Helen Suich

The livelihood impacts of the Namibian community based natural resource management programme: A meta-synthesis

Community based natural resource management (CBNRM) programmes aim to achieve the joint objectives of biodiversity conservation and improved rural livelihoods by providing incentives to sustainably manage relevant resources. Since 1998, more than 50 natural resource management institutions, known as conservancies, have been established in order to manage wildlife resources, on communal lands in Namibia. The national programme is often cited as a CBNRM success; however, despite its rapid spread, there are few systematically collected or analysed household-level data which demonstrate the long-term ecological, social and economic impacts of Namibian programme. A meta-synthesis was undertaken to determine the range of positive and negative livelihood impacts resulting from CBNRM programme activities in two key regions, and the factors affecting how these impacts have been felt by households or individuals. Impacts were categorized according to any changes in access to and/or returns from the five key assets of the sustainable livelihoods framework, namely financial, human, natural, physical and social assets. Positive and negative impacts were felt on financial, human, natural and social assets; only positive impacts were identified as affecting physical assets. Individual- and household-level impacts differed depending on the specific activities implemented locally and, according to the duration, frequency and timing of the impacts, the circumstances and preferences of households and their access to particular activities and consequent impacts. If a greater understanding of the extent and importance of different impacts is to be gained in the future, more rigorous and comprehensive data collection and analysis will need to be undertaken. Analyses will need to consider the whole range of activities implemented, both the benefits and costs associated with these different activities, and will also need to provide contextual information to allow the relative importance of impacts resulting from CBNRM activities to be better understood.

Satellite and resource accounting as tools for tourism planning in southern Africa

The potential for improvements to tourism planning through development of tourism satellite accounts (TSAs) to measure economic activity, and tourism asset resource accounts (TARAs) to measure the natural asset base, was studied in southern Africa. It was concluded that economic efficiency in tourism development would be enhanced if all the countries pursue plans to develop TSA, TARA and economic models for tourism planning. Basic TSA, including consumption, production, supply and use, employment and capital tables are required. TSA development should take place step by step, with specific data collection surveys and agreements between the stakeholders. Surveys should be focused on both tourists and the suppliers of tourism products, and should be carried out by central tourism agencies in collaboration with national accounting agencies. TARAs should involve both physical accounts for specific resources, such as water or wildlife, as well as land accounts for general tourism activity and potential. TSAs and TARAs should be integrated with input-output/social accounting matrix modelling tools. Countries should match the rigour of their TSA and TARA development with their anticipated capacity for analysis and planning. Donors could assist in the process, especially in a regional context.

The Livelihood Impacts of Payments for Environmental Services and Implications for REDD

International discussions on reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) foresee payment for environmental services (PES) schemes as an important mechanism to provide local incentives for the conservation and enhancement of carbon stocks. There are concerns, however, about the potential impacts of REDD+ and PES on local livelihoods. This article assesses the livelihood impacts of seven existing PES schemes using a comparative case study approach, and reviews lessons for the design of REDD+. It finds that PES schemes provided some livelihood benefits to participants, particularly in terms of building individual participants’ and community institutions’ capacity, and in some cases contributing to income. Insights for the design of PES for REDD+ schemes are derived in relation to the issues of the role of intermediaries, individual versus collective contracts, payment schedules and amounts, conditionality and permanence, and property and access rights.

Development of Preliminary Tourism Satellite Accounts for Namibia

In Namibia, as in many countries, reliable and accurate information regarding the economic impact of tourism has not been available. In an attempt to overcome this problem, a set of preliminary tourism satellite accounts for Namibia has been constructed using currently available data. Such accounts are designed to accurately determine the size and importance of the tourism industry within an economy. The accounts present information including the supply of, and expenditure on, tourism commodities, as well as gross value added of, and employment within, the tourism industry. The limitations of the data used are identified, and recommendations to improve both data quality and quantity are made. Opportunities to improve these accounts in the future and the importance of such accounts in policy making are outlined. The development of a comprehensive set of accounts is feasible, and the potential for their use in policy making and economic analysis is great.

Evaluating the Household Level Outcomes of Community Based Natural Resource Management: the Tchuma Tchato Project and Kwandu Conservancy

Community based natural resource management (CBNRM) programs aim to link the achievement of conservation objectives with those of rural development and poverty alleviation. However, after more than a decade of implementation in southern Africa, there is remarkably little rigorous analysis of their achievements with respect to these goals. An evaluation of two CBNRM interventions, the Tchuma Tchato Project in Mozambique and the Kwandu Conservancy in Namibia, measured the impacts at the household level using multidimensional poverty indices. The analysis found no positive impacts on the multiple dimensions of poverty arising from the Tchuma Tchato initiative in Mozambique. In Kwandu Conservancy in Namibia, positive impacts were felt only on household financial capital on a disappointingly narrow scale. These results have important implications for policy makers and program designers and demonstrate the necessity of developing targeted strategies if poverty alleviation outcomes are to be achieved. Further, if the assumption that the provision of incentives is key to encouraging and maintaining participation in CBNRM is correct, the delivery of appropriate benefits that have a sufficient impact at the household level will be crucial for the long run sustainability of these initiatives.

Forests, payments for environmental services and livelihoods

Payment for Environmental Services (PES) schemes, where the providers of environmental services receive payments for the adoption of land uses and practices that support those services, are relatively recent in the developing world. There is strong interest in PES schemes because of their potential to mobilize new resources for conservation and achieve development outcomes. This interest has increased with recent discussions under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) on a mechanism for Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD).1 REDD would require the provision of fi nancial incentives to developing countries to conserve their forests, and could possibly include payments to people with rights over the forests in question. These developments have heightened interest in learning from past and present PES schemes, matched by concerns about their impacts – and those of REDD – on the rights and livelihoods of local resource users and managers. This book therefore addresses the following questions:

Payments for ecosystem services in Indonesia

Payments for ecosystem services schemes are viewed as having the potential to achieve positive biodiversity and ecosystem service outcomes and social outcomes, and they have been widely studied since their development in the 1990s. We describe the state of payments for ecosystem services in Indonesia, where nine schemes were identified, four involving water and five involving carbon. We also assess the perceptions of stakeholders (donors, government, and non-government agencies) regarding the status of such schemes in Indonesia, and their views on what factors support or constrain their development. The main factors perceived to support payments for ecosystem services schemes were easily identifiable ecosystem services and service users, and the long-term support provided by individuals or institutions that facilitate the schemes, building on existing relationships between communities and these facilitating agencies. Stakeholders identified problems relating to regulation: the lack of regulation specifically in relation to payments for ecosystem services, but also overlap and uncertainties regarding regulations. Other constraining factors identified were the lack of recognition of environmental problems amongst potential buyers, and issues of rights and tenure for local communities. With so few operational programmes to date, covering a relatively small land area, and such constraints to further development, payments for ecosystem services schemes appear to have limited scope to supply ecosystem services successfully and sustainably at scale.