The contribution of local knowledge to land use panning and sustainable
utilization of natural resources is enormous, yet often overlooked by
conventional top-down approaches of regional integrated land use plans. The
rich knowledge of local land users contribution to implementation of top-down
plans is very important.
The study investigates the importance of environmental criteria analysis in
sustainable land management through engaging the community at local level,
using Salambala Conservancy in Katima Mulilo Rural, Lusese Village in Kabbe
and Mayuni Conservancy in Linyanti constituencies, Caprivi region, North East
Namibia as case studies.
Looking at an array of environmental indicators and land use practices which
people use, the study investigates the proportional contribution of complex
indigenous land use management strategies of the environment. It further
revealed that wherever different groups of people use land and its resources,
land use is always planned, consciously or subconsciously.
The study uses several methods to capture these issues of interest. Evaluation of
environmental sustainability through an appropriate environmental framework
is applied as an approach to engage local level land use planning. Pressure State
Response Framework (PSR) was found to be useful methodology at local
community level for identifying the right indicators for monitoring objectives.
It was also established that Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) was an
appropriate method for engaging the local community at different levels to
participate in activities for land use planning. The PRA exercises could help to
generate knowledge and understanding of seemingly logical decisions on land
uses through familiarisation with background information on study sites.
4
The study concludes by demonstrating how the problem of integrating
environmental considerations into land use plans can be overcome. One of the
main conclusions from the study is that there is an alternative possible way of
engaging and integrating local level land use practices (LUP) with regional land
use plans. The expectation is that there is a need to integrate bottom-up local
level planning with regional planning in order to ensure environmental and
development sustainability.