ABSALOM SHIGWEDHA

THE Cleaner Production Component, a unit in the Ministry of Environment and Tourism, has suggested that cleaner production should be introduced in the school system.

“Planning for green belts and urbanisation needs to take place now to cater for the future,” the National Co-ordinator of the CPC, Dr Sindila Mwiya, told The Namibian. In November, Mwiya and CPC Chief Technical Adviser Margot Nielsen led a group of Namibians from various institutions on a study tour to Denmark.Mwiya said they saw how the Scandinavian country incorporated cleaner production and other environmental strategies into its service industry.He emphasised that the move towards cleaner production in Namibia must be driven by private companies and promoted by public-private partnerships.He said Denmark is amongst countries in Europe that have made great strides in applying a mix of instruments in promoting Cleaner Production.”Consumer and markets seems to be influencing both production and consumption by building awareness on eco-labels, setting environmental and social codes for productions throughout the supply -chain and asking for establishment of environmental management systems,” Mwiya told The Namibian.This, he said, has shown signs of a more integrated approach to Cleaner Production there, encompassing, process, product, services and consumption.The delegation also found that there seems to be a strong emphasis on self-regulatory legislative framework, stressing on promotion and recognition of voluntary instruments, especially cleaner production.One of the steps Denmark has taken, Mwiya explained, is on products and related markets, with respect to the development of an Integrated Product Policy (IPP).On the supply side, leading companies and business organisation have developed a number of measures to encourage eco-product development such as product oriented environmental management systems, eco-design grants, and awards and product take back and recycling requirements.On the demand side tools such as eco-labels, product taxes and public procurement as well as multi stakeholder dialogue tools to bring both sides together to work towards greener products are also utilised in Denmark.The tour was one of CPC 2005-2007 activities.Namibia’s CPC is a three years project, financially funded by the Danish International Assistance Agency (Danida) to the tune of N$ 10 million.It’s immediate objectives is to make industries aware of the importance of cleaner production potential.Cleaner Production is defined as the continuous application of an integrated preventive environmental strategy of processes, products and services to increase overall efficiency and productivity and to reduce human and environment risks.A number of Namibian firms has already been visited by the CPC to see if their production activities are cleaner.The implement ion process of the CPC kicked off on 17 January 2005 and will run until 2007.The main objectives of he CPC is to build capacity within government, private sector and service providers, support and enhance cleaner production in industry and business sectors of Namibia.The Ministry of Environment and Tourism is the executing agency while it’s Directorate of Environmental Affairs is the implementing agency of CPC.In November, Mwiya and CPC Chief Technical Adviser Margot Nielsen led a group of Namibians from various institutions on a study tour to Denmark.Mwiya said they saw how the Scandinavian country incorporated cleaner production and other environmental strategies into its service industry.He emphasised that the move towards cleaner production in Namibia must be driven by private companies and promoted by public-private partnerships. He said Denmark is amongst countries in Europe that have made great strides in applying a mix of instruments in promoting Cleaner Production.”Consumer and markets seems to be influencing both production and consumption by building awareness on eco-labels, setting environmental and social codes for productions throughout the supply -chain and asking for establishment of environmental management systems,” Mwiya told The Namibian.This, he said, has shown signs of a more integrated approach to Cleaner Production there, encompassing, process, product, services and consumption.The delegation also found that there seems to be a strong emphasis on self-regulatory legislative framework, stressing on promotion and recognition of voluntary instruments, especially cleaner production.One of the steps Denmark has taken, Mwiya explained, is on products and related markets, with respect to the development of an Integrated Product Policy (IPP).On the supply side, leading companies and business organisation have developed a number of measures to encourage eco-product development such as product oriented environmental management systems, eco-design grants, and awards and product take back and recycling requirements.On the demand side tools such as eco-labels, product taxes and public procurement as well as multi stakeholder dialogue tools to bring both sides together to work towards greener products are also utilised in Denmark.The tour was one of CPC 2005-2007 activities.Namibia’s CPC is a three years project, financially funded by the Danish International Assistance Agency (Danida) to the tune of N$ 10 million.It’s immediate objectives is to make industries aware of the importance of cleaner production potential.Cleaner Production is defined as the continuous application of an integrated preventive environmental strategy of processes, products and services to increase overall efficiency and productivity and to reduce human and environment risks.A number of Namibian firms has already been visited by the CPC to see if their production activities are cleaner.The implement ion process of the CPC kicked off on 17 January 2005 and will run until 2007.The main objectives of he CPC is to build capacity within government, private sector and service providers, support and enhance cleaner production in industry and business sectors of Namibia.The Ministry of Environment and Tourism is the executing agency while it’s Directorate of Environmental Affairs is the implementing agency of CPC.