The Value of Landscapes in Northern Namibia: A System of Intertwined Material and Nonmaterial Services

Abstract

It is increasingly recognized that ecosystems provide varied services that should be considered in land management decisions. One of the challenges in the valuation of landscapes is that they often provide multiple services that combine into one social–ecological system. In this article we show how overlaps of those services can be measured, visualized, and explained. The results from a case study conducted in a rural community in northern Namibia show that in some landscapes, services are intertwined. We draw on a practice approach and ethnographic data to explain this finding and argue that services are related within places and fields of action. More specifically, we show that material services such as the provision of food and income form a unified whole with nonmaterial or “cultural” services such as beauty and social interaction and are often experienced simultaneously.

Research for this article is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and is part of The Future Okavango (TFO) project on anthropogenic influences and cultural dimensions of environmental uses in the Okavango catchment (www.future-okavango.org).

This is an Open Access article. Non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly attributed, cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way, is permitted. The moral rights of the named author(s) have been asserted.

• anthropology
• ecosystem services
• environmental values
• ethnography
• landscape perception
• Sub-Saharan Africa

Acknowledgments

We are greatly indebted to the people of Mahahe and several other communities along the Okavango catchment of Namibia, Angola, and Botswana. As members of the research team, Michael Pröpper, Felix Haupts, Björn Herold, João Baptista, Samwel T. Kwandu, and Lucas Kanumbo Mandjoro have shaped our understanding of the themes discussed. Moreover, we are obliged to Wolfgang Teichert for his assistance in creating the maps. Michael Pröpper and three anonymous reviewers provided valuable comments on an earlier draft of this article.