Co-creating pathways to achieving desirable social-ecological futures in northern Kunene

Abstract

Ovahimba pastoralists in the Kunene region of northern Namibia face a complex set of environmental and socio-economic challenges that are gradually undermining their traditional livelihoods and ways of life. Against this background, our project aimed to support the development of inclusive, bottom-up adaptation strategies to strengthen Ovahimba pastoralists' resilience to anticipated climate change impacts. Using a participatory approach, we applied the 3-Horizons framework, through which community representatives from two case study sites identified current circumstances and indicators of crises, desired social-ecological futures, and concrete, community-led pathways to attain those futures. In the process, four community-led project proposals addressing food insecurity, limited income opportunities, rangeland degradation, and weak rangeland governance were developed. Building on these outcomes, we organised a multi-stakeholder workshop that brought together government representatives, NGOs, funding agencies, and academics, during which community project proponents received feedback and explored avenues for implementation. This process surfaced both opportunities – such as relevant funding lines and alignment with existing policy frameworks – and obstacles, including literacy barriers and bureaucratic processes. Several enabling conditions were also identified as essential to initiating and sustaining community projects over time, notably multi-stakeholder coordination and long-term monitoring. In this article, we document the full process involved in translating community-led initiatives into reality and discuss the structural challenges they reflect. We conclude with a reflection on the implications of this process for local communities, policy, and future collaborations. We emphasise that developing adaptation strategies is highly complex, but urgent action is essential. Without it, the pastoral system could reach a tipping point that would be much more costly and more difficult to reverse than the initiatives discussed here.