Calls for seawater to quench Namibia’s thirst

Experts are urging the government to adopt seawater desalination technology to bolster national water security and mitigate climate-induced migration and resource conflicts.

AgriConsult animal scientist and rangeland specialist Axel Rothauge says Namibia has a long coastal line where seawater can be desalinated and used for agricultural purposes.

This would reduce the need for farmers to migrate from one area to another in search of grazing and water.

Rothauge says part of the Namibian Desert can be turned into an agricultural area using desalinated seawater.

“This is possible technically and economically.

This should be a priority,” he says.

Rothauge says some countries have already ventured into water desalination, such as Israel, Chile and Australia.

“We can learn and copy from these countries,” he says. Rothauge says desalinating seawater can be done at a farm level, because big desalination plants are expensive.

Namibia should consider different types of desalination technology suitable for small-scale for individual farmers or farmers’ cooperatives.

“We need start-up funds to inform ourselves of the available technology in the world, but this is not done in southern Africa. We need to do it here,” he suggests.

Meanwhile, the ‘2025 Africa State of the Environment Report’, launched in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, last September by the New Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment, says Africa could have the highest rate of displacement due to the impacts of climate change.

It says between 2012 and 2025, nearly 222 million people in Africa were affected by weather, climate and water-related disasters, and that by 2050, up to 5% of the continent’s population of around two billion people could be on the move due to the negative impacts of climate change.

Ahmed Bugra, the Africa Union Commission’s senior legal adviser on climate and human mobility says there is a link between the impacts of climate change, conflicts and migration.

He says people are forced to leave their homes in search of water, grazing areas and other natural resources, as well as jobs.

“There is a connection between climate change and conflicts. This is not just an environmental problem, but also an economic and social problem,” Bugra says.

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