More flexible approach needed on land use management

NAMIBIA needs to move away from developing ‘fixed plans’ and work towards adaptive and flexible processes when it comes to sustainable land use management and the environment, says Dr Chris Brown of the Namibia Nature Foundation (NNF).

‘Most of our ministers are gridlocked when it comes to making decisions and people at technical level have been disempowered and have little authority, which creates serious bottlenecks at senior level,’ Brown said this week when addressing a regional conference on integrated sustainable land use management, which ends today. ‘We must move away from thinking that Government alone is responsible for sustainable development (of rural areas). Instead it is a responsibility by and to society as a whole and a full partnership with Government should be established,’ Brown said.He said that local knowledge of sound land use practices obtained by generations of land users was getting lost and pushed aside as imported management systems like fencing off land were brought in. ‘In the past, people were flexible and responsive to changing climate patterns but we have largely lost these response mechanisms.’Namibia and Burkina Faso are the only countries in Africa that have started an integrated land use management programme. The five-year Namibia Country Pilot Partnership (CPP) programme was officially launched a year ago and will last until 2012.The CPP is a partnership to reduce land degradation, supported by the Namibian Government, the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the World Bank, the Namibia Nature Foundation (NNF) and other civil society organisations.The process of formulating the Country Pilot Partnership (CPP) Programme Framework was envisaged four years ago when six ministries agreed to spearhead a Country Pilot Partnership (CPP) for Integrated Sustainable Land Management.The Government of Namibia has identified land degradation as a serious problem which demands remedial intervention, and recognises that integrated ecosystem management strategies are needed to effectively address the underlying causes.Existing efforts on the ground have been obstructed by a series of barriers that undermine their efficacy. Although Government remains committed to combating land degradation, insufficient capacity and inadequate knowledge and technology constrain the effectiveness of interventions.