Appendix: Chronology of conservation legislation and key policies relevant for “Etosha-Kunene”, Namibia

Date

Legislation / policy

Conservation Focus

1892

Regulations for commercial hunting issued

The German colonial administration begins restricting ivory exports from South-West Africa’s coastal harbours.¹
Regulations for commercial hunting are issued, such that anyone wishing to hunt with horses, draught animals or pack animals had to purchase an annual permit; with the hunting of female and young animals (for elephants and ostriches) prohibited, and an annual closed season set for ostriches from 1 August to 31 October.²

1896

Ostrich hunting season extended from 1 August to 31 November.³

1902

First government ordinance for controlling hunting is proclaimed and signed by Governor Von Estorff:⁴ Verordnung betreffend Jagd der Ausübung der Jagd in Deutsch-Südwest Afrika Schutzgebiete [Ordinance Concerning the Exercise of Hunting in German South-West Africa Protected Areas]

The Ordinance stated that:

• certain areas were closed to hunting (in 1907 claimed as Game Reserves by Governor von Lindequist);
• it was illegal to set any form of traps or snares;
• District Chiefs had the authority to enforce annual hunting seasons of varying durations for different game species depending on circumstances in his district;⁵
• hunting and nature protection laws were enforced by policemen (the Landespolizei), who were also encouraged to acquire hunting licences so as to supplement their diet with meat, and for gaining proficiency in aiming at moving targets.⁶

1907

Proclamation 88, issued on 22.3.1907 by Imperial Governor of Deutsch Südwestafrika, Dr Friedrich von Lindequist:⁷
Verordnung des Gouverneurs von Deutsch-Südwestafrika betr. Bildnung von Wild reservaten im Schutzgebiet, KolBl 1907, 428 [Decree of the Governor of German South West Africa concerning the formation of game reserves in the protectorate]⁸

This proclamation made it possible for three ‘Game Reserves’ (Wildschutzgebiet) to be proclaimed.⁹ Economic motivations were clearly articulated in the explanatory paper for establishing the Game Reserves:

‘[e]verybody knows how much economic value game has in the country. In some cuisines, only game is served as fresh meat. Also the utility value of the skins for blankets and for making straps and whips is known to everyone. Unfortunately, it is impossible to make statistics, but if one wanted to calculate the many hundredweights of game captured in the country every year on the basis of average slaughter prices, it would be estimated to be more than 200,000 m. If you take this sum as an annual pension, the capital involved would mean a fortune of many millions of dollars that we have in our game stock. We all receive this pension free of charge from the country, and so our wildlife provides a very significant part of our common wealth, which every inhabitant of the reserve should be scrupulous about protecting, as it is in the interest of every individual. [...] The benefits that the game reserves would bring to the country would be as follows: centres would be created where game would have to be moved from the grazing areas there and would be brought to farms where it could be shot and exploited. African game is very variable and so the supply of game from the reserves could be extended to areas far from the reserves... The reserves indicated as 1-3 include areas which, for the most part, are not, or temporarily not, suitable for farming. Farms which are located within the reserves or which would later be sold, for example, enjoy the exemptions of § 7.’¹⁰

Of these reserves, Game Reserve No. 2 – at the time, the largest conservation area in the world – stretched from Etosha Pan to the coast and included Kaokoveld (today’s northern Kunene Region), removing the potential threat of settlement by white farmers – see Figure 1.14.¹¹ Hunting was prohibited in the Game Reserves ‘without written permission of the district office’ and vehicle traffic was also prohibited.¹²

1909

Verordnung des Gouverneurs von Deutsch-Südwestafrika, betr. Die Ausübung der Jag im deutsch-südwestafrikanischen Schutzgebiet, KolBl 1909, 376, 15.2.1909 [Decree of the Governor of German South West Africa concerning the exercise of hunting in the German South West African protectorate] Amendments made to 1902 hunting ordinance

Amendments made:

• provision for the Governor to give permission for any of the protected game to be shot for ‘economic or scientific reasons’;
• a general closed hunting season from ‘November to the end of February’ came into force, although the District Chief had the authority to shorten or lengthen the hunting season according to conditions in his district;
• a hunter had to obtain permission from landowners to hunt on their land;¹³
• legal hunting ‘required the hunter to possess a general hunting license [40 marks, the granting of which was based on ‘personal qualifications’] and a hunting permit’ determining ‘the kind and number of animals the hunter was allowed to hunt and the time during which hunting could take place’ (Sections 2 and 5);¹⁴
• owners and lease-holders of ‘completely fenced off pieces of land were not subject to the Ordinance – they had the exclusive right to hunt, but in accordance with certain restrictions set out in the Ordinance’ re: protected species and hunting seasons (Sections 2 and 8);¹⁵
• gun hunts ‘on land not owned by anyone (terra nullius) was free, but subject to other restrictions of the Ordinance’;¹⁶
• hunting with ‘traps, pits, nets, snares and similar tools was not allowed’ (Section 4), thus criminalising Indigenous hunting practices.¹⁷

The 1902 ordinance plus amendments remained in force up to occupation of the territory by South African forces in 1915, and was technically still in force until new Union of South Africa legislation of 1921.¹⁸

According to Section 1, ‘Wild animals’ are considered res nullius: ‘[h]unting is defined in terms of this Ordinance as far as they can be considered res nullius in accordance with the relevant provisions of statutory law’.¹⁹

1916

Ordinance 1 of 1916

The German Proclamation of 1907 regarding game reserves is repealed by Ordinance No. 1 of 1916 which amends and reconfirms the borders of Game Reserve No. 2.²⁰

1916

Proclamation 2 of 1916

Masters and Servants Proclamation aimed at the ‘systematization, formalization and centralization of labour relations’.²¹

1916

Proclamation 10 of 1916

This is the first law in the territory to protect a plant, specifically the Namib desert plant Welwitschia mirabilis, especially in Game Reserve No. 3.²²

1916

Proclamation 15 of 1916

Decrees that no person can ‘cross the line marking the Police Zone without permission’.²³

1919

The Prohibited Areas Proclamation, 15 of 1919 (22.3.1919)

Confirms the existence of the three Game Reserves proclaimed in 1907 with permanently manned police posts established at Namutoni and Okaukuejo, and controls entry into Owamboland and Rehoboth.²⁴

1919

Treaty of Peace and South West Africa Act, 49 of 1919

Land held by the German colonial administration becomes Crown or State land of South West Africa, ‘with the South Africa Parliament retaining authority over land rights’.²⁵

1920

Proclamation 25 of 1920

Vagrancy Proclamation: made it an offence for Africans to move around in the Police Zone without ‘visible lawful means of support’, namely either 10 cattle or 50 small stock.²⁶

1921

Game Preservation Proclamation for South West Africa, 13 of 1921, based on the 1902 Ordinance for controlling hunting, which remains in force until this year.

