Community Conservation

As an authentic Namibian company, NTS is a proud supporter of IRDNC, contributing to sustainable change in local communities and nature conservation.

So what exactly is IRDNC and how is NTS involved in this initiative?

Well, besides being an acronym for the tongue twister title - Integrated Rural Development and Nature Conservation, IRDNC is an initiative that works with a vision of change within rural communities to sustain natural resources and wildlife. An effort to actively become involved in Human-Wildlife Conflict Management, allowing the people of Namibia to live in harmony with our diverse wildlife, living outside of National Parks, to secure the long term place of both.  

Namibia is a vast country that offers incredible landscapes as natural habitats to numerous species of animals, many of which are endangered in Africa and whose numbers have been rapidly declining due to poaching and habitat loss across the continent in recent years. In Namibia however, thanks to local community action, numbers have in fact been increasing.

Namibia is the only country that has an expanding free-roaming lion population, outside of National Parks and has also seen the drastic growth of rhino and elephant populations since the 1980’s. And to top it all, local communities have been able to generate revenue from nature conservation throughout the country effectively over the past few years. In essence this is the core of IRDNC.

An initiative that focuses on 3 of the most remote regions in Namibia – the Kunene, Zambezi and Kavango East. All well-known tourist attractions, but beyond what you can look forward to and read up about each place, there’s an ongoing balance to be kept, in interaction between the wildlife and the local people who inhabit these areas.

Namibia was the first country in Africa to incorporate protection of the environment into the constitution and with more than half of all communal land under conservancy management and a large portion of Namibia’s population living inside conservancies, the adage that change is driven by people, could not be more apt. With the local communities empowered to make a difference in conservation of nature and wildlife, both can and are thriving.

With prolific wildlife being one of Africa’s greatest resources and one of the main reasons most people will travel to Namibia and as a country of diverse ethnicity, it’s something close to our hearts. Something we feel compelled to be a part of and something we want you to share in as well. Making a difference.

Include the IRDNC into your itinerary by making a local visit when in the area – ask your consultant for tips and advice to get involved on the ground. If you’d like to read up more about the latest in news from the bush and what the IRDNC is currently busy with, then click here:  IRDNC

As Leo Tolstoy once said, “Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.” We know that travel to Namibia will change you and in this way you can change the world too.