Below, please find the non-technical summary of the ESDD carried out in Skeleton Coast-Etosha Conservation Bridge.
Background
The Skeleton Coast-Etosha Conservation Bridge (SCECB) program is implemented by a consortium partnership between World Wildlife Fund, Inc. (WWF Namibia Country Office) and Integrated Rural Development and Nature Conservation (IRDNC). The program encompasses an area of 55,299 km² in north-western Namibia. It includes Skeleton Coast National Park, the northern part of Dorob National Park, Cape Cross Nature Reserve, Palmwag, Etendeka and Hobatere Tourism Concession Areas, Ombonde People’s Park, Hoanib People’s Park, the emerging Hartmann’s Valley People’s Park, and 14 conservancies in the buffer zone managed by Indigenous peoples and local communities: Marienfluss, Orupembe, Sanitatas, Okondjombo, Puros, Sesfontein, Anabeb, Omatendeka, EhiRovipuka, #Khoadi-//Hôas, Torra, Doro !Nawas, Tsiseb and Ozondundu. The program area is also part of the Iona-Skeleton Coast Transfrontier Park, a mosaic of protected areas that includes another LLF funded program, the Iona legacy landscape (LL).
An environmental and social due diligence (ESDD) study was developed by The Landscapes and Livelihoods Group (TLLG) together with The International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), from January to August 2023, as part of Legacy Landscapes Fund’s (LLF) grant selection process. For further details on SCECB LL, please consult the program page.
Methodology
The due diligence involved preliminary identification of the most significant potential risks and stakeholders to be assessed during the ESDD, and included a field visit in March 2023, where key program stakeholders were assessed through group discussions, semi-structured key interviews, direct observations, and a workshop to refine and validate the fieldwork data. Stakeholders consulted included conservancy members, non-conservancy members, traditional authorities, rangers, wardens and community game guards, conservancy management committees, tourism operators, and civil society organizations.
Main Environmental and Social Risks and Impacts
The program’s most significant risks are the potential of environmental and social (ES) impacts going unnoticed due to a lack of clarity on the ES risks assessment and management strategy, human-wildlife conflict-related fatalities, injuries, losses, and escalation, weak representation of minority and marginal groups in the community management committees, and weak program communication and information dissemination across stakeholders.
Legacy and contextual risks identified in the LL are continuing high levels of inequality, impacts of climate change on pastoral communities in the program area, possible forced evictions of non-recognized conservancy users and core zone inhabitants, and weak stakeholder engagement.
ESDD Categorization
SCECB LL has been classified as a category B+ (substantial risk) program by the ESDD carried out by TLLG and IIED consulting. The contextual risks were classified as B (moderate), whereas risks related to funded program activities were categorized as B/B+ (moderate/substantial), resulting in a B+ overall risk category.
Foreseen Mitigation Measures as per ESAP
The overall SCECB environmental and social action plan (ESAP) strategy is to ensure that WWF and IRDNC have sufficient capacity for implementing safeguards, by appointing a community engagement and safeguards coordinator, conducting a capacity assessment, and developing framework level plans, particularly the community engagement and planning framework (CEPF), which includes a free, prior, and informed consent (FPIC) protocol to be advanced for all activities that could lead to access restrictions. The ESAP also recommends development of a robust human-wildlife conflict management plan and a program grievance redress mechanism (GRM).
For more information, please consult the following links: