January 8, 2025
Robust, collaborative and driven by science. This is how you can describe the process that the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism (MEFT) has adopted to set quotas in communal conservancies. Richard Fryer, the Control Warden for Human-Wildlife Conflict and Conservation Hunting at MEFT, who manages this process, explains that they needed their quota-setting system to include a more robust process that could withstand scrutiny from anti-hunting critics.
December 3, 2025
From the rural reaches of Namibia’s expansive wilderness to the often monotonous moments spent collating data at a cluttered desk, Richard Freyer’s work rarely follows a routine. As a Control Warden with the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism (MEFT), Freyer is part of a team tasked with maintaining one of Namibia’s most delicate balances: conserving wildlife while supporting the people who live alongside it. Each year, Freyer contributes to setting wildlife quotas, a cornerstone of sustainable resource management in the country. These quotas are not arbitrary numbers: they are based on field data, aerial surveys and close cooperation with all 86 communal conservancies in Namibia. This annual process then determines quotas for the next threeyear cycle.