Ecological landscape description of the axis : Located in southern Africa, Namibia is surrounded by Angola (to the north), Botswana (to the east) and South Africa (to the south). An emerging nation, it was one of the first to enshrine environmental protection in its constitution. Indeed, 44% of the country's total surface area is made up of protected or sustainably managed areas, and since 1998, more than 80 communal organizations, covering 20% of the country and bringing together almost 10% of Namibia's population, have been working to conserve its heritage. In December 1995, Namibia also adopted the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance, which mainly concerns natural bird habitats. Since January 2020, the country has had 5 Ramsar sites. Environmental management has become of paramount importance for this territory, which is affected by numerous problems such as illegal diamond mining in the south of the country, uranium production within certain national parks such as Namib-Naukluft and Dorob, and intensive poaching of black rhinos and fur seals at Cape Cross on the west coast, authorized by the Namibian government. The Namibian Axis stretches from the south to the north of Namibia on its coastal region bordering the Atlantic Ocean, through one of the oldest deserts on the planet, the Namib Desert. Stretching over 2,000 kilometers from the north of South Africa to the south of Angola, Namibia's coastal region forms an immense hyper-arid environment with extreme climatic conditions. Average annual rainfall is less than 25 mm, and the fauna has adapted to live in such conditions. In North-Western Namibia, the migration axis links the Skeleton Coast, the arid coastal region, with Etosha Park to the east, via the Kunene corridor. This is an isolated region that has preserved exceptional biodiversity. It then links the entire Kavango-Zambèze area (the world's largest terrestrial protected area, measuring 520,000 square kilometers and straddling Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Angola and Namibia) and Khaudum National Park. The north-west of Namibia, meanwhile, is home to some very wild landscapes. This is what has enabled the black rhino to thrive.
Description of the protected area network of the migration route : Namibia is one of the few countries to have enshrined nature protection in the marble of its constitution. Like Tanzania, it has a mixed ministry, combining the development of tourism with respect for the environment. It boasts an extensive network of national parks, public reserves, natural monuments and private conservancies, with 38% of the country's land surface under protected status (1). Community conservancies are farms managed by indigenous tribes who reap the benefits (ecotourism, safaris, etc.) and where wildlife management is conditioned to maintain a good balance between rural economic development and environmental protection. These areas, originally made up of community land, have now become farms where land use and wildlife management are regulated. Buffer zones or “corridors” linking the various protected areas allow animals to move freely according to their feeding needs. These conservancies differ from “commercial conservancies”, which are developed on freehold land, such as the Khomas Horchland Conservancy. This major wildlife migration route incorporates several natural areas of great importance for biodiversity, such as the national parks, which make up over 15% of the territory's total surface area. These include Etosha National Park in the north-west, Namibia's largest reserve, which is home to 114 different mammal species, including the endangered black rhino. The park is also home to Etosha Pan, a large mineral lake and the country's only known breeding ground for pink flamingos. Other protected areas, all along its Atlantic coast, are of vital importance, such as the Skeleton Coast National Park, home to some of Namibia's endemic species (the Heaviside dolphin and the Gerrhosaurus skoogi lizard), and the Namib Naukluft National Park, Namibia's largest reserve, home to the world's oldest desert and some unusual species resistant to this climate (such as geckos, greater kudu, hyenas, jackals, oryx, wildebeest and mountain zebra), as well as Waterberg Plateau Park, a sanctuary for the black rhinoceros, considered endangered by the IUCN. In the Daan Viljoen nature reserve, best known for its tourist appeal and natural wealth (with a wealth of wildlife), we find the large Augeigas dam and reservoir, a controversial issue between protection and economic development. Tourism is particularly strong here, with a large number of infrastructures and facilities for activities such as hunting. The Namib-Rand private reserve, on the border of the Namib-Naukluft National Park, aims to develop a “fenceless sanctuary” allowing wildlife to roam uninterrupted, with access to tourism restricted to minimize its impact. Finally, Namibia is home to “natural monuments” including Ai-Ais Hot Springs (Ai-Ais meaning “burning”), Africa's largest natural gorge containing some of the world's oldest rock paintings. This area is home to the Gray Rhebok (an antelope indigenous to southern Africa and categorized as rare), but also represents a major challenge for biodiversity, as certain portions of this territory are under EPL (exclusive prospecting and mining license). In response to this challenge, the Namibian Ministry of the Environment and Tourism is attempting to implement regulatory strategies to regulate these areas and reduce their impact.
Description of wildlife and migratory issues (type of migrations...) : Namibia is the richest dry region in the world in terms of biodiversity. The diversity of Namibia's ecosystems and landscapes enables numerous species to flourish throughout the territory. These include populations of lions, cheetahs, black rhinos, zebras and other wildlife native to the region. The country is also home to some of the world's most endangered species, including two species of vulture (African and white-headed), the cape penguin, the wild dog and the white and black rhinoceros, which are estimated to have been lost by more than 97% in 60 years (100,000 in 1960, 2,600 in 2022). For several years now, the fauna has been developing, with multiple increases in populations of springbok, oryx algazelle and impala. Namibia also boasts Africa's largest nomadic population of black rhinoceros and the world's largest cheetah population. The migratory movements described by the scientific community on this axis mainly concern the seasonal migrations of large herbivores in search of new pastures during the rainy season, as is the case for herbivores in Etosha National Park. Indeed, elephants living in the Namib Desert on the west coast of the country (Kunene region) travel hundreds of kilometers to feed during this period. Spatial correlations have also been described by scientists for predatory species, who follow the annual migrations of their prey along Namibia's waterways (1). Finally, while zebras have been the subject of numerous studies and this family of species migrates eastwards, large mammals mainly move from the north towards the Namutoni camp. In summer, there is also a massive migration of birds from Europe to the country's west coast (notably the Skeleton Coast). Using the Konene corridor, these migratory birds sail over 200 kilometers long and 400 kilometers wide, between the coast and the central northern region of Etosha National Park.
