Address to corporate members and donors on the occasion of the NNF's annual function, November 2005
Friends, colleagues - partners in conservation and sustainable development:
It is a great pleasure to welcome you all to this annual event. The main purpose of tonight is to acknowledge your important support to Namibia's environment, and to thank you for your foresight in investing in this important sector.
I'm sure that you have all read about the latest impacts of climate change on the planet. It seems as if, every day, there is a new revelation on changing conditions. Glaciers are shrinking on Mt Kilimanjaro and in the Alps, the snow fields are retreating in the Himalayas, the polar caps are shrinking and the world is getting hotter. For three consecutive years, Windhoek recorded record mean summer high temperatures.
Not believing that greenhouse gasses are causing global warming is like not believing that smoking causes lung cancer. And sadly, Namibia is like the recipient of passive smoking from parts of the industrialised world.
We have instinctively felt that our arid and semi-arid systems were quite robust when it comes to climate change. A recent study on the possible impacts of Climate Change on Namibia's vegetation by the University of Cape Town clearly dispels this myth. In less than 80 years we could lose more than 30% of our plant species. This in turn would have a huge impact on animals, from microscopic, to insects to large mammals. It will have a huge impact and on our production systems and on peoples' livelihoods.
The best response we have at this stage is to manage for open systems. Keep our indigenous vegetation in as good a condition as possible, make sure that there are "corridors" for plants and animals to move, disperse, colonise new areas as conditions shift, and to manage for change - be responsive.
At this critical time, donor funds to Namibia are declining sharply, from a high of US$130 per capita in 1992 to about US$40 per capita today - a three-fold decline. In the face of education and health needs, housing, water and sanitation, it is becoming increasingly difficult to attract funding into the environmental sector.
Partnership within country is becoming increasingly important - between government, the private sector, NGOs, local communities, tertiary education and development partners. These partnerships are not yet well-developed, mature, mutually trusting, cost-effective, responsive, dynamic and "comfortable". There are encouraging signs and opportunities in the pipeline. A case in point is the newly emerging "Country Pilot Partnership for Sustainable Land Management", an initiative by the Ministry of Environment and Tourism, to bring all relevant sectors and stakeholders together in a new and stronger relationship. We need to put our weight behind these initiatives, think smarter, and build on what works.
A small example - two years ago I reported on wildlife numbers in the NW of Namibia - for example, Springbok numbers were at about 100,000, up from less than 10,000 in the 1980s. They are now up to about 150,000. Income earned by conservancies and the CBNRM programme was then at N$11 million per year - it is now at N$14 million. By harvesting this springbok population at a modest 15% per year communities could be earning over N$6.5 million per year. This figure could be almost doubled by adding value to the meat products. This is where partnership with the private sector would add enormous value. NGOs usually don't have the enterprise and business skills. They can help build community capacity and broker partnerships. The private sector has the enterprise skills. How can we best bring these skills to focus on rural development and improved livelihoods to the mutual benefit of all partners? These are the sorts of challenges which the Country Pilot Partnership programme would like to address - to bring real and tangible improvements to peoples' quality of life and to the sustainable and effective management of natural resources - in a fast changing world.
In conclusion, I would like to sincerely thank you all for your commitment and support to the NNF and to Namibia's environment.