As this report on the progress and challenges facing conservancies and community forests was being compiled, the Ministry of Environment and Tourism (MET) was putting the final touches to a new policy on Community-based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM) in Namibia. This policy is aimed at integrating the country's community-based approaches to different natural resources. It demonstrates the Namibian government's commitment to give decisionmaking and management authority to resource-users at a local level in the wildlife, water, land, forestry and agricultural sectors. The policy builds on the past successes of the communal area conservancy programme, which is demonstrated by the growth in the number of conservancies from four in 1998 to 66 in 2011, with an additional 13 community forests and one community association.