In 1993, WWF was invited to Namibia to implement the USAID-funded Living In A Finite Environment (LIFE) Project.  We’ve never looked back.   

Since then, WWF has worked with dedicated Namibian conservationists and the country’s new, independent government to spearhead conservation efforts that empowered the local communities that live with the wildlife to gain rights and responsibilities over their natural resources through the creation of communal conservancies.

The first communal conservancy was established in 1998.  As of May 2023, there are 86 communal conservancies, and more than 20 countries from around the world have studied its application. 

WWF Namibia has a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ministry of Environment Forestry and Tourism.  We continue to support CBNRM and we have also expanded our reach to include providing support to large landscape conservation, species protection and socio-economic initiatives that impact Namibians from all walks of life. 

WWF Namibia’s vision is that Africa’s wildlife and wild places are valued, conserved, rehabilitated, and drive economic development, empower local communities, reduce inequities, and increase resilience to climate change and systemic shocks in Namibia and beyond. 

We are working with Namibians to recover from the devastating impacts of Covid-19 and a 7-year drought in the northwest of the country to strengthen community conservation as well as to expand our efforts beyond communal areas to include freehold farms and national parks. 

We will continue to amplify our work to ensure that both wildlife and wild places accelerate positive change as “engines of sustainable economic development” in Namibia, neighbouring countries and beyond. 
By 2026, our goal is that the green economy in Namibia and KAZA is generating significant social, cultural, and economic returns by securing healthy wildlife population and wild places.