This paper surveys different economic aspects of biodiversity conservation in Namibia's wildlife sector. One of the main causes of biodiversity loss has been the conversion of wildlife habitat to other land uses, notably livestock and crops. However, wildlife utilization strategies potentially yield significantly higher economic rates of return compared to these traditional land uses. Historically, the move towards land use patterns more favourable to wildlife has been hampered by a number of policy and institutional constraints. Since Namibia's independence, many of these constraints have now been removed or are in the process of reform.