Torra conservancy: Equator Initiative 2004 award winner
- Namibia’s best-known conservancy is wildlife-rich Torra, which borders the celebrated Skeleton Coast Park. Registered in 1998, it covers 352,000 hectares of plains and rugged mountains in southern Kunene.
- Benefits for the mixed community of Riemvasmakkers, Damaras, Herero, and Owambo, who live in the conservancy include cash payouts, jobs, game meat, and livestock protection measures such as new water points and electric fencing. Elderly residents have also received Christmas packages, including hats, scarves, socks, and blankets (Long 2001:16-17, Baker 2003:2).
- The conservancy currently earns N$750,000 a year and has taken in enough revenue to cover its own running costs since 2000 (Long et al. 2004:19). In January 2003, Torra’s conservancy committee distributed N$630 in cash (US$73) to every conservancy member over 18. This amounted to approximately half of the average annual income in conservancy households (USAID 2005:3).
- Torra Conservancy has generated considerable income—about N$1.5 million as of October 2003—from ecotourism, trophy hunting, and sales of live game. Ecotourism activities include Damaraland Camp, a luxury lodge staffed entirely by local tribespeople. Damaraland Camp is a joint venture between Torra’s conservancy committee and private tour operator Wilderness Safaris (Vaughan et al. 2004:2).
- In 2004 Torra Conservancy won the Equator Initiative Prize awarded by the United Nations Development Programme for outstanding community projects that reduce poverty through sustainable use of biodiversity.
