{"id":{"repo_id":"oxford-brookes","oai_identifier":"tle:4f42cc09-4f9c-440a-8855-0f619cbf73a4:d6bd9758-527a-46cd-bfe2-c433766e8fca:1"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/oxford-brookes/tle:4f42cc09-4f9c-440a-8855-0f619cbf73a4:d6bd9758-527a-46cd-bfe2-c433766e8fca:1","repository":{"repo_id":"oxford-brookes","name":"Oxford Brookes University","base_url":"https://radar.brookes.ac.uk/radar/oai"},"display":{"title":"Local ecological knowledge on the population dynamics of elephants (Loxodonta africana) in the Highlands of Northwest Namibia","abstract":"There is a small population of elephants (Loxodonta africana) in the mountainous, remote area of northwest Namibia that is locally referred to as the Northern Highlands. The objective of this Research Project was to build a knowledge base on the population, behaviour and movements of elephants in the Northern Highlands. Before this PhD Research Project there had been no research or publications specifically on the elephants in the Northern Highlands. This Research Project was planned to align with the objectives of Namibia’s National Elephant Conservation and Management Plan, which includes a priority for research on elephants in northwest Namibia so that protection measures can be planned. Given that counting and monitoring elephant populations and behaviour in such a mountainous and rocky landscape is particularly challenging, the Research Project was largely based on collating the local ecological knowledge of the community game guards. These game guards have been employed and trained under community conservancy programmes that started to be set up in the 1990s. The research method involved detailed semi-structured interviews with 34 game guards and, importantly, much time spent in the field to verify the findings, including identifying evidence of elephant movements in the study area. Based on details of groups of elephants known by the game guards, and taking into account double counting, it is estimated that there are between 78 and 212 elephants in the Northern Highlands (best estimate 128 elephants). The population has been increasing in the last 10-20 years with elephants now spending much of the year in the Highlands area, whereas they previously tended to visit only in the rainy season. It is concluded from this research that the challenges with damage at water points are starting to be addressed by investment programmes of the Government of Namibia to upgrade water points. This includes installation of solar power, protection walls and concrete holding dams so that water is more permanently available for people and elephants. There are still many water points that need such investment. The research has identified hotspots of human-elephant conflict at which upgrades to water points could be prioritised. The number of vegetable gardens has increased in the Northern Highlands since 2019 and a new concern of the communities is elephant damage at vegetable gardens. The research has also concluded that elephants prefer the tree species associated with the higher rocky slopes such as the African star chestnut (Sterculia africana) and Commiphora species. These species are likely to be a major factor in elephant movements from Etosha National Park into the Northern Highlands. The research also identified specific routes that the elephants are taking within the Highlands and potential areas in which they tend not to move. However, further research is needed on elephant movements, for example through GPS collaring. The Research Project has provided a robust baseline for conservation measures for the elephants and mitigation measures to address human-elephant conflict. Several areas of future research are identified in this thesis. Given the considerable knowledge of game guards, confirmed during this study, it is recommended that the role of game guards should be enhanced in future research and in future activities to protect the elephants of the Northern Highlands.","abstract_html":"There is a small population of elephants (Loxodonta africana) in the mountainous, remote area of northwest Namibia that is locally referred to as the Northern Highlands. The objective of this Research Project was to build a knowledge base on the population, behaviour and movements of elephants in the Northern Highlands. Before this PhD Research Project there had been no research or publications specifically on the elephants in the Northern Highlands. This Research Project was planned to align with the objectives of Namibia’s National Elephant Conservation and Management Plan, which includes a priority for research on elephants in northwest Namibia so that protection measures can be planned. Given that counting and monitoring elephant populations and behaviour in such a mountainous and rocky landscape is particularly challenging, the Research Project was largely based on collating the local ecological knowledge of the community game guards. These game guards have been employed and trained under community conservancy programmes that started to be set up in the 1990s. The research method involved detailed semi-structured interviews with 34 game guards and, importantly, much time spent in the field to verify the findings, including identifying evidence of elephant movements in the study area. Based on details of groups of elephants known by the game guards, and taking into account double counting, it is estimated that there are between 78 and 212 elephants in the