New project to bolster National Parks system

THE Global Environment Facility (GEF), through the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), has allocated US$350 000 (N$2,2 million) to strengthen national protected areas in Namibia.

The multi-faceted project ultimately aims to improve the management and tourism development of four of the country’s major parks: the two largest the Namib-Naukluft and Etosha, as well as the Bwabwata National Park and Ai-Ais/Richtersveld Transfrontier Park. The support will also be geared at having the Sperrgebiet proclaimed as a new park and developing links between parks in the Namib Desert and between Etosha and the Skeleton Coast Parks.It is envisaged that as much as US$8 million (N$52 million) will be pumped into the protected areas project over the next five years.The preparatory phase will start next month and is set to last for 18 months.It will include essential studies such as economic analysis, conservation needs and park management capacity assessments.Namibia’s protected area network of fauna and flora spans about 14 per cent of the country’s total land area.The country has 21 national parks and recreation areas.But the Ministry of Environment and Tourism says the network needs to be expanded to cover all sensitive biodiversity and ecological hot spots.Limited available financial resources it says, have restricted its ability to do so.”Although we have done a considerable job in the development of our protected areas, further GEF support is needed to accelerate progress and to attain sustainable institutional and financial mechanism for long-term biodiversity conservation in protected areas,” the Director of Environmental Affairs Teofilus Nghitila has told the GEF.The National System of Protected Areas Project, which was developed with the UNDP, is specifically geared towards meeting the UN’s seventh Millennium Development goal of ensuring environmental sustainability by 2015.”It is clear that biodiversity loss has a dramatic impact on poverty and that the loss of biodiversity has severe implications for the health and well-being of each and every one of us,” UNDP Head in Namibia Jacqui Badcock said at the signing agreement this week.The predominant threats to biodiversity in the country are alteration of habitats and unsustainable wild harvesting of natural resources.Secondary threats include mineral exploration and mining and visitor impacts in fragile ecosystems.The project will also fulfil a number of the objectives of the Convention on Biological Diversity to which Namibia became a signatory in 1997.The GEF is an independent financial organisation that provides grants to developing countries for projects that benefit the global environment and promote sustainable livelihoods in local communities.Its programmes are managed by the UN Environment Programme, UNDP and the World Bank.The support will also be geared at having the Sperrgebiet proclaimed as a new park and developing links between parks in the Namib Desert and between Etosha and the Skeleton Coast Parks.It is envisaged that as much as US$8 million (N$52 million) will be pumped into the protected areas project over the next five years.The preparatory phase will start next month and is set to last for 18 months.It will include essential studies such as economic analysis, conservation needs and park management capacity assessments.Namibia’s protected area network of fauna and flora spans about 14 per cent of the country’s total land area.The country has 21 national parks and recreation areas.But the Ministry of Environment and Tourism says the network needs to be expanded to cover all sensitive biodiversity and ecological hot spots.Limited available financial resources it says, have restricted its ability to do so.”Although we have done a considerable job in the development of our protected areas, further GEF support is needed to accelerate progress and to attain sustainable institutional and financial mechanism for long-term biodiversity conservation in protected areas,” the Director of Environmental Affairs Teofilus Nghitila has told the GEF.The National System of Protected Areas Project, which was developed with the UNDP, is specifically geared towards meeting the UN’s seventh Millennium Development goal of ensuring environmental sustainability by 2015.”It is clear that biodiversity loss has a dramatic impact on poverty and that the loss of biodiversity has severe implications for the health and well-being of each and every one of us,” UNDP Head in Namibia Jacqui Badcock said at the signing agreement this week.The predominant threats to biodiversity in the country are alteration of habitats and unsustainable wild harvesting of natural resources.Secondary threats include mineral exploration and mining and visitor impacts in fragile ecosystems.The project will also fulfil a number of the objectives of the Convention on Biological Diversity to which Namibia became a signatory in 1997.The GEF is an independent financial organisation that provides grants to developing countries for projects that benefit the global environment and promote sustainable livelihoods in local communities.Its programmes are managed by the UN Environment Programme, UNDP and the World Bank.