries Resources Project. Technical Report no. MFMR/NNF/WWF/Phase II/1

    A survey was carried out in 2009 in the Caprivi region of Namibia to establish the economic benefits that fishing lodges bring to local communities and the local economy. Five fishing lodges were surveyed and estimates for costs, revenues and fish catch were determined. These estimates were in turn used to inform an economic model designed to provide estimates for the net benefits of the operations. The model itself was derived from an economic model designed by Barnes (2006), which was used to assess the economic impact of tourist lodges more generally in the Caprivi region. In addition to the quantitative survey, a qualitative survey was carried out to assess the current working relationships between lodges and local communities. The results of the quantitative survey indicate that on average fish lodges generate around N$1.80 million total financial benefit per lodge per annum (N$852,000 net economic benefit), equating to N$1,479 per kg of fish caught and not released or N$1,563 per tourist per annum. It is estimated that N$1.11 million of this total is generated on average in the form of wages, with N$1.06 million wages directly paid to members of the local community. This compares very favourably with the income generated from the "nextbest" activity for the area, local fishing, which was estimated to generate (for the equivalent number of employees) a maximum of N$604,000 total financial benefit per annum (N$412,000 net economic benefit) from fish sales. This equates to revenue of N$11 per kg of fish, or less than 1% of the value of the fish caught and not released with fish lodges.
  • Crafty women: The livelihood impact of craft income in Caprivi

     Suich, H. and Murphy, C. 2002. Crafty women: The livelihood impact of craft income in Caprivi. Research Discussion Paper No 48, Directorate of Environmental Affairs, Ministry of Environment and Tourism, Namibia

    This paper analyses the Rossing Foundation craft purchase data paid out to individual crafters in Caprivi between June 1998 and the end of 2001 and reviews the livelihood impact of this money. The most important crafts in this commercialisation have been woven products (particularly open palm baskets, but also other woven items and grass and reed mats), wood carvings and clay pots. The majority of the craft makers in the region live in rural areas, and while wood carving appears to be the domain of men, weaving and pottery is carried out almost exclusively by women.
  • Economic Analysis of Land Use Policies for Livestock, Wildlife and Disease Management in Caprivi, Namibia, with Potential Wider Implications for Regional Transfrontier Conservation Areas

    Barnes, J.I. 2013. Economic Analysis of Land Use Policies for Livestock, Wildlife and Disease Management in Caprivi, Namibia, with Potential Wider Implications for Regional Transfrontier Conservation Areas. Technical Report to the Wildlife Conservation Society’s AHEAD Program and the World Wildlife Fund

    Standard cost-benefit analysis was applied to several future policy options for land use and animal disease management in Caprivi, Namibia. Emphasis was placed on the livestock-wildlife interface and Caprivi's role as central to the Kavango Zambezi (KAZA) transfrontier conservation area (TFCA). Empirically-based enterprise models measuring private and economic values for livestock and wildlife sectors in Caprivi were used to measure returns to investment for policy options regarding animal disease management and land use allocation. Options included commodity-based trade (CBT) and veterinary control fencing approaches to animal disease management. CBT is a production and marketing approach, which assures product safety regardless of the disease status of the area of origin and therefore permits adaptation of conventional (geographically-based) animal disease control measures. The basic measure of economic efficiency was incremental change in net national income at opportunity cost. Local livelihood contributions were also measured.
  • Faites vos jeux! Interests and socio-economic development in the Caprivi Region from a historical perspective

     Zeller, W. 2000. Faites vos jeux! Interests and socio-economic development in the Caprivi Region from a historical perspective

  • Fish and livelihoods: Fisheries on the eastern floodplains, Caprivi

    Purvis, J. 2002. Fish and livelihoods: Fisheries on the eastern floodplains, Caprivi. Research Discussion Paper No 52, Directorate of Environmental Affairs, Ministry of Environment and Tourism, Namibia

    The paper outlines the production system on the eastern floodplains in the Caprivi paying special attention to the fishing activities. Although there are already some indications that the resource may be overfished, this paper suggests that the situation could become much worse if the current trends continue - continued weakening of the influence of the traditional management systems; increasing availability of fishing inputs; market demand and prices for fish remain strong; and worsening problems in the agricultural sector (e.g. withdrawal of government subsidies for certain inputs, increasing incidence of wildlife/human conflicts, marketing problems). This paper calls for, among other things, further work to investigate the options and feasibility of developing some type of co-management regime (involving fisherfolk, government and other stakeholders in the management of the fishery) to ensure that the fishery is managed sustainably and continues to play an important role in the floodplain livelihood system.
  • Fish Ranching Programme in Caprivi Region

     Murphy, C. and Lilungwe, P. 2012. Fish Ranching Programme in Caprivi Region. Integrated co-management of the Zambezi/Chobe River Fisheries Resources Project. Technical Report no. MFMR/NNF/WWF/Phase II/5