Northern Highlands (best estimate 128 elephants). The population has been increasing in the last 10-20 years with elephants now spending much of the year in the Highlands area, whereas they previously tended to visit only in the rainy season. It is concluded from this research that the challenges with damage at water points are starting to be addressed by investment programmes of the Government of Namibia to upgrade water points. This includes installation of solar power, protection walls and concrete holding dams so that water is more permanently available for people and elephants. There are still many water points that need such investment. The research has identified hotspots of human-elephant conflict at which upgrades to water points could be prioritised. The number of vegetable gardens has increased in the Northern Highlands since 2019 and a new concern of the communities is elephant damage at vegetable gardens. The research has also concluded that elephants prefer the tree species associated with the higher rocky slopes such as the African star chestnut (Sterculia africana) and Commiphora species. These species are likely to be a major factor in elephant movements from Etosha National Park into the Northern Highlands. The research also identified specific routes that the elephants are taking within the Highlands and potential areas in which they tend not to move. However, further research is needed on elephant movements, for example through GPS collaring. The Research Project has provided a robust baseline for conservation measures for the elephants and mitigation measures to address human-elephant conflict. Several areas of future research are identified in this thesis. Given the considerable knowledge of game guards, confirmed during this study, it is recommended that the role of game guards should be enhanced in future research and in future activities to protect the elephants of the Northern Highlands.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Wenborn, Michael"],"institution":"Oxford Brookes University","degree_name":null,"degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Nijman, Vincent"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":null,"date_issued":"","date_published":null,"updated_at":"2026-07-24T03:42:31Z","subjects":[],"languages":["en"],"rights":["All rights reserved"],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://doi.org/10.24384/3g3v-m971","outbound_label":"DOI","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Wenborn, Michael","Nijman, Vincent"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Wenborn, Michael"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:publisher","label":"Institution","values":["Oxford Brookes University"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["thesis"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["en"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["All rights reserved"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://doi.org/10.24384/3g3v-m971","https://radar.brookes.ac.uk/radar/file/4f42cc09-4f9c-440a-8855-0f619cbf73a4/1/Michael Wenborn PhD Thesis FINAL 20 January 2025.pdf"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["There is a small population of elephants (Loxodonta africana) in the mountainous, remote area of northwest Namibia that is locally referred to as the Northern Highlands. The objective of this Research Project was to build a knowledge base on the population, behaviour and movements of elephants in the Northern Highlands. Before this PhD Research Project there had been no research or publications specifically on the elephants in the Northern Highlands. This Research Project was planned to align with the objectives of Namibia’s National Elephant Conservation and Management Plan, which includes a priority for research on elephants in northwest Namibia so that protection measures can be planned. Given that counting and monitoring elephant populations and behaviour in such a mountainous and rocky landscape is particularly challenging, the Research Project was largely based on collating the local ecological knowledge of the community game guards. These game guards have been employed and trained under community conservancy programmes that started to be set up in the 1990s. The research method involved detailed semi-structured interviews with 34 game guards and, importantly, much time spent in the field to verify the findings, including identifying evidence of elephant movements in the study area. Based on details of groups of elephants known by the game guards, and taking into account double counting, it is estimated that there are between 78 and 212 elephants in the Northern Highlands (best estimate 128 elephants). The population has been increasing in the last 10-20 years with elephants now spending much of the year in the Highlands area, whereas they previously tended to visit only in the rainy season. It is concluded from this research that the challenges with damage at water points are starting to be addressed by investment programmes of the Government of Namibia to upgrade water points. This includes installation of solar power, protection walls and concrete holding dams so that water is more permanently available for people and elephants. There are still many water points that need such investment. The research has identified hotspots of human-elephant conflict at which upgrades to water points could be prioritised. The number of vegetable gardens has increased