Enacted by the South African Administrator and introduced the categories of ‘Royal Game’, ‘Big Game’ and ‘Small Game’, with permission to hunt Royal game only obtainable from the Administrator and hunting other than shooting permitted if allowed by the Administrator (Section 4(1)).²⁷ Hunting ‘other than by shooting was allowed when especially permitted by the Administrator’ (Section 9(1)).²⁸ Hunting and game protection was thus regulated, and made the responsibility of the South African police,²⁹ as had also been the case in the German colonial period (see Chapter 1).³⁰

1921

Fencing Proclamation, 57 of 1921

Continues to be invoked in the 2017 Protected Areas and Wildlife Management Bill (Art. 1(1), p.9), regarding standards prescribed for an ‘adequate stock fence’.

1922

Proclamation, 26 of 1922

The First Schedule defines the ‘prohibited areas’, namely the northern areas of the Police Zone – from the Ugab River in the west to the Caprivi strip (now Zambezi Region) in the north-east.³¹

1924

Game Preservation Proclamation Amendment Proclamation, 7 of 1924

Introduces ‘the requirement of a permit by the Magistrate of the respective district for hunting on Crown Land’.³²

1924

Native Reserve Regulations, Government Notice 137 of 1924

Stipulates the duty to ‘assist in the combating of fire and the eradication of noxious weeds’.³³

1926/1927

Game Preservation Ordinance, 5 of 1926[1927?], repeals and replaces Proclamation 13 of 1921³⁴

The list of protected game species was extended;³⁵ Sections 10, 11, 25 prohibit hunting on crown land (i.e. where African peoples lived) ‘with exception of dignitaries and officials on duty in rural areas’, and hunting restrictions on settler farms were applied henceforth.³⁶ Section 10 provides ‘for the Administrator to issue special hunting permits to members of the public service to hunt while on duty trips’.³⁷ New hunting licence requirements and offtake reporting processes were brought in, with trade in ivory and rhino horn made illegal. Nb. Hunting by Haiǁom in Game Reserve no. 2 was not considered a problem at this time.

Special rules for ‘owners and occupiers of land’ with sufficient fences are brought in, allowing them ‘to hunt big game [as well as small game] without a license unless certain restrictions were imposed by the administration’.³⁸

1927

Bantu Administration Act, 38 of 1927

Permits Permission to Occupy (PTO) licenses to be granted by government.³⁹

1927

Proclamation 11 of 1927

Sought to prevent squatting by limiting the number of people allowed to reside on a farm to five ‘native families’.⁴⁰

1927

Proclamation, 32 of 1927

The Vagrancy Proclamation (32 of 1927) was amended,⁴¹ and prison terms for vagrancy were inter alia increased from three to 12 months.

1928

Prohibited Areas Proclamation, 26 of 1928
Second Schedule to this Proclamation defines the boundaries of “Game Reserve No. 2”

Re-proclaims Game Reserves 1, 2 and 3 and for the first time accurately defines their borders with farm-to-farm descriptions within the police zone, waterholes, riverbeds and other administrative borders north of it.⁴²

Hunting permits become available for hunting in the ‘so-called prohibited areas’ beyond the Police Zone, i.e. where most African and Indigenous peoples were living, although ‘an additional permit to the permit required under the Game Preservation Ordinance for hunting game’ was required for entering the prohibited areas in the northern areas of the Police Zone – from the Ugab River in the west to the Caprivi strip (now Zambezi Region) in the north-east.⁴³ Native inhabitants of Kaokoveld with firearms are not prohibited from shooting any species.

Section 3(2): Game Reserve No. 2 includes the area around Etosha Pan plus Kaokoveld, and covers a total area of 37,000 square miles. Through border changes of Game Reserve No. 2, 47 farms in the south-east of Etosha were either created or existing farms were cut out of the game reserve.⁴⁴ The post of Game Ranger of Game Reserve No 2, up to that date assumed by a Captain Nelson, was abolished and the Native Commissioner of Ovamboland, Carl Hugo (Cocky) Hahn took over and acted as a part-time Game Warden.⁴⁵

1928

Game Preservation Ordinance Amendment Ordinance, 6 of 1928

1928

Arms and Ammunition Proclamation revised by Government Notice 2, 12.1.1928

The Arms and Ammunition Proclamation was revised to include Bushman bows and arrows under the definition of firearms, making their possession henceforth illegal, although this proclamation seemed to lack the necessary precision for extensive implementation: no fees for licences were ever fixed, nor did Bushmen ever bother to apply for licences.⁴⁶

1930

Regulations Prescribing the Duties, Powers and Privileges of Chiefs and Headmen, GN 60 of 1930

Includes the duty ‘to preserve game and forests and to prevent soil erosion’.⁴⁷

1933

Convention Relative to the Preservation of Fauna and Flora in their Natural State

In 1933, colonial powers agreed upon this Convention, one of the first nature conservation agreements for Africa. The Union of South Africa and the United Kingdom were among the signatories.⁴⁸

1934

Game Preservation Ordinance Amendment Ordinance, 4 of 1934

Marked ‘civil servants and police personnel temporarily or permanently stationed beyond the Police Zone possible beneficiaries’ of the Section 10 rule of Game Preservation Ordinance, 5 of 1927.⁴⁹

1935

Only in 1935 was private farm ownership within the boundaries of Game Reserve No. 2 finally terminated (with one exception – a small piece of land close to Okaukuejo).⁵⁰

1936

Native/Bantu Trust and Land Act, 18 of 1936

All land set aside ‘for the sole use of aboriginal natives’ becomes vested in the South African Native Trust.⁵¹

PTO type licenses can be granted (see Bantu Administration Act, 38 of 1927).⁵²

1937

The Fauna and Flora Protection Ordinance, 19 of 1937
[claimed to be inspired by the 1933 Convention]

