Land & RightsNGO
Ju/'hoansi San Fire Stewardship of the Nyae Nyae Conservancy
by Nyae Nyae Development Foundation · HQ 🇳🇦 Namibia
0km²Nyae Nyae Conservancy area under community fire managementas of 2020-01-01 · may be outdated
0%Share of the conservancy burned by uncontrolled fire before proactive management beganas of 2010-01-01 · may be outdated
The Ju/'hoansi San manage fire across the 8,992-square-kilometre Nyae Nyae Conservancy in northeastern Namibia, one of Africa's first community conservancies. After uncontrolled fires burned roughly half the conservancy in 2010, the Nyae Nyae Conservancy and Community Forest, supported by the Nyae Nyae Development Foundation, began pairing traditional Ju/'hoansi burning knowledge with annual risk mapping produced each May. Community fire teams then carry out early, cooler controlled burns in the highest-risk zones before the peak dry season, protecting villages, grazing, and forest resources from the hotter, more destructive late-season fires that early burning prevents.