Namibia has put in place one of the most innovative conservation management programmes in Africa. Through the years, Namibia has developed and instituted a number of incentive-based laws which have successfully inspired recovery of wildlife populations on private lands, and more recently, on communal state lands. Consequently, both private land owners and rural communities (who form communal conservancies) are now integrating the management and sustainable utilization of wildlife into their production strategies. A fundamental factor in this conservation movement has been the contributions of the trophy hunting industry. Key words: Namibia, conservancies, sustainable use, trophy hunting.