For the first time including the protection of plants (apart from Welwitschia mirabilis, which had been protected since 1916), this Ordinance combined flora and fauna, implying that that the administration had started to move towards a more holistic approach ‘[t]o provide for the preservation of the fauna and flora of the Territory in their natural state, and to amend in other aspects the law relating to the preservation of game’:

‘this ordinance now for the first time included the protection of plants. Enforcement of the game laws until then had been the sole responsibility of the SWA Police. This ordinance also permitted interested people to help with the applicable law enforcement in the capacity of honorary game wardens’.⁵³

1942

Prohibited Areas Amendment Ordinance, 9 of 1942

This proclamation extends the permit situation established in Prohibited Areas Proclamation, 26 of 1928 to ‘other wild animals’.⁵⁴

1947

Kaokoveld is proclaimed as a Native Reserve (the Kaokoland Reserve) but remains part of Game Reserve no. 2⁵⁵

1947

Proclamation 375 of 1947

Part of Etosha Game Reserve was cut off and made available for settlement and the Police Zone border was shifted in order to provide more farmland for white settlers.⁵⁶

1948

Report of the Game Preservation Commission

Gives farmers permission to eliminate game species considered a danger to the farming community and recommends that farmers should ‘decide whether to preserve or shoot (in whole or in part) zebra, wildebeest, ostriches and warthogs’; but rejects the idea of conferring ownership of game to the white farmers (game meat an important source of protein and white farmers, specially Afrikaners keen to hunt it).⁵⁷

1951

Game Preservation Ordinance, 11 of 1951 (intended to improve The Fauna and Flora Protection Ordinance, 19 of 1937)

Provides for the establishment of a Game Preservation and Hunting Board to consist of no fewer than five members to oversee the preservation of game and to make any necessary recommendations to the Administrator.⁵⁸ Includes:

• the appointment of game wardens as honorary or public service officers;⁵⁹
• regulation of hunting on white farms including restrictions on the amount of game that could be taken, length of hunting season and penalties for infractions; although article 27 allowed the administrator ‘to permit visiting dignitaries “to hunt any game in open season”’;⁶⁰
• ‘Africans were generally allowed to utilise wildlife resources in their communal areas’ until restrictions were imposed by this Ordinance,⁶¹ specifically a requirement for permits from the Bantu Affairs Commissioner for the native reserve under his jurisdiction (Section 16).⁶²

1955

Preservation of Game Amendment Ordinance, 29 of 1955

New clause included in Section 4:

‘[s]ubject to the provisions of this Ordinance, any owner or occupier of land shall own all [big and small] game other than protected game, while such game is lawfully upon such land and while such land is enclosed with a sufficient fence…’; with hunting permitted throughout the year.⁶³

1956

SWA Parks Board appointed, replacing the SWA Game Protection & Hunting Board of 1951⁶⁴

1958
18.6.1958

Game Parks and Private Game Reserves Ordinance, 18 of 1958⁶⁵

Defines ‘Game Parks’ and allows for establishment of private game reserves.⁶⁶ The regulations for Game Parks (Section 5) are more comprehensive than for Private Game Reserves. For example, entry and residence, the possession of firearms, killing, injuring or disturbing animals in Game Parks was not allowed without written permission and the introduction of animals and the chopping/cutting/damaging of trees was prohibited. In Private Game Reserves, according to Section 16(1), ‘no person, except the owner, may hunt any game or other wild animal or bird in any area which has been declared a private game reserve […] except under and in accordance with the written permission of the Administrator and on such conditions as he may impose in each case’.⁶⁷

A major part of the Ordinance focuses on establishing the boundaries of Etosha Game Park around Etosha Pan, as a specific designation of Game Reserve No. 2. Its First Schedule defines the boundaries of a new ‘Etosha Game Park’ which focuses on the area around Etosha Pan with Paragraph 2 stating that:
‘[t]he area defined in the first schedule to this Ordinance and known as game reserve No. 2, but excluding that portion which falls within a Native Reserve [i.e. the Kaokoland Reserve of 1947], is hereby declared a game park, to be known as the Etosha Game Park, for the propagation, protection and preservation therein of wild animal life, wild vegetation and objects of geological, ethnological, historical or other scientific interest for the benefit, advantage and enjoyment of the Inhabitants of the Territory’.⁶⁸

1958
18.6.1958
(continued)

Provision is made ‘for the fusion of the Game Preservation and Hunting Board with the Parks Board so that all matters concerning game may be dealt with by one board’.⁶⁹ The Parks Board included at least five members: ‘civil servants from agriculture, police, native affairs, the chief game warden and members of the farmers’ and hunting associations’.⁷⁰ Its aims and functions were:

1. To advise the Administrator on the control, management and maintenance of game parks and private game reserves in South West Africa.
2. To investigate and report on all such matters concerning the preservation of game as the Administrator may refer to it;
3. To make such recommendations to the Administrator as it may deem fit regarding the preservation of game and any amendment to the game preservation laws of the Territory;
4. To meet in Windhoek at least once every year;
5. To perform and exercise such further functions, powers and duties as the Administrator may by regulation prescribe to the Board.⁷¹

For more detail see Chapter 2.

1958
3.9.1958

Government Notice 247 [Proclamation 247?] by the Administrator for SWA [Daniel Thomas du Plessis Viljoen]

This Government Notice amended section 3(2) of the 1928 Prohibited Areas Proclamation (no. 26) to repeal and substitute the definition Game Reserve No. 2 in the Second Schedule to that Proclamation.⁷² It thereby outlined the new area of Game Reserve No. 2, so that it now included a southern extension along the Ugab River, as well as the north-west area of Kaokoveld; whilst excluding the Kaokoveld Native Reserve and Sesfontein Native Reserve 207. It made no mention of ‘Etosha Game Park’ [as per Ordinance 18], but included the area defined as Etosha Game Park in Ordinance 18 of 1958 within its boundaries.

1961

Government Notice, 222 of 1961

Moves the veterinary control cordon (‘red line’) southwards from along the south edge of Etosha Pan to the southern border of Etosha Game Park next to the settler farming area.⁷³

1962

Government Notice, 177 of 1962⁷⁴

Etosha Game Park is extended across part of the 1958 south-west extension of Game Reserve No. 2 to a point where the western boundary line of the last mentioned farm [Werêldsend] intersects the southern side of the road from Welwitschia [Khorixas] to Torrabaai; thence westwards along the southern side of the road to Torrabaai [close to the Koigab river] to the low-water mark of the Atlantic Ocean.

