Blog

ENVIRONMENT, forestry and tourism minister Pohamba Shifeta has urged the rural communities to continue safeguarding the existence of the natural resources as they are the backbone of the Namibian economy.

Shifeta made this call during the handover of a climate change project entitled ‘Integrated Climate Change Adaptation within the Agro-ecological Landscape of the Sikanjabuka Community Forest’ in the Zambezi region on Friday.

The project is funded by the Environmental Investment Fund (EIF) and is aimed at increasing the adaptive capacity and improving the livelihoods of the community most distressed by the negative impacts of climate change.

According to Shifeta, natural resource-based livelihoods are vulnerable to climate change, and it presents a serious challenge for the livelihoods of nearly 70% of the country’s population that are directly dependent on subsistence agriculture and livestock farming.

“The observed changes in temperature extremes, the length of the dry season and rainfall intensity not only underscore that the climate in Namibia is becoming drier, but also that climate variability remains a significant phenomenon of long-term climate trends,” he said.

He applauded the community of Sikanjabuka for sustainably taking care of the forest and its entire ecosystem, although more still needs to be done to realise the full potential of the natural resources.

“For our economy to flourish, we need to prioritise rural development through investment in our natural resources, value addition, and protection of our wildlife as a community benefit through sustainable trophy hunting, tourism development, and other related livelihoods,” he alluded.

Shifeta revealed that the ministry and the Green Climate Fund, which is the focal point on climate change, are fully committed to addressing climate change.

However, the insufficient capacity of farmers to adopt and build resilience remains a key challenge.

“Farming and natural resources management should be treated as businesses to generate income and support the livelihoods of our society,” he said.

To date, the climate change project at Sikanjabuka Community Forest has implemented a functional greenhouse system successfully with a 10 000-litre water tank installed on site, Shifeta then revealed.

The project has also procured one tractor and implements for sustainable rangeland management and a infrastructure for honey production.

“The project recorded a bumper harvest early this year and generated an income of N$12 000, which has been re-invested into the upkeep of the project,” he said.

EIF chief executive officer Benedict Libanda, in his remarks at the same event, noted that the Sikanjabuka Community Forest is faced with natural challenges such as deforestation, veld fires, overutilisation of natural resources and climate change.

He added that all these threats degrade the ecosystem the communities depend on.

“Therefore, we saw it fit to provide a grant of N$4 957 000 to the community to foster a climate change resilient livelihood for sustainable natural resource management,” he said.