Thousands benefit from landscape grants

ELLANIE SMIT WINDHOEK More than 20 000 people will directly benefit from integrated landscape management grants. Ten grants - to the value of more than N$6.8 million - were handed over to recipients by the Namibia Integrated Landscape Approach for Enhancing Livelihoods and Environmental Governance to Eradicate Poverty (NILALEG) project last week.Recipients from the four NILALEG focal landscapes - Zambezi Region, Ruacana (Omusati), Omaoipanga (Kunene) and Okongo (Ohangwena Region) – were awarded the grants at an event on Friday at the Okatjandja Kozomenje conservancy.These grants are expected to benefit about 20 818 direct beneficiaries through integrated landscape management in all five focal landscapes, and fall under three investment windows - crop and rangeland management, agroforestry and nature-based enterprise.The project is jointly implemented by the environment ministry, the Environmental Investment Fund of Namibia (EIF) and the University of Namibia in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme, with financial assistance from the Global Environmental Facility.“These grants will help enhance livelihoods of our people and assist in meeting the expected outputs of the project through the reduction of poverty and restoring forests as carbon sinks, biodiversity conservation and promoting land degradation neutrality, environment minister Pohamba Shifeta said.Unique projectKunene governor Marius Sheya said he is confident that if the project is successfully implemented, it will result in a paradigm shift of rural communities in the target landscapes, and subsequent positive impacts for the regions it will be implemented.EIF head Benedict Libanda added that the project is unique in many ways.“It firstly utilises a landscape approach to address environmental and climate-induced threats to Namibian livelihoods. This approach seeks to provide tools and concepts for managing land to achieve social, economic and environmental objectives in areas where agriculture, forest management and other productive land uses compete with environmental and biodiversity goals.”ellanie@namibiansun.com

Thousands benefit from landscape grants

Comments

Namibian Sun 2025-04-03

Please login to leave a comment

Thousands benefit from landscape grants

Comments

Namibian Sun 2025-04-03

Please login to leave a comment

Login