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Wildlife conservation continues to face the acute challenges of poaching, habitat fragmentation and human-wildlife conflict. Environment ministry executive director Teofilus Nghitila said due to Namibia's successful conservation methods, which have led to increased wildlife populations outside national parks, human-wildlife conflict has increased. "The situation is worsened by the current disparities in rainfall as well as the growing human population," he said in his end-of-year message.

Environment ministry executive director Teofilus Nghitila says 48 rhinos have been poached so far this year. The figure shows a decrease from the 92 animals poached last year. Meanwhile, eight elephants were poached this year - compared to four last year - but this still much better than the previous years' figures, which reached 27 in 2018. The ministry – in collaboration with various law enforcement agencies - set up a response team when poaching skyrocketed in 2013.

There has been an increase in the number of arrests made in crimes related to pangolin trafficking between 1 September and 30 November. According to environment ministry spokesperson Romeo Muyunda, 18 pangolin skins, 12 live pangolins and 146 scales were confiscated, resulting in 23 registered cases and 38 suspects being arrested. "These numbers surpass that of elephant and rhino arrests combined for this period."

Namibia's average criminal market score was 4.1, an increase of 0.2 since 2021. The country scored 3.5 on human trafficking and 4.5 in arms trafficking. For flora crimes, Namibia scored 6.5, and for fauna crimes - which would include rhino poaching and the linked trade in horns - it scored 4.5.

This year to date only four elephants have been poached in comparison to the 12 elephants that were poached last year. In 2014, when poaching started to increase in Namibia, 78 elephants were killed, peaking at 101 poached elephants in 2016.

At Sangwali, a Namibian was arrested on 6 July for being in possession of one impala carcass. Oscar Munyandi was charged with illegal hunting of special protected species. In another matter, a Namibian, Simuna Kankona, was arrested on 12 July with two python skins, and charged for the illegal possession and dealing of controlled wildlife products. On 13 July, Mathews Hamusira, a Namibian citizen, was arrested at Rundu for being in possession of a pangolin skin.

On 20 June, a Namibian was arrested at Rundu for being in the possession of a pangolin skin. At Etosha National Park's King Nehale gate, two Namibians were arrested on 21 June for illegally being in the possession of an eland carcass. In another incident at Omahenene, an Angolan national and a Namibian were arrested on 22 June with 22 pangolin skins, while a revolver pistol as well as five rounds of live ammunition were confiscated.