Socio-economic context

By far the greatest part (~85 %) of the landscape lies on communal land, comprising the four conservancy areas of Okamatapati, Otjituuo, Ozonahi and African Wild Dog. There are also two commercial conservancies. The Waterberg Plateau Park comprises about 2 % of the landscape. The remaining 13 % of the landscape is farmland, mostly freehold.

The population in the Greater Waterberg landscape is estimated at 24,000 people, of which some 1,500 are associated with the commercial farms surrounding the Waterberg plateau, and the rest living in the four communal conservancies. The approximate populations of the communal conservancies are Otjituuo 9,000, Ozonahi 5,000, Okamatipati 3,000 and African Wild Dog 5,500 and there are approximately 1,500 people on the commercial farms.

Information about education is not readily available for the landscape itself. Data for the Otjozondjupa region however gives some insight into the education characteristics of the area: less than 10% of the population have completed secondary education.

The economy is largely livestock based with the total cattle population estimated at over 92 000, total sheep population at around 30 000, and total goat population at about 43 000. The main economic drivers are the large non-tradable sector (government services) and a strong beef producing primary sector. The economy is dual; with an underdeveloped communal subsistence agriculture and informal business sector on one hand and, a well developed formal business and commercial agriculture sector on the other hand.

The proportion of people in the landcape that are involved in, or benefit from, tourism, is low and limited to the park and surrounding guest farms. Accommodation at the park is managed by Namibian Wildlife Resorts (NWR). The total capacity of the park is 168 overnight visitors and approximately 13,000 people visited the resort in 2011.

In the landscape's communal conservancies, sources of income are mainly from joint venture tourism lodges and camps, and trophy hunting. Indigenous plants such as devil’s claw and others are harvested to be used in the pharmaceutical industry. No enterprises are fully operational in the Ozonahi conservancy as yet although some people proft from the sale of wooden crafts. Devil's claw harvesting and game meat are the main sources of income in the African Wildlife Dog conservancy. Game farming, devil's claw and Ozombanwi harvesting are the source of incomes in Okamatapati conservancy. Craft production (walking sticks, cattle skins, Herero dolls), the harvesting and sales of devil’s claw and Ozombanwi are the sources of income for the Otjituuo conservancy.

In the Otjozondjupa region, more than 35% of the workforce is employed in agriculture, hunting and forestry sectors followed by public administration (>14%), manufacturing (≈9%) and employment by private households (>8%).