    The Caprivi Region is well supplied with natural pans and ponds and has numerous old "borrow pits" left from past road construction activities. This makes the Region suited to fish ranching that uses ponds stocked with fingerling to grow larger fish. Such ponds can be either ephemeral, where fish need to be stocked annually and harvested a few months later when the ponds start to dry out, or semi-permanent, where stocking can be less frequent provided naturally produced fingerlings are left in the ponds when harvesting of the larger fish takes place. From 2007, NGOs assisted local people to develop fish ranching activities at 30 sites in Caprivi. This is the only project of this nature in Namibia and has the distinct advantage over fish farming is that inputs are very low (mainly labour to clear ponds of unwanted plants and fish species, feeding with any garden or food waste and harvesting). The existing fish ranching initiative is viable. Annual records from half of the existing ponds show that the commercial value of fish harvested would be about a quarter of a million Namibian Dollars, if the fish had been sold at the Katima Market. As most of the harvest from the fish ranching was consumed locally, this is an amount that people potentially saved in not having to buy food to eat. As Mr Tsukhani from Machita said, "If the fish ranching project continues, our sons will eat". An estimated sales figure from the actual fish sold at all the fish ranching sites in one year was about N$ 40 000. Some of this fish sales income was reinvested in the fish ranching business through the purchase of fishing equipment (e.g. hooks were bought at Lyanzoka) or fish food (e.g. bran at Machita). Other income was invested in education. At Machita village, the fish pond committee opened a Nampost account with the N$ 1 500 they earned from selling big fish and also fingerlings to a neighbour. Most of this fish ranching income (N$ 1 000) was spent on school funds and uniforms for 22 orphans. The price for fish in Caprivi is high (N$ 10/kg at source or N$ 20/kg Katima Market) and market forces have the potential to provide the incentive for continued management of fish ranching at the community level.
  • Legislation and Policies relating to Protected Areas, Wildlife Conservation, and Community Rights to Natural Resources in countries being partner in the Kavango Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area

    Jones, B.T.B. 2008. Legislation and Policies relating to Protected Areas, Wildlife Conservation, and Community Rights to Natural Resources in countries being partner in the Kavango Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area. Final Report

    This report has been commissioned in order to provide a foundation for the Kavango-Zambezi (KAZA) Transfrontier Conservation Area (TFCA) countries to consider policy and legal harmonisation regarding the management of natural resources. The KAZA participating countries are Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
  • Livelihood strategies of rural households in Caprivi: Implications for conservancies and natural resource management

    Ashley, C. and LaFranchi, C. 1997. Livelihood strategies of rural households in Caprivi: Implications for conservancies and natural resource management. Research Discussion Paper No 20, Directorate of Environmental Affairs, Ministry of Environment and Tourism

    This paper examines how rural Caprivians secure their livelihoods, in order to understand how wildlife and other community based natural resource management (CBNRM) initiatives can 'fit in' to current activities and the rural economy. It considers the wide range of resource uses and livelihood strategies employed by rural households: crop production, livestock, wage employment and cash remittances, harvesting of trees, plants and river resources, and wildlife/tourism enterprises. It then assesses how different households combine these various activities, and identifies the main factors affecting their options and choices. Wildlife and other community based natural resource management (CBNRM) initiatives can 'fit in' to current activities and the rural economy. The livelihoods and priorities of different types of households are assessed, and the many positive and negative impacts of CBNRM initiatives identified. The aim is to understand wildlife and CBNRM from householders' perspectives, and recommend how conservancies, and other natural resource management initiatives can be implemented in ways that maximise the positive impacts to rural livelihoods and minimise the negative impacts.
  • Living with wildlife – the story of Mudumu North Complex

    Living with wildlife – the story of Mudumu North Complex. NACSO. 20 pp.

    Profile booklet providing information on Mudumu North Complex with sections on resources and attractions, livelihoods and development, managing natural resources, Kwandu conservancy, Mashi conservancy, Mayuni conservancy, Sobbe conservancy, community forestry, the Kyaramacan association, the national parks, challenges, opportunities and the future.
  • Making community-based tourism work: An assessment of factors contributing to successful community-owned tourism development in Caprivi, Namibia

     Halstead, L. 2003. Making community-based tourism work: An assessment of factors contributing to successful community-owned tourism development in Caprivi, Namibia. Research Discussion Paper No 60, Directorate of Environmental Affairs, Ministry of Environment and Tourism, Namibia

    This study investigates why many community-based tourism enterprises in Namibia have experienced difficulties in remaining operational or maintaining standards necessary for attracting tourists, while others have achieved various levels of success.
  • Mashi Craft Market - Crafts and Livelihoods in Caprivi

    Murphy, C. and Suich, H. 2003. Mashi Craft Market - Crafts and Livelihoods in Caprivi. Research Discussion Paper No 57, Directorate of Environmental Affairs, Ministry of Environment and Tourism, Namibia

    Integrated Rural Development and Nature Conservation (IRDNC) works with crafters mainly from western East Caprivi, near Kongola, and West Caprivi and supports the Mashi Craft Market (MCM). This paper analyses the Mashi Craft Market purchase and sales data for individual crafters in Caprivi over three years, from 1999 to 2001, and reviews the livelihood impact of this money.
  • People, plants and landscapes: A review and recommendations for further integration of high value plant species (HVPS) into Community Ecosystem Management in Namibia

    Cunningham, A.B. 2007. People, plants and landscapes: A review and recommendations for further integration of high value plant species (HVPS) into Community Ecosystem Management in Namibia.