Corridor actions and projects : In 2010, the “Namibia Protected Landscape Conservation Areas Initiative” (NAM PLACE) project set out to create protected landscape conservation areas. Spearheaded by Namibia's Ministry of Environment and Tourism and its Directorates of Tourism and Parks and Wildlife Management (DoT, DPWM), in partnership with the UNDP and financed by the GEF, this four-year initiative sought to act effectively on the conservation of areas adjacent to protected areas, by creating corridors for the preservation of animal species and making them compatible with the development and strengthening of the livelihoods of local communities present in these landscape areas. Given the need to integrate the management of different land units on a landscape scale, the scope of this project was chosen to be very broad. It covered 5 areas: from the Mudumu North/South Complex, Greater Waterberg, Greater Sossusvlei to the Greater Fish River Canyon and the Windhoek Green Belt Area. It ensures that state protected areas and community conservancies are better linked at landscape level, rather than functioning as a segmented mosaic. In Northeastern Namibia, the small Sobbe Corridor links Madumu National Park to the Zambezi Forest Reserve and extends north to the Kavanga-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area. Although it represents only a part of these corridors, the Sobbe corridor is essential for the conservation of elephants, which use this migration route during the dry season from April to November. Coming from the Namib Desert (vior above), their mobility within these vast expanses is also invaluable in facilitating their adaptation to the consequences of climate change. So, in 2018, in order to carry out effective conservation actions and raise local awareness of the importance of preserving this wildlife, a contract was signed between the Sobbe conservancy (community conservation area) and the South African company Distell, producers of Amarula liqueur. The newspaper Le Monde reports: “The company, which produces Amarula liqueur, whose logo is a pachyderm, paid 150,000 Namibian dollars (around 10,000 euros) to the community organization, which groups around 1,000 people, in exchange for a commitment not to build dwellings or expand its fields or pastures within the corridor.”
Threats and challenges : Environmental protection faces many challenges in Namibia: illegal diamond mining in southern Namibia, uranium production in several national parks such as Namib-Naukluft or Dorob. Intensive poaching is also a major threat to certain species in the region. The re-establishment of the direct relationship between wildlife health and the prosperity of local communities through several conservation programs has considerably reduced this threat, and many species have reappeared. Overall, then, the challenges of ecological connectivity are numerous. Firstly, there is the difficulty of finding sufficient benefits to enable local populations to meet their needs, within the framework of a conservation policy that has hitherto been based on a system of protected area management. The sustainable, global vision provided by the landscape approach and corridor projects, backed by local management and community governance, will help to make up for communities' loss of income, notably by creating economic development opportunities (via the introduction of incentives for sustainable, nature-friendly subsistence farming, partly centred on the use of renewable energy resources, the development of instruments aimed at securing water supplies, maintaining the ecosystem functionality of surrounding natural resources and habitats, and increasing communities' basic incomes via the development of perennial, nature-based local value chains, and lastly the implementation of actions based on the payment for ecosystem services scheme). Most of the documented threats to the future of the Namibian migration axis stem from road and infrastructure development projects in the region. The Trans-Cunene corridor The Trans-Cunene corridor links the port of Walvis Bay in southern Angola to Lubango, a distance of 1,600 km. According to sources from 2012, “the Republic of Namibia and the Republic of Angola formally agreed in May 1997 to create the Trans-Cunene Corridor in order to open up northern Namibia and southern Angola to much-needed economic development opportunities after 27 years of civil war between the main protagonists, the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), the National Front for the Liberation of Angola (FNLA) and the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA). The corridor, which includes road, rail and air links, connects the port of Walvis Bay in Namibia with Lubango, near the small port of Namibe in south-west Angola. By road, the distance is 1,551 km, with a (reasonable) transit time of four days. In all likelihood, the Trans-Cunene Corridor will link up with the East-West Corridor from Benguela to Lobito and/or Huambo, in west-central Angola.” The Lobito corridor On July 1, 2024, some media reported the Congolese government's announcement of a major infrastructure project: the development of 1,400 km of highways, also known as the “Lobito Corridor”, following bitter negotiations between the West and Beijing: “This is a reflection of the increasingly fierce competition between the West and Beijing over this key region of the world”. In discussion for several years, it is thanks to an investment by the state-owned China Road and Bridge Corporation (Crbc) that Angola is about to sign a contract with the Chinese construction giant edile to link its territory with neighboring Republic of Congo and Namibia: from the province of Cunene in the south to the provinces of Zaire and Cabinda in the north-west. The total cost of the project is estimated at 2.5 billion dollars.the article reports, according to Agence Ecofin sources, that “Crbc will begin studies shortly after the signing of a memorandum of understanding, scheduled for the China-Africa Cooperation Forum” to be held in Beijing from September 3 to 8. According to the Angolan ministry, “feasibility studies will be finalized by mid to late 2025”.
Bibliographical references : (1) Martina Trinkel; Paul H. Fleischmann; Albert F. Steindorfer; Gerald Kastberger (2004). Spotted hyenas (<em>Crocuta crocuta</em>) follow migratory prey. Seasonal expansion of a clan territory in Etosha, Namibia. , 264(2), 125–133. doi:10.1017/s0952836904005588 (ou le lien : https://sci-hub.hkvisa.net/10.1017/s0952836904005588 ) : Articles qui décrit les mouvements de migrations des hyènes pendant les migrations saisonnières des herbivores, corrélation spatiale Namibia wildlife, Rhinoafrica ; Namibia, WWF ; Namibia, Protected Planet (WDPA) ;