Hoole, A and Sullivan, S (2024) 'Living next to Etosha National Park: the case of Ehi-Rovipuka.' In: Sullivan, S, Dieckmann, U and Lendelvo, S, eds. Etosha Pan to the Skeleton Coast: conservation histories, policies and practices in north-west Namibia. Open Book Publishers, Cambridge, pp. 375-402. ISBN 9781805112969
Abstract
This chapter considers the implications of being park-adjacent for ovaHerero pastoralists now living in Ehi-Rovipuka Conservancy. Using PhD research conducted in 2006 and 2007 as a baseline, the chapter focuses on three dimensions. First, some aspects of the complex and remembered histories of association with the western part of what is now Etosha National Park are traced via a “memory mapping” methodology with ovaHerero elders. Second, experiences of living next to the park boundary are recounted and analysed, drawing on a structured survey with 40 respondents. Most interviewees indicated that no benefits were received at the time from the national park. They also expressed desires for grazing rights—especially for emergency grazing during dry periods—as well as access to ancestral birthplaces, graves and traditional resource use areas, and involvement in joint tourism development ventures inside the park. Finally, different dimensions of local knowledge are recounted, including of wildlife presence and mobilities through the wider region, “veld-foods”, and school-children’s perceptions of Etosha National Park and the conservancy. Although the research reported here was carried out some years ago, circumstances in Ehi-Rovipuka have changed rather little. The conservancy remains along the border of a national park, and peoples’ histories of utilising, moving through, being born and desiring to be buried in the western reaches of the park, continue to exist. The chapter argues that more awareness of how social, ecological and historical dimensions of the broader Etosha landscape are connected is essential for achieving biodiversity conservation outcomes.
| Item Type: | Book Chapter or Section |
|---|---|
| Note: | The open access book is available to read at the URL above. |
| Divisions: | School of Writing, Publishing and the Humanities |
| Related URLs: | |
| Date Deposited: | 09 Aug 2024 16:50 |
| Last Modified: | 09 Aug 2024 16:52 |
| URI / Page ID: | https://researchspace.bathspa.ac.uk/id/eprint/16412 |
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