2 eco projects get a boost

A TOTAL of 2 130 seedlings were planted in the North last year while 166 farmers and 65 schools took part in a tree-planting competition, the Chairperson of the Northern Namibia Forestry Committee (NNFC), Jonas Mwikinghi, said last week.

In addition, a teachers’ environmental seminar was held. These, said Mwikinghi, are some of the NNFC’s achievements last year.Meanwhile, Namibia’s desert lion population in the Kunene Region has made an impressive recovery from fewer than 30 cats in the 1990s to almost 100 animals today.When the Kunene Lion Project was established in the late 1990s, there were only about 20 desert lions left. These two conservation projects last Thursday received donations from Total Namibia to help them carry out their activities. The NNFC, which has a three-year funding agreement with Total, received N$55 000 while the Kunene Lion Project received fuel worth N$22 000 for field research vehicles.Total Namibia Managing Director Fanuel Tjivau said the two projects are essential to well-being of humankind. He said the environment is increasingly taking centre stage in light of the devastating greenhouse effects and the enormous threats posed to the ozone layer by environmentally-unfriendly practices, including widespread deforestation, particularly in Africa.’As a model and responsible corporate citizen, we feel duty bound to contribute to initiatives aimed at ensuring that all of us leave behind a lasting legacy for future generations,’ said Tjivau.He said communities and civil society organisations need to be encouraged to initiate projects involving tree-planting, combating deforestation and environmental pollution and ensuring effective waste disposal.He added that while wild animals can sometimes pose a threat to people and livestock, they bring a lot of tourists to Africa. And with proper strategies, said Tjivau: ‘We believe that there is an opportunity to strike a balance between human survival and wildlife conservation.’In a documentary entitled ‘By the People, For The People – Communities and Conservation in Namibia’, Dr Flip Stander of the Kunene Lion Project attributes the increase in the number of desert lions to the creation of conservancies, as they have given people an appreciation of the value of the animals.The NNFC was established in 1992 to fight deforestation and to create awareness on the importance of tree planting.Speaking on behalf of the Kunene Lion Project, Esther Iitula of Integrated Rural Development and Nature Conservation (IRDNC) said the fuel given to the project will be used to continue monitoring the desert lions, collecting data on births, cub survival, deaths, migration and movements of lions.’This data will be used to promote integrated living between the communities and wildlife,’ said.