    This report, written for the Integrated Community Ecosystem Management (ICEMA)/French Fund for Global Environment (FFEM) project, reviews and makes recommendations for further integration of high value plant species (HVPS) into Community Ecosystem Management in Namibia. As the driest country in sub-equatorial Africa, with an economy based largely on its natural resource assets (farming, mining, fishing and tourism focused on wildlife), Namibia faces major challenges. With policy support, it can also grasp good opportunities related to high value plant species. A focus on high value plant species is timely.
  • Plant resources & monitoring. Follow up report and recommendations on further integration of high value plant species into Community Ecosystem Management in Namibia

    Cunningham, AB. 2008. Plant resources & monitoring. Follow up report and recommendations on further integration of high value plant species into Community Ecosystem Management in Namibia. A report for the Integrated Community Ecosystem Management (ICEMA)/French Fund for Global Environment (FFEM) Project

  • Profits, equity, growth and sustainability - The potential role of wildlife enterprises in Caprivi and other communal areas of Namibia

    Ashley, C., Barnes, J. and Healy, T. 1994. Profits, equity, growth and sustainability - The potential role of wildlife enterprises in Caprivi and other communal areas of Namibia. Research Discussion Paper No 02, Directorate of Environmental Affairs, Ministry of Environment and Tourism, Namibia

    Namibia is endowed with valuable wildlife resources. It already earns some economic benefit from them, mainly through tourism which is one of the fastest growing industries in Namibiarnand worldwide. However, at present, these earnings are below potential, particularly in communal areas where economic incentives for sustainable management have been stifled. As a result, the bulk of economic benefits of wildlife accrue to private enterprise and the government, with residents of communal areas largely excluded. Emerging economic data and comparisons with data from Botswana indicate that wildlife utilisation does have potential to address economic priorities in Namibia: it could provide significant economic and financial returns in communal areas such as Caprivi. With improved legal rights and skills for communities to manage and earn income from wildlife, it could be a valuable and significant complement to livestock keeping.
  • Results of a socio-ecological survey of the West Caprivi Strip, Namibia: A strategic community-based environment and development plan

     Brown, C.J. and Jones, B.T.B. (ed.)1994. Results of a socio-ecological survey of the West Caprivi Strip, Namibia: A strategic community-based environment and development plan. Directorate of Environmental Affairs, Ministry of Wildlife, Conservation and Tourism, Namibia

    Results of a socio-ecological survey of the West Caprivi Strip, Namibia: A strategic community-based environment and development plan.
  • The conflict continues: Human wildlife conflict and livelihoods in Caprivi

    Mulonga, S., Suich, H. and Murphy, C. 2003. The conflict continues: Human wildlife conflict and livelihoods in Caprivi. Research Discussion Paper No 59, Directorate of Environmental Affairs, Ministry of Environment and Tourism, Namibia

    The Caprivi Region is one region in Namibia where the community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) programme has achieved considerable success, in terms of capacity building and natural resource management. However, the conflict between people and wildlife is perceived by local residents to have worsened since the advent of the CBNRM programme. This paper forms part of the WILD Project research, which is a Ministry of Environment and Tourism (MET) participatory research project investigating the change that the Namibian CBNRM programme has brought to people\'s livelihoods.
  • The ecological, social & economic implications of private game parks & private nature reserves in Namibia

    The ecological, social & economic implications of private game parks & private nature reserves in Namibia

    The Ministry of Environment & Tourism commissioned this study into the ecological, social, and economic implications of private game parks and nature reserves in Namibia. The Ministry engaged the services of an independent team of researchers consisting of an ecologist, an economist and a lawyer.
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  • Wild food: Use of natural resources for food in eastern Caprivi

    Mulonga, S. 2003. Wild food: Use of natural resources for food in eastern Caprivi. Research Discussion Paper No 62, Directorate of Environmental Affairs, Ministry of Environment and Tourism, Namibia

    The research was conducted in Salambala and Mayuni Conservancy and at Linyanti, which is a non-conservancy area. The main objective of the study was to look at the use of wild food resources by people as a livelihood activity in rural areas in Caprivi and the factors influencing the use of these resources.