1962–1963

SWAA White Paper on Activities of the Different Branches of the Administration⁷⁵
[Government report, rather than legislation]

Describes activities for Etosha Game Park,⁷⁶ e.g. infrastructural developments, tourism, new appointments etc. States that:

‘Etosha Game Park’s boundaries were extended during the year [1962, Government Notice 177] up to the sea coast by the proclamation of part of Game Reserve 2 as a game park. The popular fishing and holiday resort at Unjab [!Uniab] Mouth now falls within the game park. This year permission was again granted to holiday goers to visit the Unjab Mouth during the summer. Numbers of people made use of this concession. Better roads and more facilities will, it is hoped, be provided in 1964’.⁷⁷

1966

Government Notice, 20 of 1966⁷⁸

Named ‘Prohibited Areas Proclamation 1928: Redefinition of the Boundaries of Game Reserve No. 2’, this Government Notice delineated a coastal strip of around 20-miles wide to the west of the Sesfontein and Kaokoveld Native Reserve areas (see Chapter 2).

1967

Nature Conservation Ordinance, 31 of 1967⁷⁹

This Ordinance constitutes a ‘major legal review’ and a consolidation of ‘nature protection law into one piece of legislation’⁸⁰ by doing the following:

• establishes a Nature Conservation Board (replacing the former Parks Board). Thus ‘[t]he term game conservation was replaced with nature conservation, promoting the concept that nature in its entirety should be conserved, and the idea that the word conservation embraced the concept of judicial utilisation became generally accepted’;⁸¹
• defines the powers and duties of the Nature Conservation and Tourism Branch;
• contains ‘chapters on wild animals, game parks, indigenous plants, inland fisheries, protected and specially protected game, game birds and several other important subjects’;⁸²
• includes other subjects such as the issuing of licences, and the repeal of laws;⁸³
• provides for ownership of game (with the exception of protected species) to ‘owners or occupiers of a [freehold] farm’ if the game is ‘lawfully upon such farm and while such farm is enclosed with a sufficient fence’;⁸⁴
• permits freehold farmers to hunt on their farm throughout the year without a licence, except for protected game;⁸⁵

1967
(continued)

• allows freehold farmers ‘with the written permission of the Administrator to lease his hunting rights to any competent person’,⁸⁶ rapidly leading: ‘to the commercialisation of game hunting and farming in SWA and served as a spur to the embryonic tourist industry in the country. Trophy hunting became an increasingly lucrative enterprise and the number of game farms featuring game animals and the spectacular landscapes of the country multiplied. Many farmers, even those that did not contemplate converting their farms into private game reserves, bought game animals made available by the Department of Nature Conservation from stocks considered superfluous to the reserves’.⁸⁷

By changing the prior situation whereby ‘all game had belonged to the State’, Ordinance 31 creates a context for game to have a monetary value and farmers ‘a financial incentive to protect animals on their property’, causing many to start restocking their farms’ such that ‘game numbers on commercial farms increased dramatically’.⁸⁸

With this Ordinance, Etosha Game Park became Etosha National Park.⁸⁹ At this point in time the boundaries of Etosha Game Park up to the coast were retained [with a northwards boundary shift of the west part of Etosha Game Reserve, from its position along the Ugab in 1958, to between the Koigab and !Uniab rivers]; and a small corner in the north-east was added. Chapter 3 of this Ordinance iterates Ordinance 18 of 1958, with some adjustments, reading:

‘[t]he area defined in schedule 7 to this ordinance and known as the Etosha Game Park is hereby declared to be a game park to be known as the Etosha National Park for the propagation, protection and preservation therein of wild animal life, wild vegetation and objects of geological, ethnological, historical or other scientific interest and for the benefit and enjoyment of the inhabitants of the Territory: Provided that it shall be in the Administrator’s sole and final discretion to determine whether and when prospecting or mining activities are in the national interest.’⁹⁰

The hunting permit situation for the prohibited northern areas, as established by the Prohibited Areas Proclamation, 26 of 1928 and amendment in 1942 ceases.⁹¹

1967

Civil and Criminal Jurisdiction – Chiefs,
Headmen, Chiefs’ Deputies and Headmen’s Deputies, Territory of South West Africa Proclamation, R348 of 1967

Provides general rules for all traditional authorities and special rules ‘for courts in certain parts of the country: Kaokoveld, Owamboland, Okavango and Sesfontein’, with Sesfontein later excluded and Hereroland added.⁹²

Traditional courts ‘to which Proclamation R348 applies are, in principle, entitled to administer statutory offences stipulated by the Nature Conservation Ordinance or any other law if so delegated’, and there is no indication that ‘any of the nature conservation acts, going back to the first Verordnung… repealed concurrent customary law’.⁹³

1968

Development of Self-Government of Native Nations in South West Africa Act, 54 of 1968⁹⁴

Enacted following the Odendaal Report⁹⁵ to assist ‘native nations’ in ‘South West Africa’ to develop ‘into self-governing nations’ of ‘Owamboland, Okavangoland, Hereroland, Kaokoland, Damaraland and Eastern Caprivi’.⁹⁶

1971
15.10.1971

Government Notice 82

Proclaims the ‘Skeleton Coast Park’, as a narrow protected area in north-west Namibia along the Atlantic Ocean coast.⁹⁷

1973

Controlled Wildlife Products and Trade Act, 9 of 2008

Implements requirements in the UN Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).⁹⁸

1973

The Owambo Nature Conservation Enactment Act, 6 of 1973

Instituted under the post-Odendaal Owambo legislative assembly and containing ‘mechanisms to co-administer wildlife by delegating the authority to issue hunting licences in certain cases to local offices’, thereby effecting ‘some decentralisation in the law of hunting’.⁹⁹ The Executive Council of Owambo’ receives ‘the authority to determine the hunting season and to issue licences to hunt specially protected game’ (Sections 2 and 3); licences to be issued by ‘the Councillor, i.e the member of the Executive Committee to whom the administration of the Department of Agriculture was assigned’ (Section 4 read with Section 1), whilst licenses for ‘certain game (eland, impala, zebra) could be issued by the various traditional authorities’.

Section 5 stipulates:

‘(2) A game licence shall be issued by the tribal secretary of the relevant tribal area under the authority of the tribal authority of that tribal area.

(3) A tribal authority may authorise game licenses only for its own tribal area and such game licence when issued shall not be valid in any other tribal area.

