Policy on Tourism and Wildlife Concessions on State Land 2007.

This Policy establishes Tourism and Wildlife Concessions on State Land. Concessions are a powerful mechanism to enhance tourism development and sustainable natural resource management at regional and national level. This is achieved by increasing the economic value of proclaimed protected areas and other State land in national development, while maintaining and strengthening the conservation of biodiversity and the maintenance of the ecological integrity of protected areas and other State land. Concessions can also contribute to economic growth through foreign currency earnings, employment creation, rural development, alleviation of poverty and addressing social inequities. In the interest of ensuring transparency and fairness, a just and fair competitive process should be applied to award concessions. Equal opportunity should be given to any interested Namibian party to apply for a concession.
The Ministry of Environment and Tourism (MET) will: Award concessions directly to communities with representative, accountable and stable community institutions that are legal entities; Give priority to communities that reside within protected areas or nearby; Use concessions to mitigate the costs of communities to provide incentives for them to support the objectives of the protected area, and to stimulate local economic growth; Provide assistance and guidance in the negotiation of beneficial agreements with joint venture partners or investors, and technical assistance to access business management skills and resources; Ensure that the communities are not exploited in any sub-agreement or joint venture with other partners, etc. Preference will be given to rural communities and joint ventures that are demonstrably beneficial to rural communities, either through the generation of revenue to that community and employment opportunities or other benefits.
MET has the following objectives for concessions through assessing proposals or their environmental and socio-economic impact, i.e. to: Enhance the conservation of biodiversity and the maintenance of the ecological integrity of protected areas; Enhance the ability of the MET to effectively manage protected areas and wildlife resources on other State land and to control and monitor tourism operations, trophy hunting, provision of services in protected areas and other concessions involving wild animal or plant resources; Enhance through concessions the economic value of protected areas and wildlife resources on other State Land, and the generation of revenue from the sustainable use of national assets contained in protected areas and on other State land; Promote economic empowerment of formerly disadvantaged Namibians and their entrance into the tourism, hunting and wildlife-based industries.
Affirmative actions should be applied and empowerment opportunities associated with concessions should be enhanced by formulating minimum requirements that would ensure the participation of previously disadvantaged groups. Preference should be given to disadvantaged rural communities where such concessions would have the potential to provide the greatest socio-economic impact at local level, whilst also recognizing the importance of employment creation; Provide support to ensure capacity development, skills and to facilitate access to capital for all Namibians to meet concession requirements; Use concessions as a means of promoting sustainable development, poverty alleviation and employment creation in protected areas and on other State land.