(Re)Empowering the Community: A Case Study of Namibia\u27s Legal Evolution of Wildlife Governance

This Article will introduce the theoretical foundation of the CBC [Community-Based Conservation] approach. It will then use Namibia as a case study to both: (a) illustrate the sort of historical, political, and economic drivers that motivate the adoption of CBC across the global south, and (b) highlight the existence of potential structural weaknesses present in even the most lauded CBC programs. Finally, this Article will present some of the common theoretical and results-based criticisms of CBC and discuss broader lessons that can be drawn from the Namibian experience. The analyses in this Article draw from academic literature, Namibia’s statutes and Constitution, and the Stefan Carpenter’s original field research in four conservancies (CBC areas) located in Namibia’s northwestern Kunene region. This abstract has been adapted from the author\u27s introduction