The area under natural forests has diminished steadily while deforestation has escalated progressively in the past 10 years. Strategic constraints leading to this ever-increasing rate of forest depletion are examined, and relevant policy interventions for overturning them are suggested. Communal ownership and management of natural resources in the northern and north-eastern Namibia are identified as a major underlying constraint on natural resource conservation because the communal system lacks mechanisms for regulating access.