(4) A tribal authority may fix a limitation in respect of the whole tribal area or in respect of a portion thereof, and the number of any species of game or some species or other of game of either sex or any species of game which may be hunted in terms of a game licence’.

Sub-section 5(7) determines ‘the fees for licences according to species that could be hunted’.

1973
(continued)

Section 6(1) extends ‘hunting privileges to traditional authorities’:

‘[n]ot withstanding anything to the contrary contained in this Enactment, a chief or senior headman may hunt game, except specially protected game and protected game, without a license during the hunting season: Provided that such chief or senior headman shall hunt game as such without a licence only within the tribal area for which such chief or such senior headman is appointed’.

Section 7 ‘authorised traditional authorities to issue permits to hunt game birds’.¹⁰⁰

The Councillor ‘was also entitled to grant permits for killing specially protected game, protected game and game’ that caused damage, for example to crops, grazing, property, people, etc.; and in cases ‘where such animals threatened human life, the local headman had the power to issue the necessary permit’.¹⁰¹

The Enactment ‘restricted the use of firearms and other weapons’ and also stipulated that ‘nobody was allowed to hunt by means of’ snares, traps, net, pitfalls, trapping kraal, dart guns, etc., unless holding ‘a permit issued on the authority of the Executive Council’ authorising such a hunt.¹⁰²

1974

The Kavango Nature Conservation Act, 4 of 1974

Similarly instituted by the Kavango legislative assembly to co-administer wildlife.¹⁰³

1975

Nature Conservation Ordinance, 4 of 1975

Follows the structure of the Nature Conservation Ordinance, 31 of 1967.¹⁰⁴ For example, this Ordinance maintains the ownership rule in Section 29(1):

‘[t]he owner of –

1. a farm which is enclosed with a game-proof fence or an adequate fence;
2. any piece of land which is not less than one thousand hectares in extent and enclosed with a game-proof fence,

shall, subject to the provisions of this Ordinance, be the owner of all huntable game, huntable game birds and exotic game on such farm or piece of land and as long as such farm remains to be enclosed in that manner’.¹⁰⁵

1975
(continued)

Hunting by white settler farmers on freehold land is thereby possible although prohibitions remain for hunting and trapping by Indigenous Africans in communal areas.¹⁰⁶ Private game reserves and ‘hunting farms’ could thereby be established in freehold settler farming areas, if certain species-dependent requirements for fencing and security were adhered to. ¹⁰⁷ The former South West Africa thereby became aligned with similar game farming policies on freehold land in South Africa.¹⁰⁸ As such, this was consistent with apartheid-era laws.

Section 40(1): it remains an offence to ‘kill game or any other wild animal by any other means than by shooting with a firearm’, or to ‘capture game or any other wild animal by means of a snare, pitfall, trap, net, birdlime, drug or any other device or means whatsoever or by any method whatsoever’, unless specifically permitted.¹⁰⁹

Differentiates between:

• ‘specially protected game’ (e.g. giraffe, elephant, rhinoceros, hippopotamus); ‘protected game’ (e.g. roan antelope, cheetah, leopard, tortoises, and most species of birds);
• ‘huntable game’ (e.g. bushpig, buffalo, eland, oryx, kudu, springbok, warthog);

hunting of these two categories (‘specially protected’ and ‘protected’ game) requires a permit issued by the Ministry, with legal penalties for unpermitted hunting, unless an animal is killed to protect human or livestock, or cultivated land with an approved fence, in which case a written report must be made to the nearest conservator or police office within 10 days (Sections 26(1), 27(1), Sections 26(3) and 27(3) as amended by Act 27/1986 and Act 31/1990, Sections 26(5)-(7) and 27(5)-(7) as amended by Act 27/1986, Sections 26(4)(a) and 27(5)(a), as amended by Act 27/1986, Sections 26(4)(b) and 27(5)(b)), Sections 37(1)(a)(ii), as amended by Act 27/1986, Section 37(1)(b)

• ‘huntable game birds’ (e.g. guinea fowl, sandgrouse, quail, francolin);
• ‘exotic game’ (e.g. vertebrates which are non-domestic species);
• ‘problem animals’ – ‘any wild animals which are declared by the Minister to be problem animals in all or a particular part of Namibia. Such declarations are to be published in the Government Gazette;
• ‘wild animals’ – any vertebrate belonging to a non-domestic species or belonging to a non-domestic species ‘with a natural habitat that includes South Africa or Namibia’.

written permission from the Cabinet needed for hunting any of these latter categories (Section 28(1)(a)(c), as amended by Act 31/1990, Section 28(2)(a).¹¹⁰

1977

Nature Conservation Ordinance, 4 of 1975 amended by Ordinance, 4 of 1977

1980

Schedule to the Representative Authorities Proclamation, AG 8 of 1980

Repeals the Development of Self-Government of Native Nations in South West Africa Act, 54 of 1968 (with the exception of Bushmanland) to ensure that ownership of communal lands vested in the South African Development Trust, formerly the SA Native Trust, becomes vested in [owned by] the government of the Territory of South West Africa, leading to the various representative [regional] authorities ‘acquiring control over communal lands falling under their jurisdiction’.¹¹¹

The list of powers of the second tier legislative authorities includes Item 1(VI) on ‘the enactment of laws on soil conservation, on the protection of water sources, on nature conservation and conservation of the environment’, with forestry included as Item 2(II).¹¹²

1980

Nature Conservation Ordinance, 4 of 1975 amended by Ordinance, 16 of 1980

1986

Nature Conservation Amendment Act, 27 of 1986

Repeals both the Owambo Nature Conservation Enactment Act, 6 of 1973 and the Kavango Nature Conservation Act, 4 of 1974, ‘re-instituting the centralised system of control and licensing’.¹¹³

1986

The Damara Community and Regional Authorities and Paramount Chief and Headmen Ordinance, 2 of 1986

Extended ‘the system of traditional administration of justice as set out in section 4 of Proclamation R348 [1967] to Damara’, with section 22 providing for civil cases ‘between members of the Damara community’ and section 23 doing the same for criminal matters.¹¹⁴

1987

Cabinet Resolution

To exempt Ju|’hoansi of East Bushmanland from the provisions of the Nature Conservation Ordinance, 4 of 1975 to permit them ‘to hunt in their traditional way’, thereby implementing ‘in the interest of nature preservation, a concept of preservation of culture’.¹¹⁵