in the Northern Highlands since 2019 and a new concern of the communities is elephant damage at vegetable gardens. The research has also concluded that elephants prefer the tree species associated with the higher rocky slopes such as the African star chestnut (Sterculia africana) and Commiphora species. These species are likely to be a major factor in elephant movements from Etosha National Park into the Northern Highlands. The research also identified specific routes that the elephants are taking within the Highlands and potential areas in which they tend not to move. However, further research is needed on elephant movements, for example through GPS collaring. The Research Project has provided a robust baseline for conservation measures for the elephants and mitigation measures to address human-elephant conflict. Several areas of future research are identified in this thesis. Given the considerable knowledge of game guards, confirmed during this study, it is recommended that the role of game guards should be enhanced in future research and in future activities to protect the elephants of the Northern Highlands."]},{"key":"dc:format","label":"Dc Format","values":["application/pdf"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Local ecological knowledge on the population dynamics of elephants (Loxodonta africana) in the Highlands of Northwest Namibia"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Wenborn, Michael","Nijman, Vincent"],"dc:creator":["Wenborn, Michael"],"dc:description":["There is a small population of elephants (Loxodonta africana) in the mountainous, remote area of northwest Namibia that is locally referred to as the Northern Highlands. The objective of this Research Project was to build a knowledge base on the population, behaviour and movements of elephants in the Northern Highlands. Before this PhD Research Project there had been no research or publications specifically on the elephants in the Northern Highlands. This Research Project was planned to align with the objectives of Namibia’s National Elephant Conservation and Management Plan, which includes a priority for research on elephants in northwest Namibia so that protection measures can be planned. Given that counting and monitoring elephant populations and behaviour in such a mountainous and rocky landscape is particularly challenging, the Research Project was largely based on collating the local ecological knowledge of the community game guards. These game guards have been employed and trained under community conservancy programmes that started to be set up in the 1990s. The research method involved detailed semi-structured interviews with 34 game guards and, importantly, much time spent in the field to verify the findings, including identifying evidence of elephant movements in the study area. Based on details of groups of elephants known by the game guards, and taking into account double counting, it is estimated that there are between 78 and 212 elephants in the Northern Highlands (best estimate 128 elephants). The population has been increasing in the last 10-20 years with elephants now spending much of the year in the Highlands area, whereas they previously tended to visit only in the rainy season. It is concluded from this research that the challenges with damage at water points are starting to be addressed by investment programmes of the Government of Namibia to upgrade water points. This includes installation of solar power, protection walls and concrete holding dams so that water is more permanently available for people and elephants. There are still many water points that need such investment. The research has identified hotspots of human-elephant conflict at which upgrades to water points could be prioritised. The number of vegetable gardens has increased in the Northern Highlands since 2019 and a new concern of the communities is elephant damage at vegetable gardens. The research has also concluded that elephants prefer the tree species associated with the higher rocky slopes such as the African star chestnut (Sterculia africana) and Commiphora species. These species are likely to be a major factor in elephant movements from Etosha National Park into the Northern Highlands. The research also identified specific routes that the elephants are taking within the Highlands and potential areas in which they tend not to move. However, further research is needed on elephant movements, for example through GPS collaring. The Research Project has provided a robust baseline for conservation measures for the elephants and mitigation measures to address human-elephant conflict. Several areas of future research are identified in this thesis. Given the considerable knowledge of game guards, confirmed during this study, it is recommended that the role of game guards should be enhanced in future research and in future activities to protect the elephants of the Northern Highlands."],"dc:format":["application/pdf"],"dc:identifier":["https://doi.org/10.24384/3g3v-m971","https://radar.brookes.ac.uk/radar/file/4f42cc09-4f9c-440a-8855-0f619cbf73a4/1/Michael Wenborn PhD Thesis FINAL 20 January 2025.pdf"],"dc:language":["en"],"dc:publisher":["Oxford Brookes University"],"dc:rights":["All rights reserved"],"dc:title":["Local ecological knowledge on the population dynamics of elephants (Loxodonta africana) in the Highlands of Northwest Namibia"],"dc:type":["thesis"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T03:42:31Z"}