The event will be held at the Grootberg Conference Hall, where Environment and Tourism Minister Willem Konjore will be the key speaker.

The #Khoadi //Hoas conservancy was the first conservancy to have its own lodge, the Grootberg Lodge.

It also has the #Khoadi Campsite, situated close to Erwee.

The conservancy's information officer, Helga /Howoses, told The Namibian yesterday that trophy hunting earns the community about N$78 000 a year.

Other speakers at the two-day event are the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Environment, Dr Malan Lindeque, the Executive Director of the Namibia Nature Foundation, Dr Chris Brown, the Director of the World Wildlife Fund, Chris Weaver, the Co-ordinator for the Namibian Association of Community-Based Natural Resources Support Organisations (Nacso), Maxi Pia Louis, and the conservancy's chairperson, Asser Ndjitezeua.

Approximately N$21 million was earned through Namibia's Community-Based Natural Resources Management (CBNRM) activities in 2005.

The CBNRM programme of the Ministry of Environment and Tourism, established in 1996, gives rights to communal area residents to form land units called conservancies.

This grew out of a recognition that wildlife and other natural resources had disappeared in many areas and that measures to reverse the losses could enable communities improve their livelihood.

There are currently 50 registered conservancies in Namibia, generating a total income of almost N$14 million.

The main sources of income are eco-tourism joint ventures and trophy hunting.

An additional N$7 million was generated by other CBNRM activities related to conservancies in 2005.

This represented a significant increase compared to the N$600 000 earned by conservancies in 1998, when the first conservancies were gazetted.

Some conservancies have paid cash dividends to their members, some have supported local schools, while others have used part of their income to assist the elderly.

Some of the money was used to protect water installations from elephants.

At the launch of the Communal Conservancies Report for 2005 earlier this year, Minister Konjore said conservancies had created 208 fulltime and 26 part-time jobs in 2005.

A further 307 fulltime jobs and 58 part-time jobs were created in joint-venture tourism lodges in conservancies.

Agreements with trophy hunters provided a further 67 jobs.

In 2005, the contribution of CBNRM activities to the national economy was N$144 million.

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