Thesis (Ph. D), University of Manitoba, 2008 ; This study investigates the premise that national park designations and management in Southern Africa decoupled indigenous communities from their local ecosystems. The research explores ways and means to recouple communities and national parks to promote biodiversity. The relationships are characterized between Namibia’s community-based resource management program (CBNRM), conservancies, and protected areas system, with particular reference to the Ehi-rovipuka Conservancy and Etosha National Park in northern Namibia. This is a sparsely populated, arid region, marked by recurrent drought, a stunning wildlife spectacle, and ethnically diverse, communal area villages. The nature and consequences of decoupled social-ecological systems between community and national park are elucidated. Institutional linkages and interplay are identified and described in and between community-based conservation and national parks. Alternative approaches are suggested to the strict protection regimes that typify IUCN Category II National Parks. A qualitative research approach is employed, featuring a case study and several different and interrelated methods of data collection and analysis. Fieldwork in Namibia was completed over a 6 month period. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 51 different key informants representing a cross-section of NGOs, private enterprise, international donors, Namibia’s Ministry of Environment and Tourism, communities and conservancies. Structured interviews were conducted in the case study community of Otjokavare with 40 Herero villagers in the Otjiherero language, employing a community interpreter and field assistant. Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) methods were also employed, including participant observation, memory mapping by 3 village elders, local knowledge mapping by 6 village men and women, and a national park and conservation awareness exercise by 34 Grade 7 pupils at the community primary school. Field research findings were ...