Integrated Rural Development and Nature Conservation | Namibia

Integrated Rural Development and Nature Conservation (IRDNC) has worked to link conservation to the social and economic development of the people who live with wildlife and other valuable natural resources since its earliest days in the mid-1980s. Through its long-term involvement in Namibia’s most remote north-west and north-eastern regions, IRDNC pioneered community-based conservation in the region and has become one of Africa’s leading models of community-based natural resource management. Over many decades, IRDNC’s field teams have facilitated the devolution of rights over natural resources to rural communities and built their capacity to sustainably manage and benefit from their local natural resources. By improving the lives of rural people through strengthening civil society and diversifying the socio-economy in Namibia’s communal areas to include wildlife and other valuable natural resources, IRDNC has worked with local communities to secure a long-term place for wild animals outside of national parks, and significantly reduce future pressure on these areas.

Learn more: irdnc.org.na