In follow up to the presentation given to the SD Advisory Council on the benefits and outlook for sustainability of the Community-Based Natural Resources Management (CBNRM) Programme, the SD Advisory Council members undertook a fact-finding mission to communal conservancies in the Erongo and Kunene Regions from the 9-12^th October 2015. The mission was undertaken with the Namibian Association of CBNRM Support Organisations (NACSO) and staff members from the Ministry of Environment and Tourism.

The main aim of the mission was to assess the impact of the CBNRM Programme on-the-ground and to learn about the challenges and opportunities for enhancing its effectiveness as well as the possibilities for enhancing the sustainability of the Programme. Discussions were held with eight communal conservancies and a number of concession holders and tour operators active in these conservancies. The fact-finding missions was planned to cover the following areas:

Benefits from sustainable natural resource use

• Joint-venture tourism/tourism concessions (significant employment, income, in-kind benefits)
• Sustainable consumptive use (some employment, income, in-kind benefits)
• Indigenous plant use (income, individual business opportunities)

Conservancy governance

• Game guards/resource monitoring systems
• Conservancy management (including financial management)
• Community involvement

Challenges/ constraints

• Human-wildlife conflict
• Private sector engagement limitations
• Community capacity limitations
• External pressures, influences and barriers

The mission generated a number of action items and recommendations for the attention of the Minister of Environment and Tourism.