Modelling nature-based tourism impacts on rural development and conservation in Sikunga Conservancy, Namibia

authored by

Steven Gronau, Etti Winter, Ulrike Grote

Abstract

Community-based natural resource management and nature-based tourism often go hand in hand to drive conservation and economic development in sub-Saharan Africa. However, the complementarity of the two strategies is controversially discussed in the literature. Built on survey data from 200 households conducted in 2012 we analysed the trade-off between conservation and development objectives by means of a mathematical programming model representing the economy of a rural conservancy in Namibia. We found that in the scenario describing unrestricted resource extraction, local communities mainly benefit from fishing and utilising forest products. In comparison, the scenario representing the social optimum, implying sustainably managed fish stocks and appropriate diets for community inhabitants, shows that community households increase agricultural diversification and shift livelihoods towards tourism employment.

Organisation(s)

Institute of Environmental Economics and World Trade

Type

Article

Journal

Development Southern Africa

Volume

34

Pages

276-294

No. of pages

19

ISSN

0376-835X

Publication date

17.01.2017

Publication status

Published

Peer reviewed

Yes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Geography, Planning and Development, Development

Sustainable Development Goals

SDG 8 - Decent Work and Economic Growth

Electronic version(s)

https://doi.org/10.15488/11778 (Access: Open)
https://doi.org/10.1080/0376835X.2016.1269638 (Access: Closed)