1988

Nature Conservation Ordinance, 4 of 1975 amended by Acts 6 and 17 of 1988

1990

The Namibian Constitution

Article 95(j) emphasises the need for the ‘maintenance of ecosystems, essential ecological processes and biological diversity of Namibia and utilisation of living natural resources on a sustainable basis for the benefit of all Namibians, both present and future’.¹¹⁶

Article 66(1) stipulates that:

‘the customary law and the common law of Namibia in force on the date of Independence shall remain valid to the extent that such customary or common law does not conflict with this Constitution or any other statutory law’.¹¹⁷

Repeals AG 8 of 1980, transferring ‘the powers, duties and functions’ of the various Regional Authorities to ‘the Administrator-General’.¹¹⁸

1990

Nature Conservation Ordinance, 4 of 1975 amended by Act, 31 of 1990

1995

Ministry of Environment and Tourism position paper published on ‘Wildlife Management, Utilisation and Tourism in Communal Areas’, Circular 19 of 1995¹¹⁹

Aims to redress discriminatory provisions by:

• giving ‘conditional and limited rights over wildlife to communal area farmers’;
• linking ‘conservation with rural development by enabling communal farmers to derive a direct financial income from the sustainable use of wildlife and from tourism’;
• providing ‘an incentive to rural people to conserve wildlife and other natural resources through shared decision-making and financial benefit’.¹²⁰

1995

Ministry of Environment and Tourism position paper published on ‘The Establishment of Conservancies in Namibia’¹²¹

1995

Ministry of Environment and Tourism position paper published on the ‘Promotion of Community Based Tourism’¹²²

1995

Traditional Leaders Act, 17 of 1995

Section 1 foregrounds customary law as ‘the customary law, norms, rules, traditions and usages of a traditional community’,¹²³ which can include ‘members of the community residing outside of the common communal area’.¹²⁴ Extends the responsibilities of traditional authorities, for example, through Section 10(2)(c), influenced by Articles 95(l) and 66 of the Constitution:

‘to ensure that the members of their traditional community use the natural resources at their disposal on a sustainable basis and in a manner that conserves the environment and maintains the ecosystems, for the benefit of all persons in Namibia’.¹²⁵

1995

Agricultural (Commercial) Land Reform Act, 6 of 1995 (ACLRA)

1996

Nature Conservation Amendment Act, 5 of 1996, known as the ‘conservancy amendment’¹²⁶

Provision made for establishing conservancies on communal land and giving conditional rights over wildlife, in part to enable consumptive use of wildlife in communal areas – including for trophy hunting – to facilitate livelihood benefits;¹²⁷ thereby seeking to ensure the inclusion of communal land in the ‘sustainable use’ and management of wildlife and other natural resources: thus, ‘[a]ny group of persons residing on communal land and which desires to have an area … to be declared a conservancy shall apply therefore to the Minister…’ (Section 24A), with the names of persons forming a conservancy committee, a constitution and a statement of boundaries required.¹²⁸

1996
(continued)

Although the ‘composition of the conservancy committee is not prescribed’, Section 28A(1)(a) states that ‘it must include at least one traditional leader’.¹²⁹

Given that a minority of settler freehold farmers have inalienable rights to a major proportion of the most productive land in southern and central Namibia, plus that their title to land means that they effectively and legally own the capital constituted by their land and the resources on it, including ‘huntable game’, this Amendment is structurally unable to create equivalent circumstances on communal land.¹³⁰

Possibility of creating ‘Wildlife Councils’ (Section 24B) also included for areas outside of conservancies.¹³¹

Registration is intended to make ‘a conservancy committee or wildlife council … the owner of all huntable game, huntable game birds and exotic game lawfully on such conservancy or within the area of jurisdiction of the wildlife council’; the intention being to give ‘inhabitants of communal land … the right to make decisions concerning how the wildlife resources on communal land should be utilised’, and to promote ‘a sense of responsibility and connection with wildlife resources which accords with the commonly held view that the community through their traditional leaders owns game under customary law’.¹³²

1996

Formal policy on Community-Based Natural Resources Management (CBNRM)

Leads to the establishment of communal area conservancies as part of CBNRM.¹³³

1996

National Land Policy (NLP)

Primary objectives are ‘to provide adequate access to land for landless people’ and ‘to promote, facilitate and coordinate access to, and control over, land … to support long-term sustainable development for all Namibians’.¹³⁴ Includes an option for ‘legally constituted bodies and institutions to exercise joint ownership rights over land’, implying that a community which defined itself as a conservancy could register tenure rights to the land defining the conservancy’s territory.¹³⁵

1997

Game Products Trust Fund (GPTF) Act no. 7 of 1997 (7.9.1997)

A mechanism ‘for ensuring that revenue obtained from the sale of wildlife products could be used for wildlife conservation and community conservation and development programmes aimed at harmonizing the co-existence of people with such wildlife, and thus securing a future for wildlife outside of and within protected areas in Namibia’. Permits the GPTF ‘to collect revenue from wildlife and wildlife products recovered on state land and reinvest it into wildlife conservation, communal conservation and rural development programmes in Namibia’.¹³⁶

1997

Traditional Leaders Council Act, 13 of 1997

Enabled formation of a Traditional Authorities Council on 3 June 1998 consisting of representatives of recognised Traditional Authorities.¹³⁷

1997

Traditional Authorities Amendment Act, 8 of 1997

Following this amendment the Ministry of Regional and Local Government and Housing ‘started the process of recognising traditional authorities’, permitting implementation of ‘the new remuneration system for traditional leaders’, ‘financial assistance envisaged for traditional offices’, ‘representation in the Traditional Leaders Councils’, and decentralisation.¹³⁸

1998

National Land Policy

Aims to reddress the problem of dispossession, discrimination and inequitable distribution of land that characterised the time before Independence and it has an explicit focus on poor citizens of Namibia.¹³⁹

2000

Traditional Authorities Act, 25 of 2000

Recognises ethnic difference and cultural heritage, as well as the legitimacy of previous so-called ‘traditional’ leadership structures despite their relationship with the previous apartheid state, defining ‘a traditional community’ as:

‘an indigenous, homogeneous, endogamous social grouping of persons comprising of families deriving from clans which share a common ancestry, language, cultural heritage, customs and traditions, recognizes a common traditional authority and inhabits a common communal area, and may also include the members of that traditional community residing outside the common communal area.
[also as consisting of] person(s) either or both of whose parents belong to that traditional community, and includes any other person who by marriage to or adoption by a member of that traditional community or by any other circumstance has assimilated the culture and traditions of that traditional community and has been accepted by the traditional community as a member thereof.’¹⁴⁰

