Namibia’s biodiversity can bring money and medicine

UNDERSTANDING biodiversity (the genes, species and ecosystems on earth) provides a guiding light to ensuring development that takes into account the needs of future generations, said a well-known Namibian biodiversity expert.

Biodiversity, said Sem Shikongo, should be studied at the genetic, species and ecosystems levels. He said human beings depend on the natural resources on land and sea for their survival and therefore these resources should be used in a sustainable manner. Shikongo, Director of Tourism in the Environment Ministry, made the statements at a recent talk on biodiversity in Windhoek. He said global concerns around illegal trade in wildlife products, desertification and the role biotechnology plays in the genetics of nature, were some of the issues that gave birth to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (UNCBD). Currently there are 181 parties to the convention, which Namibia ratified in 1997. Shikongo, who also lectures on the subject at the University of Namibia, said while biologists claim to know the subject, most of the intact biodiversity is in rural areas, where people know how to preserve it via ‘traditional environmental knowledge’.’That is why biologists are now working with rural communities looking for traditional knowledge from them on how to preserve biodiversity,’ he said. Shikongo said rural people traditionally used plants as medicine and it was important that researchers studied these plants, so that they can be commercialised and thus generate money for the country.He said some of Namibia’s traditional foods and drinks, such as mopane worms, were very healthy for the human body, while marula beer has a higher concentration of Vitamin C than orange juice, but these indigenous health products were not being exploited because they are considered inferior.Shikongo said Namibia could prosper if the medicinal production base, what he calls the ‘indigenous biodiversity production systems’, is diversified by giving people rights to farm with wildlife and engage in tourism activities. He said to succeed in cattle farming, a lot of money was needed but this might not do much for the country as only some areas were fit for cattle farming. But, he said, wildlife fits in much of Namibia. ‘The more the diversity, the better the land,’ he said.Shikongo’s talk, which was attended by local environmental journalists and tourism and conservation representatives, was funded by Nedbank’s Go Green Fund, which funds local conservation projects. In one of her recent papers, Dr Luisa Maffi – co-founder and Director of the US-based Terralingua – said indigenous and local groups on all continents have been involved in remarkable efforts to restore the eco-cultural health of their landscapes and communities.’Their activities include, amongst others, re-vegetation, protection or re-introduction of culturally important species and conservation and promotion of landraces (domesticated species adapted to the local natural and cultural environment),’ she remarked.absalom@namibian.com.na