Guidelines for coastal development in offing

THE boom in urban development, mining and aquaculture projects along the coast is necessitating the speedy finalisation of the Namibian Coast Conservation and Management project’s Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA Report).

The sooner this report is finalised, the sooner its recommendations can serve as a guideline for decision-makers on local, regional and national government level to strike a balance between conservation and economic development, says Rod Braby, Senior Technical Advisor to Nacoma. Braby told The Namibian that the draft report was almost complete.Only a few more recommendations needed to be made, and the report should be ready by next month, he said.Some of these recommendations relate to buffer zones around environmentally sensitive areas such as the lichen fields, the Swakop River mouth and the Walvis Bay lagoon.Another recommendation in the report is the conservation of landscape aesthetics, which is one of the major tourist attractions the coast has to offer.The report is aimed at giving decision-makers a strategic framework for ensuring the sustainable use of the coastal region, which is considered a national asset because this is where many of the resources crucial to Namibia’s economic performance are located.Several licences have been awarded for uranium exploration along the coast, and large-scale residential developments and fish-farming projects between Swakopmund and Walvis Bay are in the pipeline too.These developments have prompted conservationists to call for an urgent assessment of the environmental impact before any further development projects are approved.They appealed to authorities to put on hold any new projects until Nacoma had completed its strategic environmental assessment of the coast.”Developing within a sound strategic framework is beneficial to us all – ecologically and economically – and especially to future generations, who have to inherit our wise or careless developments,” said Keith Wearne of the Coastal Environmental Trust.According to the SEA Report, one of the reasons that prompted the establishment of a coastal management system was the inability by different stakeholders to find common ground on the balance between economic, social and environmental considerations.The report says the need for a co-ordinated development plan was identified 20 years ago, but because of the transition of government and a lack of funding, the process was delayed.However, these measures have become a must judging from the considerable interest in developmepments along the coast.Braby told The Namibian that the draft report was almost complete.Only a few more recommendations needed to be made, and the report should be ready by next month, he said.Some of these recommendations relate to buffer zones around environmentally sensitive areas such as the lichen fields, the Swakop River mouth and the Walvis Bay lagoon.Another recommendation in the report is the conservation of landscape aesthetics, which is one of the major tourist attractions the coast has to offer.The report is aimed at giving decision-makers a strategic framework for ensuring the sustainable use of the coastal region, which is considered a national asset because this is where many of the resources crucial to Namibia’s economic performance are located.Several licences have been awarded for uranium exploration along the coast, and large-scale residential developments and fish-farming projects between Swakopmund and Walvis Bay are in the pipeline too.These developments have prompted conservationists to call for an urgent assessment of the environmental impact before any further development projects are approved.They appealed to authorities to put on hold any new projects until Nacoma had completed its strategic environmental assessment of the coast.”Developing within a sound strategic framework is beneficial to us all – ecologically and economically – and especially to future generations, who have to inherit our wise or careless developments,” said Keith Wearne of the Coastal Environmental Trust.According to the SEA Report, one of the reasons that prompted the establishment of a coastal management system was the inability by different stakeholders to find common ground on the balance between economic, social and environmental considerations.The report says the need for a co-ordinated development plan was identified 20 years ago, but because of the transition of government and a lack of funding, the process was delayed.However, these measures have become a must judging from the considerable interest in developmepments along the coast.