The Act affirms ascertainment of customary law ‘as any kind of authoritative transfer of orally transmitted customary law into a written form’ and states this as a task of the Traditional Authorities.¹⁴¹ The Act uses the terminology of traditional and senior traditional councillors, although the terms headmen and senior headman remain commonly used.¹⁴² It affirms the role of TAs ‘both in ensuring sustainable resource use, and in administering communal land’.¹⁴³

2000

Namibia Tourism Board Act, 21 of 2000

Permits the creation of the Namibia Tourism Board (NTB) in 2001 as a regulatory body,¹⁴⁴ specifically as a government agency tasked with regulating and monitoring Namibia’s tourism industries, and governed by a board with two directors from the private sector and directors from the Ministry of Environment and Tourism (MET), Ministry of Trade and Industry, and Ministry of Finance.¹⁴⁵ The NTB charges an application fee of N$3,000 for trophy hunting operators with accommodation, plus a N$200 annual registration fee.¹⁴⁶

2001

Parks and Wildlife Management Bill

Parks and Wildlife Management Bill, ‘provides for the declaration of protected areas and the necessary procedures before declaration. It further provides for the establishment of conservancies, wildlife farms and game fenced areas. It outlines the provisions under which wildlife may be utilised by land owners, lessees, conservancies, game farms and within communal areas outside of registered conservancies’.¹⁴⁷

2001

The Forest Act

Implements legislation regarding “community forests” enabling,

‘the registration of various types of classified forest areas, including ‘community forests’. Community forests will be registered with the consent of the relevant Traditional Authority. Management authorities for community forests would be established under similar procedures as for conservancies. For example, a forest management plan is required. The MET advised against the creation of separate conservancy and community forest committees within one community, and promoted the integration of the two approaches.’¹⁴⁸

2001

Forestry Development Policy

Aims to,

‘reconcile rural development with the conservation of biological diversity. It recognises the need to involve “local communities” in forest management. The policy views resource ownership as critical for preventing forest degradation. It envisages giving resource tenure over forests to communities in conjunction with the possibility of groups gaining leasehold tenure over land in accordance with the National Land Policy. The policy provides for government to support forest users in their management of forests, through technical and extension services. The policy provides for links to conservancies through enabling forest product harvest quotas and providing for fire control in the management plans of conservancies.’¹⁴⁹

2001

National Resettlement Policy

Namibia identifies the following target groups for resettlement: the San population, displaced people, returnees, ex-combatants, ex-farm workers, destitute and landless people, disabled people and those living in overcrowded communal areas. The objectives of resettlement are to redress past imbalances in the distribution of land; to make people self-sufficient through agriculture; to introduce resettled populations into the national economy; to create income-generating activities; to reduce livestock and human pressure on communal lands; and to provide resettled peoples an opportunity to reintegrate into society.¹⁵⁰

2002

Communal Land Reform Act, 5 of 2002¹⁵¹

Delineates boundaries of Communal Land Areas and establishes Communal Land Boards for their management, to include ‘representatives from farming communities, regional councils, women, the public service and conservancies, in addition to Traditional Authorities’, stating that:

‘(4) Before granting a right to leasehold, subsection (1) in respect of land which is wholly or partly situated in an area which has been declared a conservancy in terms of section 24A of the Nature Conservation Ordinance, 1975 (Ordinance No.4 of 1975), a board must have due regard to any management and utilization plans framed by the conservancy committee concerned in relation to that conservancy, and such board may not grant the right of leasehold if the purpose for which the land in question is proposed to be used under such right would defeat the objectives of such management and utilization plan.’

In conjunction with the Traditional Authorities Act (1995/2000), positions state-recognised Traditional Authorities (TAs) as having the power to allocate land or to deny settlement permission according to traditional rules, given that these not conflict with constitutional and statutory law.

2003

Formation of Regional Land Boards

Formation of regional Land Boards to ratify applications to codify and register communal land-rights. A land-right remains for the period of a person’s natural life and can be passed on to next of kin, given that this is done through the state’s processes. Communal land-rights usually focus on a bounded residential and/or farming unit, with sizes relatively established, yet not exceeding 50 ha.

2004

National Heritage Act, 27 of 2004

Makes provision ‘for archaeological assessment, implemented either in the form of an independent investigation or as part of multi-disciplinary environmental assessment reports’.¹⁵²

2007

MET Policy on Tourism and Wildlife Concessions on State Land

Presents ‘the first uniform policy framework for concessions on state land, including tourism development and trophy hunting concessions. It recognises the opportunities therein for the economic empowerment of formerly disadvantaged Namibians, especially those residing in or adjacent to national parks. It outlines different types of concessions, general principles applying to them, and the process of establishing, awarding and managing concessions’.¹⁵³

2007

Environmental Management Act, 7 of 2007

Makes provision for Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) and Environmental Management Plans (EMPs).

2007

UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP)

Namibia votes in favour of this non-binding UN Declaration.¹⁵⁴

2008

Controlled Wildlife Products and Trade Act 9¹⁵⁵

2009

National Policy on Human Wildlife Conflict Management

2009

Namibian Chapter of the Game Rangers Association of Africa established¹⁵⁶

2013

National Policy on Community Based Natural Resource Management of 2013

States that once a conservancy has been gazetted, ‘ownership over wild game and use rights over other game species will be given to communal area residents’.¹⁵⁷ In practice, however, the ministry maintains ultimate ownership and control over wildlife as it not only has the power to de-gazette conservancies but also sets the quotas for how many animals can be harvested per species. Without an approved quota, conservancies are not permitted to use or sell what is supposedly ‘their’ wildlife. Limited and temporary ‘ownership’ of wildlife is only devolved for certain species of huntable game (e.g. kudu, oryx, springbok, zebra), while most high-value species like elephants, rhinos, lions, and leopards remain exclusively owned and strictly controlled by the State.

