Namibia's rhino poaching crisis

Conservationists view the poaching of a rhino as evidence of governance failure; community leaders see it as collateral in the fight for survival

- Wonder Guchu

Rhino conservation: A rhino poached at the weekend has become a tragic emblem of the Red Mountain dispute. Photo: Supplied

(Supplied)

Three community conservancies in northwestern Namibia — Doro! Nawas, Sorris Sorris and Uibasen Twyfelfontein — reignited their opposition to mining inside the Red Mountain Joint Management Area after the discovery of a freshly poached black rhino.

The incident has intensified longstanding tensions between conservation and mining interests in one of Namibia's most ecologically fragile and economically contested regions.

The area lies in the Kunene Region's arid, mountainous terrain — part of Namibia's internationally acclaimed community-based conservation network, where local communities co-manage wildlife areas with the ministry of environment, forestry and tourism.

The zone, jointly administered by the three conservancies, supports desert-adapted black rhinos, elephants and other species and draws ecotourism revenue that sustains hundreds of rural households. But the same landscape is now targeted for tin and base-metal extraction.

Since 2024, government-issued claims and mineral exploration have expanded across Kunene, triggering protests and legal challenges from the conservancies.

In June 2025, Andrada Mining Limited entered into an ore-supply and profit-share agreement with Goantagab Mining, a Namibian-owned company whose claims fall within the Red Mountain Joint Management Area. The agreement allows Andrada to source up to 240 000 tonnes per year of high-grade tin ore, averaging about 1.5 % tin, to supplement feedstock for its processing plant in Erongo Region.

The three conservancies have since filed petitions to the high court, the ministry of environment, forestry and tourism, that of mines and energy, and the Anti-Corruption Commission, demanding an immediate stop to all mining operations in the area.