Etosha Pan to the Skeleton Coast: How Conservation Histories and Cultural Heritage Concerns May Inform the Landscape Approach in Northwest Namibia

We consider conservation histories and heritage concerns for one of southern Africa's most iconic conservation regions: the variously connected ‘Etosha–Kunene’ areas of north-central and northwest Namibia. Drawing on a collaborative research project called Etosha-Kunene Histories we confront a critical question, namely: how can the conservation of biodiversity-rich landscapes be reconciled with historical injustices of social exclusion and marginalization? We focus on three dimensions pertinent to this question, in a context of repeated conservation desires for a ‘wildlife corridor’ between Etosha Pan and the Skeleton Coast. First, we provide information regarding the historical background of boundary changes from Game Reserve No. 2 established under the German colonial regime in 1907, via the 1958 Etosha Game Park boundary expanded towards the coast in 1962, to the current borders of Etosha National Park (ENP). Second, we review some of the historical displacements that affected Indigenous and incoming communities through the connected area from Etosha Pan to the Skeleton Coast; highlighting the legacies of these displacements for Community-Based Natural Resources Management (CBNRM) and landscape approaches in this area today. Finally, we provide a brief case-study of how the landscape approach in conservation and tourism is manifesting in the Ombonde People’s Landscape west of ENP, considering how an emphasis on opening this landscape to multiple tourism investments may be in tension with environmental, conservation and cultural-ecological considerations.