Emphasises NGOs as partners in Section 5 on ‘institutional framework’, i.e. ‘Non-governmental organisations are recognised by this policy as key partners in supporting CBNRM processes, especially in helping to create or strengthen community based structures and building management capacities and linking communities to funding sources. The government will continue to collaborate with NGOs to deliver services to communities and where appropriate, and support the formation of local NGOs to outsource certain functions to them’.¹⁵⁸

2014

Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)

Namibia becomes a signatory to the Nagoya Protocol, thus committing the country to develop national legislation on ABS.¹⁵⁹

2017

Nature Conservation Amendment Act, 3 of 2017

Increases penalties for involvement in rhino poaching: first-time involvement maximum fine = N$25 million plus up to 25 years imprisonment; and up to fines of N$50 million and 40 years imprisonment for repeat offenders.¹⁶⁰

2017
27.6.2017

Access to Biological and Genetic Resources and Associated Traditional Knowledge Act, 2 of 2017

2017

Human Lion Conflict Management Plan for North West Namibia (NW Lion Plan)

Aims to mitigate Human-Lion Conflict (HLC). Includes the formation of the Lion Rangers Programme, Lion Rangers being Community Game Guards selected by their communities and employed by their conservancies to monitor desert-adapted lions and monitor and prevent HLC (see Chapters 17, 18 and 19).

2017

Protected Areas and Wildlife Management Bill,¹⁶¹ updated in 2020

A Wildlife and Protected Areas Management Bill is announced, which will repeal the Nature Conservation Ordinance, 4 of 1975 and amendments:

‘[t]o give effect to paragraph (l) of Article 95 of the Namibian Constitution by establishing a legal framework to provide for and promote the maintenance of ecosystems, essential ecological processes and the biological diversity of Namibia, and the utilization of living natural resources on a sustainable basis for the benefit of Namibians, both present and future, and to promote the mutually beneficial co- existence of humans with wildlife, to give effect to Namibia’s obligations under relevant international legal instruments; to repeal the Nature Conservation Ordinance 4 of 1975; and to provide for incidental matters.’ (p. 2)

Additionally, ‘[t]he purpose of this Act is to provide a regulatory framework for the protection, conservation and restoration of species and ecosystems, the sustainable use and sustainable management of indigenous biological resources, the establishment of the Council for Conservation Hunting and the management of protected areas in order to conserve biodiversity and to contribute to national development.’ (Art. 2, p. 18)

Includes:

• definitions of and regulations for ‘game farming’, ‘sport hunting’, ‘sale of live animals’, etc., all requiring adequately fenced farm areas of >1,000 ha;

2017
(continued)

• definitions of and regulations for ‘problem-causing animals’, ‘protected species’ (Art. 44), ‘specially protected species’ (Art. 41, 43, ‘sustainable use’, hunting seasons’ (Art. 42);
• rules around weaponry that can be used for trophy/conservation hunting (Art. 53);
• hunting appears to be specifically precluded from state Protected Areas;¹⁶²
• new categories of: 1) ‘Protected Landscape/landscape conservation area’, ‘to protect areas where the interaction
  of people and nature over time has produced an area of distinct character with significant aesthetic, ecological and/or cultural values, to maintain the diversity of landscape and habitat and associated species and ecosystems of such areas and to contribute to the welfare of the local community and farmland through the provision of natural products and services and the sustainable use of natural resources’ (Art. 14(1d), p.37);
  and 2) ‘Contractual Parks’, ‘to protect areas where people and nature interact for conservation of natural resources and benefit thereof, established through an agreement by the Minister with another organ of state, a local community, any person or any other party for the collaborative management of natural resources in
  the area by the parties, or the regulations of human activities that affect the environment in the area’ (Art. 14(1e));
• protection of ‘items and features of archaeological, historical, geological and cultural value within protected areas’ (Art. 7(y));
• regulations and restrictions regarding ‘prospecting or mining in protected areas’ (Art. 21(1), p. 43), including ‘biodiversity offset initiatives’ (Art. 21(4h));
• hunting and collection of wild species in protected areas (Art. 24);
• restrictions on luring game from protected areas (Art. 26);
• rules around the granting of concessions in protected areas or on communal land (Art. 32), the latter requiring ‘a right of leasehold from the relevant Communal Land Board’;
• rules around the establishment, management, rights and obligations of conservancies (Art. 33 to 37), and requirements for ‘taking into account […] the views of the regional Council and Traditional Authority of that area’;
• collection of indigenous plants (Art. 104-110);
• rules around human-wildlife conflict management (Art. 111-117), including that ‘[a]ny person may destroy a wild animal, including specially protected game in defense of a human life or to prevent a human being from being injured’ (Art. 116(1)) and ‘if a professional hunter who is a member of the legal entity or with which the legal entity has a contract is within the area of the conservancy or farm at the time at which such animal is required to be destroyed, enter into an arrangement with that professional hunter for the destruction of the animal concerned’ (Art. 116(2b));

2017
(continued)

• establishment of a ‘Council for Conservation Hunting’ (Art. 72-103).

The intention is to ‘do away with potential conflict, repetition and overlaps between the two laws, and to streamline the implementation process’, and ‘to bring wildlife and protected areas management on par with new developments in wildlife and land management in order to contribute to sustainable development, poverty reduction and eradication’.¹⁶³

Also expected to acknowledge and strengthen landscape approaches for conservation through the category ‘Site of Special Conservation Interest’, thereby facilitating establishment of ‘People’s Parks’ or ‘People’s Landscapes’, such as the Ombonde-Hoanib People’s Landscape joining the southern parts of Omatendeka and Ehirovipuka conservancies.¹⁶⁴

The Bill was expected to be enacted in 2019 but to date remains outstanding.

2018–2027

Revised National Policy on Human Wildlife Conflict Management¹⁶⁵

Revises the 2009 policy stating that:

• ‘safeguards need to be in place to ensure that wildlife is destroyed for good reason’ – normally associated with repeated attacks (p16);
• ‘[t]he use of products derived from problem causing animals must be done so with a permit and conditions issued by the Ministry’;
• ‘Local wildlife management unit will have the right to inform the Professional Hunter with which they have an existing contract or any other hunter if the contracted PH is not available, of the opportunity to hunt a problem-causing animal for which they have been given permission to destroy by the authorized staff member. The local wildlife management unit will have the right to charge the Professional Hunter a fee in terms of Section 11 (i) of Annex 2. If an animal is hunted in this way then the local wildlife management unit is responsible for the reporting requirements contained in Section 14 of Annex 2’ (p17).

2021

National Elephant Conservation and Management Plan 2021/2022–2030/2031

New national elephant plan instituted by the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism (MEFT) (see Chapter 11).