African Wildlife & Environment Issue 76 FINAL

IN MEMORIAM

Garth Owen-Smith was born in 1944 and lost his battle with cancer on 21 April 2020, so ending the life of an extraordinarymanwho has left an indeliblemark on the practice of wildlife conservation in Africa. For 53 years, from his first visit to Namibia in1967, Garth devoted his life to changing the way in which wildlife policies and attitudes to rural communities were implemented. In memoriam GARTH OWEN-SMITH Colonial attitudes and philosophies brought to Africa saw rural Africans as 'poachers', to be pursued and punished by the equivalent of the European 'gamekeepers', whose job was to protect the 'Royal Game' within the areas designated for their protection. In this way most rural Africans were alienated from wildlife and denied access to the wild resources that they had traditionally utilised for centuries. Garth Owen-Smith's story has thankfully been documented in his excellent autobiographical book AnArid Ede n. His early years in Namibia (then 'SouthWestAfrica', administered by South Africa since 1921 after World War 1) were characterised by ongoing friction with government Dr John Ledger

rapidly after Namibia's independence in 1990. The new regime was very supportive of the notion of communities having ownership and responsibility for the wildlife on their land, and the concept of 'conservancies' was widely implemented. By 2017 there were 83 registered conservancies in Namibia, covering 163,000 square kilometers of land, over which wildlife was now legally managed by its

officials who regarded rural communities as incompatible with wildlife conservation goals. Garth's view was that unless these same communities were treated as legal custodians of the wildlife they lived alongside, there was no hope for nature conservation in Africa. His philosophy was articulated in a seminal article entitled 'Wildlife conservation inAfrica: There is another way!', published in Quagga # 17 (1987), the journal of the Endangered Wildlife Trust. When he resigned from government service, hewas supported by someNGOs in his efforts to implement conservation in an area the size of the Kruger National Park. He had one

indigenous rural custodians as a valuable and sustainable resource through tourism, live game capture and sales, subsistence hunting and trophy hunting. Today Namibia leads the African continent in its enlightened wildlife conservation policies, which have ensured the increase in numbers of rhinos, elephants and a myriad other species that have benefitted from the conservancy concept. Garth leaves two sons and a grandson from his former marriage to June. A more detailed tribute will be paid to this conservation legend in a forthcoming issue of our Eco Hero series. It is not often that individuals can play a major role in shaping far-reaching national

Land Rover, donated by an American NGO called SAVE, and six community game guards, funded by the EWT. The concept of the game guards was his innovation, to give the local community chiefs status in appointing the men, some of whom were reformed poachers. Over the years, Garth suffered considerable deprivation and hardship, but stuck firmly to his convictions. With his anthropologist partner, Dr Margaret Jacobsohn, steady headway was made, which escalated

policies, but Garth-Owen Smith was one of them, and we salute his legacy and his memory with gratitude and appreciation for a life truly well-lived.

Dr John Ledger Consulting Editor john.ledger@wol.co.za 083 650 1768

5 | African Wildlife & Environment | Issue 76 (2020)