New Era

WINDHOEK - The illegal move of 1Â 210 cattle from Gam into the Nyae Nyae Conservancy highlighted just how easily the precarious balance between nature and human demands in that area can be disturbed.

"We are not happy. We cannot find gamakhoe [devil's claw] along the route the cattle moved. We do not hear the kudus at night any more because they took flight because of the presence of so many cattle in the area.

The Gam cattle must be moved out of Nyae Nyae because there is no more grazing for the conservancy cattle.

The Gam cattle have taken over," said Poppie Khamaswa.

She lives with her family at the Apel Post where the more than 1Â 000 head of cattle illegally driven across the veterinary cordon fence from Gam into the Nyae Nyae Conservancy.

The family complained that the Gam cattle, now at the Agricultural Research Station but to be moved back to Apel Post, have trampled their meagre field of mealies and beans.

"We struggle to keep the goats off our fields; these animals do not go out into the bush to graze because they got used to eat our sweet crops," said Onesmus Heinrich, also at Apel Post.

"We have things that we want to do here at the conservancy, but we cannot continue with them because of the Gam cattle," said /'Ang!ao Kiwit /'Un, chairperson of the Nyae Nyae Conservancy. "They must get done with this matter."

While Nyae Nyae Conservancy experts commended Government for the swift action taken against the Gam farmers to stop the move with cattle into the area, they called for decisive and permanent action to be taken that will ensure the sustainability of the place.

The Legal Assistance Center (LAC), the Nyae Nyae Development Foundation of Namibia (NNDFN), and the Working Group of Indigenous Minorities in Southern Africa (WIMSA) said the illegal crossing of cattle into Nyae Nyae was in transgression of various laws: criminal offence in damage to government property and trespassing; Animal Diseases and Parasites Act; Traditional Authorities Act; Communal Land Reform Act; and the Forest Act.

"Nyae Nyae is the ancestral land of the San; traditionally it is their land to which many have returned to. They have great respect for the land and use it in a sustainable way; they have made certain choices about how to use it. They are not agriculturalists, they have not gone the livestock route," said Lara Diez of the NNDFN.

"The land [around the conservancy] is not suitable for grazing; there is not enough water. The area is a fossilized desert with a thick layer of sand as topsoil," commented Ben Begbie-Clench, Namibia Support Unit Manager at WIMSA.

Diez felt government should consider some sort of compensation to the people of Nyae Nyae Conservancy members because of the losses the community has incurred due to the presence of the Gam cattle.

The estimated losses to the area according to the Nyae Nyae Conservancy have been enumerated as follows:

loss of income from devils claw harvesting (N$418Â 000 was generated in 2008 and constituting 10 percent of the conservancy's income); loss of over 600Â 000 litres of water (based on 30 litres of water per head of cattle per day); loss of grazing sufficient to fill one million 50-kilogramme mealie-meal bags; an increase in human/wildlife conflict as wildlife is driven out of the areas where there are cattle; potential loss of trophy hunting fees as hunters are presumably not keen to hunt in areas overrun by livestock (trophy hunting yielded about N$1 million last year); a potential reduction in tourism that is largely based on the untainted environment and wildlife; and the imposition on the rights of the conservancy's community to manage the area's resources sustainably for the benefit of its members.

The conservancy members approximated the damage to devil's claw yields and grazing would take three to five years to restore. They estimated that 10 percent of the grazing has been damaged.

The conservancy members said they will seek reparation to the tune of N$603Â 700.

"We have promised our ancestors that we would look after the environment. We will do whatever we can to keep that promise," said Kiwit /'Un.

Nyae Nyae was the first established conservancy in Namibia in 1998 under the Nature Conservation Act of 1996 that calls for the sustainable use and management of fauna and flora to maximally benefit community members.

According to the LAC, the conservancy is the only place where the San, the Ju/Hoansi, live uncontested on the land that is proclaimed as communal land governed by the Ju/Hoansi Traditional Authority and currently headed by Chief Tsamkxao Bobo ≠Oma.

The areas stretches over 900Â 000 hectares of the Kalahari wilderness, and lies south of the Khaudum National Park in Botswana. The area turns into a wetland during the rainy season that is used by migratory birds, including the flamingo. It holds more than 80 wetland bird species, including the threatened wattled crane and slaty egret.

There are two pans - Klein and Dobe - south of Tsumkwe that provide water to game and birds.

The conservancy is also known for its wildlife, particularly for the elephant population, buffaloes, wild dogs, leopards, cheetahs, lions and hyenas.

Nyae Nyae is overseen by an elected board and run by a management committee and staff with a management plan, wildlife management and monitoring systems, with projects to develop water points and reintroduce game into the area.

The management and staff oversee and monitor water development with the drilling of new boreholes, water protection against elephants attacking infrastructure, wildlife activities like trophy hunting (the Ju/'hoansi is the only community allowed to hunt without a licence provided they hunt with traditional gear like the bow and arrow, spear or traditional snares) and game translocations, veld food that is sustainably harvested, gardens to ensure greater food security, craft development and marketing.

"The presumption that the San is not using the land in the conservancy is just not true. There is a difference in how they use the land. The only thing the San has left are the small pieces of land," said Begbie-Clench.

The conservancy has received a lot of outside technical and financial assistance, something that has caused the ire of some Gam farmers who felt the outrage over the invasion was blown out of proportion because of the presence of particularly US donors in the area.

Between 1995 and 2002, intensive technical assistance was given by the WWF/LIFE and other non-governmental organisations.

The support given was in the areas of support to natural resource management, particularly the reintroduction of game, and institutional development.

Support from NGOs and donors continue, but, stressed Diez, support is sought after the conservancy members have identified their own projects.

According to the NNDFN, there are 12 self-funded management and project jobs within the conservancy, but unemployment and poverty remain a concern, especially if the environment from which many make a living is under threat.

"Most people in the conservancy still live in abject poverty, but they are at least given options with the various programmes in place," said Diez.

"Most San - and particularly women - are uneducated and depend on the natural environment," said senior councilor of the Ju/'Hoansi Traditional Authority, Fransiena Gaus.

"As San women, we also need livestock but we are very careful with domestic animals in the area."

Sustaining the delicate biodiversity of the area is thus an issue of life or death for the conservancy community.

"If the income-generating projects of the conservancy are destroyed, how can they survive? They are living in the middle of a desert," said Diez.

"Our livelihood is in our environment," stressed Kiwit /'Un.

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