ABSTRACT
This chapter explores and compares landscape-wide partnerships in Kenya and Namibia by amalgamating literature on partnerships, governance, power and landscapes into a landscape governance perspective. The chapter discusses key similarities and differences between evolving partnership arrangements in Kenya and Namibia. Our analysis demonstrates that partnerships play prominent and complementary landscape governance roles, but also that in practice power relations play a decisive part in achieving these roles. Partnerships represent policy arenas where different interests are negotiated and trade-offs between conservation and development, between private, public and community interests, but also, between tourism and other sectoral practices, are brought to the surface. The cases further illustrate that partnerships have only been able to effectively fulfil their governance roles with support of the government. Finally, we argue that, while the partnerships can address direct drivers of biodiversity loss (such as poaching), they contribute to a much lesser extent to addressing indirect drivers, such as lasting poverty, land subdivision or impacts of climate change in targeted landscapes.
