Significant benefits from environment projects
Environment minister Pohamba Shifeta last week presented a publication to parliament outlining the main projects the ministry and the Environmental Investment Fund (EIF) have mobilised over the past five years.
These projects were specifically mobilised from multilateral and bilateral sources and the technologies and innovations introduced through these projects have been significant.
The publication is titled 'Delivering Transformative Impacts on The Ground – Contribution of Projects Mobilised Through the Ministry of Environment and Tourism (2015-2019)'.
Shifeta said the publication more importantly details the significant impacts these projects have had in contributing towards rural development and livelihood improvement throughout Namibia, during a time when the country has been seriously affected by consecutive and severe drought events.
“This is the future we can expect as the devastating impacts of climate change manifest themselves in this part of the world.”
He said the ministry has a key role to play in identifying, designing and coordinating project ideas for funding, formulating project proposals and in implementing projects in support of government's broader socio-economic, environmental and poverty eradication objectives.
“It is pleasing that in spite of Namibia's classification as a middle-income country, the ministry and the EIF have been hugely successful in mobilising resources through multilateral and bilateral sources.” According to Shifeta, the EIF became one of the first accredited entities to the Green Climate Fund in 2016 and is playing a major role in mobilising funding from this window.
He said a total of 12 projects have been mobilised and or implemented through the Green Climate Fund, the Global Environment Facility and the Adaptation Fund over the past five years with an overall value of N$1.21 billion at the 2019 exchange rate.
These projects cover the areas of biodiversity conservation, climate change adaptation and mitigation and combating land degradation. In terms of bilateral cooperation, five projects are under implementation or have been implemented with support from the German government worth N$665.6 million at the 2019 exchange rate.
These projects are implemented in partnership with GIZ and the German development bank (KfW).
Shifeta said that as part of bilateral cooperation funding, one credit facility worth N$734.1 million at the 2019 exchange rate, has been established through the EIF, in collaboration with the French Development Agency.
“This facility supports entrepreneurs in the areas of renewable energy, sustainable agriculture and tourism development. It should be noted that these funds are availed directly to commercial banks (as a loan) while these banks offer loans in turn to entrepreneurs at concessional rates.”
He said the total funds mobilised are N$2.5 billion at the current exchange rate for those projects.
According to him, each of these projects have been designed mainly to pilot and demonstrate new innovations and technologies as Namibia steps up its efforts to mitigate and adapt to climate change, halt biodiversity loss and combat land degradation and desertification.
Shifeta said that among the prominent project interventions have been new approaches to agriculture such as hydroponics, community gardens based on conservation agriculture and drip irrigation, fodder production as well as water harvesting.
“Another major impetus has been investment into climate-friendly infrastructure, particularly in protected areas, communal conservancies and community forests.”
Shifeta said that solar-powered boreholes and the use of desalination technologies have been found to save communities money and have been used to supply water to communities, livestock and wildlife during the drought.
According to him, these have also been a central component of efforts to mitigate conflict between humans and wildlife.
“I have been fortunate to see for myself the impacts of some of these projects on the ground and we believe that the technologies and innovations introduced through these projects are highly significant and need to be promoted, absorbed and upscaled through the different line sectors.”
Shifeta said the urgency of climate change alone commands that new ways of doing things are promoted, adopted and embraced for the benefit of current and future generations and the broader environment. He further added that the evaluations and audits of these projects have been found to be satisfactory or better.
“What's more is that these projects have empowered and groomed a large number of Namibian graduates in the environment sector. Good quality project proposals are now being routinely developed by Namibian experts, while there is now a considerable pool of Namibian experts in fields such as project management, monitoring and evaluation and project administration.”
He said the ministry will ensure that all donor-funded projects are managed and implemented by Namibians and create opportunities to employ interns and graduated youth.
ELLANIE SMIT
These projects were specifically mobilised from multilateral and bilateral sources and the technologies and innovations introduced through these projects have been significant.
The publication is titled 'Delivering Transformative Impacts on The Ground – Contribution of Projects Mobilised Through the Ministry of Environment and Tourism (2015-2019)'.
Shifeta said the publication more importantly details the significant impacts these projects have had in contributing towards rural development and livelihood improvement throughout Namibia, during a time when the country has been seriously affected by consecutive and severe drought events.
“This is the future we can expect as the devastating impacts of climate change manifest themselves in this part of the world.”
He said the ministry has a key role to play in identifying, designing and coordinating project ideas for funding, formulating project proposals and in implementing projects in support of government's broader socio-economic, environmental and poverty eradication objectives.
“It is pleasing that in spite of Namibia's classification as a middle-income country, the ministry and the EIF have been hugely successful in mobilising resources through multilateral and bilateral sources.” According to Shifeta, the EIF became one of the first accredited entities to the Green Climate Fund in 2016 and is playing a major role in mobilising funding from this window.
He said a total of 12 projects have been mobilised and or implemented through the Green Climate Fund, the Global Environment Facility and the Adaptation Fund over the past five years with an overall value of N$1.21 billion at the 2019 exchange rate.
These projects cover the areas of biodiversity conservation, climate change adaptation and mitigation and combating land degradation. In terms of bilateral cooperation, five projects are under implementation or have been implemented with support from the German government worth N$665.6 million at the 2019 exchange rate.
These projects are implemented in partnership with GIZ and the German development bank (KfW).
Shifeta said that as part of bilateral cooperation funding, one credit facility worth N$734.1 million at the 2019 exchange rate, has been established through the EIF, in collaboration with the French Development Agency.
“This facility supports entrepreneurs in the areas of renewable energy, sustainable agriculture and tourism development. It should be noted that these funds are availed directly to commercial banks (as a loan) while these banks offer loans in turn to entrepreneurs at concessional rates.”
He said the total funds mobilised are N$2.5 billion at the current exchange rate for those projects.
According to him, each of these projects have been designed mainly to pilot and demonstrate new innovations and technologies as Namibia steps up its efforts to mitigate and adapt to climate change, halt biodiversity loss and combat land degradation and desertification.
Shifeta said that among the prominent project interventions have been new approaches to agriculture such as hydroponics, community gardens based on conservation agriculture and drip irrigation, fodder production as well as water harvesting.
“Another major impetus has been investment into climate-friendly infrastructure, particularly in protected areas, communal conservancies and community forests.”
Shifeta said that solar-powered boreholes and the use of desalination technologies have been found to save communities money and have been used to supply water to communities, livestock and wildlife during the drought.
According to him, these have also been a central component of efforts to mitigate conflict between humans and wildlife.
“I have been fortunate to see for myself the impacts of some of these projects on the ground and we believe that the technologies and innovations introduced through these projects are highly significant and need to be promoted, absorbed and upscaled through the different line sectors.”
Shifeta said the urgency of climate change alone commands that new ways of doing things are promoted, adopted and embraced for the benefit of current and future generations and the broader environment. He further added that the evaluations and audits of these projects have been found to be satisfactory or better.
“What's more is that these projects have empowered and groomed a large number of Namibian graduates in the environment sector. Good quality project proposals are now being routinely developed by Namibian experts, while there is now a considerable pool of Namibian experts in fields such as project management, monitoring and evaluation and project administration.”
He said the ministry will ensure that all donor-funded projects are managed and implemented by Namibians and create opportunities to employ interns and graduated youth.
ELLANIE SMIT
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