16% decline in tourism ministry budget
Environment and tourism minister Pohamba Shifeta has tabled the ministry’s annual budget of N$478.9 million for the 2022/2023 financial year in Parliament.
This is an overall decline of 16% compared to 2021/2022, and will present a significant challenge for the ministry to execute its mandate, he said.
“Nevertheless, we are fully cognisant of the fiscal constraints within which we are operating and shall endeavour to do more with less. We will also continue to seek to secure additional resources for priority activities through our local and international partners.”
Shifeta said the wildlife and protected area management programme, which has been allocated N$193.3 million, is the ministry’s biggest programme, and covers interventions to support the community-based natural resource management programme, combat poaching, prevent and mitigate human-wildlife conflict and deliver benefits to communities from the protected area network.
The ministry’s second bigget programme, the environment and natural resources protection programme, was allocated N$122 million, and involves the implementation of the Environmental Management Act, environmental awareness and economics and the implementation of various multilateral environmental agreements. It also now covers the activities of the Directorate of Forestry, Shifeta said.
Moratorium partially lifted
The minister said community forests now cover an area of 8.7 million hectares, while another 16 are in the process of gazettement.
He added that a moratorium introduced on timber harvesting, transportation, marketing and export in 2018 has led to a major reduction in deforestation and illegal timber harvesting.
However, in an effort to bolster the local timber industry, the moratorium was partially lifted to allow for transportation of timber within the country. The ministry is considering to further lift the moratorium in this financial year, at least with respect to community forests that are dependent on the sustainable utilisation of forest resources.
Infrastructure and development
Another of the ministry’s priorities, the infrastructure and development, maintenance monitoring and evaluation programme was allocated N$40.9 million. It is mainly for priority projects under the capital budget and focuses on the rehabilitation of roads in protected areas, the repair and upgrade of fencing and the construction and renovation of staff houses and offices.
Shifeta said the ministry is hard at work to upgrade fences in national parks to reduce human-wildlife conflict, strengthen law enforcement and curb illegal access to parks.
“To date, approximately 140 km of fencing in Etosha National Park has been fully upgraded, but much still has to be done.”
He added that many of Namibia’s national parks have outdated sewer infrastructure and sanitation facilities. To address this, the ministry constructed new sewerage infrastructure and a wastewater treatment plant in the Namib Naukluft Park at a cost of N$20.1 million.
Meanwhile, as part of cost-cutting measures and to improve service delivery, the ministry will complete the installation of pre-paid and conventional meters in Etosha National Park, Waterberg Plateau Park, Daan Viljoen and Von Bach Game Park. It will also introduce an integrated online permit system that will ensure that all permits issued by the ministry are available electronically, Shifeta said.
This is an overall decline of 16% compared to 2021/2022, and will present a significant challenge for the ministry to execute its mandate, he said.
“Nevertheless, we are fully cognisant of the fiscal constraints within which we are operating and shall endeavour to do more with less. We will also continue to seek to secure additional resources for priority activities through our local and international partners.”
Shifeta said the wildlife and protected area management programme, which has been allocated N$193.3 million, is the ministry’s biggest programme, and covers interventions to support the community-based natural resource management programme, combat poaching, prevent and mitigate human-wildlife conflict and deliver benefits to communities from the protected area network.
The ministry’s second bigget programme, the environment and natural resources protection programme, was allocated N$122 million, and involves the implementation of the Environmental Management Act, environmental awareness and economics and the implementation of various multilateral environmental agreements. It also now covers the activities of the Directorate of Forestry, Shifeta said.
Moratorium partially lifted
The minister said community forests now cover an area of 8.7 million hectares, while another 16 are in the process of gazettement.
He added that a moratorium introduced on timber harvesting, transportation, marketing and export in 2018 has led to a major reduction in deforestation and illegal timber harvesting.
However, in an effort to bolster the local timber industry, the moratorium was partially lifted to allow for transportation of timber within the country. The ministry is considering to further lift the moratorium in this financial year, at least with respect to community forests that are dependent on the sustainable utilisation of forest resources.
Infrastructure and development
Another of the ministry’s priorities, the infrastructure and development, maintenance monitoring and evaluation programme was allocated N$40.9 million. It is mainly for priority projects under the capital budget and focuses on the rehabilitation of roads in protected areas, the repair and upgrade of fencing and the construction and renovation of staff houses and offices.
Shifeta said the ministry is hard at work to upgrade fences in national parks to reduce human-wildlife conflict, strengthen law enforcement and curb illegal access to parks.
“To date, approximately 140 km of fencing in Etosha National Park has been fully upgraded, but much still has to be done.”
He added that many of Namibia’s national parks have outdated sewer infrastructure and sanitation facilities. To address this, the ministry constructed new sewerage infrastructure and a wastewater treatment plant in the Namib Naukluft Park at a cost of N$20.1 million.
Meanwhile, as part of cost-cutting measures and to improve service delivery, the ministry will complete the installation of pre-paid and conventional meters in Etosha National Park, Waterberg Plateau Park, Daan Viljoen and Von Bach Game Park. It will also introduce an integrated online permit system that will ensure that all permits issued by the ministry are available electronically, Shifeta said.
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