Nyae Nyae Development Foundation

The Nyae Nyae Conservancy and Community Forest (NNCCF) was one of the first registered conservancies in Namibia and is considered as an important area for Wildlife Conservation in southern Africa. The monitoring of wildlife is the responsibility of the conservancies under the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism (MEFT), and in Nyae Nyae this is done through daily patrols, and annual wildlife counts. Annual game counts are key for wildlife management and form the basis for informed decision making and adaptive management.

Civil Society Organisations in Namibia, together with regional and international organisations, coalitions and technical experts, are deeply concerned about oil and gas exploratory drilling activities in the Kavango Basin. Most of them have not been consulted or given any evidence about how the exploration activities and possible production of oil and gas will affect the lives, livelihoods and human rights of people in Kavango East and West regions, as well as th precious environment and overall water and food security in Namibia.

Devil’s Claw (harpagophytum sp) is a protected plant in Namibia and permits are required to harvest and sell it.  Extracts from the roots of the plant act as an anti-inflammatory and are widely used in Europe and elsewhere in the treatment of rheumatism and arthritis.  Namibia is the largest supplier of devil’s claw in the world. In both the Nyae Nyae & N≠a Jaqna conservancies the sustainable harvesting and sale of Devil’s Claw makes a vital contribution to income generation for their members and conservancy management. 

Traditional arts and crafts are favourites as souvenirs with tourists when they come to Namibia. One of the key sources of cash for many San Women in Nyae Nyae Conservancy is traditional craft making. During the lockdown there have been precious few tourists, certainly no international guests. While this sector has suffered along with all sectors linked to tourism, Nyae Nyae Development Foundation and Nyae Nyae Conservancy are working together to try and maintain this sector in order to support the craft makers and the many dependents that rely on the...

With the support of MEFT, the Nyae Nyae Conservancy undertook its annual game count in September, 2020. This involved wildlife rangers and volunteers observing the 18 water points around the Nyae Nyae Conservancy. They do this for 48 hours counting the different species of game coming to drink at each water point.