Tourism, conservation and community development are inextricably linked and mutually supportive in Namibia's rural areas. They provide training, employment and motivation to continue to protect wildlife and wild places, and they generate a win-win situation for people, wildlife and Namibia's economy. Community conservation areas, known as conservancies, establish solid foundations for natural resource management in combination with sustainable development and livelihood diversification. By proactively managing natural resources, conservancies have created an attractive investment environment for private tourism operations to enter joint ventures with these communities to introduce tourists to their wildlife and natural landscapes. Tourism has thus significantly added to the conservation success and long-term sustainability of Namibia's Community-based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM) programme. The first conservancy joint venture lodge was established in 1996. Today there are 62 joint venture lodges in 33 conservancies. At the end of 2018 a total of 1,174 people were employed in conservancy joint venture lodges and the conservancy programme has generated an income of N$93,771,228 directly from joint venture lodges, of which N$29.9 million were invested in conservation and rural development.