Our Approach
ORKCA strives to be an engine of sustainable economic growth through landscape restoration and community stewardship in Southern Namibia. ORKCA connects land units, through partnership and purchase, to form one vast, continuous, ecologically diverse conservation area where people and nature are resilient to climate impacts. At the heart of ORKCA’s vision is creating livelihoods through inclusive land use models, protecting endemic wildlife and land resources, and building capacity towards a conservation-based future. ORKCA works alongside the Wilderness Foundation Africa (WFA) to reconnect fragmented ecosystems on the South African and Namibian sides of the Orange River in order to reconnect the Nama and Succulent Karoo. ORKCA endeavors to work with conservation-minded partners to create one of the largest rewilding projects on the African continent.
Safeguard land
- Partner and purchase adjoining land to create connecting habitat, improving grazing for livestock
- Safeguard land for environmental protection
- Unite farms to create a continuous, large conservation area
- Create an incentive-based, income-diversifying model to attract neighbouring landowners as partners.
RESTORE AND REWILD
- Remove fences, invasive species and relocate livestock
- Reintroduce indigenous and endangered species and restore migratory grazing patterns.
- Measure impact on biodiversity and carbon.
- Re-establish healthy wildlife populations in community-owned conservancies.
Community Agency Building
- In partnership with local communities, create revenue generating activities around nature-based solutions.
- A co-governing strategy and operations strategy developed with community conservancies and commercial farmers.
- Encourage agency building in the local communities regarding their stake in the ownership of ORKCA.
- Invest in educational, livelihood and capacity building outreach projects.
Monitor, Evaluate, and Manage
- Invest into the security of free roaming wildlife and threatened species both within ORKCA and southern Namibia.
- Continually audit, evaluate, and report on impact of interventions.
- Introduce rigorous landscape-wide reserve monitoring systems to inform proactive management.
Projects
Inclusive capacity sharing and co-governing with local communities, revenue generating activities