Ngurare urges Namibians to use indigenous knowledge for resilience

Prime minister Elijah Ngurare has urged Namibia to utilise its rich indigenous knowledge systems and traditional institutions to enhance community resilience against disasters and improve environmental management.

Ngurare was speaking at the Ministry of Environment and Tourism’s two-day inter-stakeholder engagement workshop on environmental stewardship and gender mainstreaming for resilience to shocks and disasters, which started in Windhoek on Monday.

“I believe environmental governance involves both traditional authority and modern state structure. All principles of environmental law also align with the lessons we learnt from our elders and are enshrined in the Namibian Constitution,” he said.

He emphasised the importance of building state resilience to shocks and disasters, stating that these should be approached with hope rather than despair.

Ngurare said local wisdom and community environmental recollection are essential tools for protecting ecosystems and building resilience.

He noted that Namibia’s resilience agenda is firmly established in the sixth National Development Plan, which aims for a resilient, inclusive, and sustainable upper-middle-income economy by 2030.

The workshop seeks to enhance cross-sectoral collaboration in addressing interconnected risks such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and socio-economic vulnerability, while balancing environmental, health, social, and economic priorities.

It also aims to promote awareness of gender equity and equality to mitigate the impact of disasters and incorporate gender analysis in disaster management, risk reduction, and sustainable development to lessen vulnerability.

Ngurare said floodwater harvesting, desalination technology, and careful water management and planning can help overcome these challenges now and in the future.

“In my recent consultation with the ambassador of Algeria, he offered that as a sisterly nation, they possess the expertise for desert agriculture and are ready to pilot the same in the Erongo region between Usakos and Arandis. This is a step towards action,” he said.

Ngurare urged Namibians to unite in building environmental resilience, noting that natural disasters such as the flooding in the Zambezi region , the Cuvelai flooding in the Oshana, Omusati, Ohangwena, and Oshikoto regions, as well as the occasional floods in Windhoek, all form part of those natural occurrences. –Nampa

In an age of information overload, Sunrise is The Namibian’s morning briefing, delivered at 6h00 from Monday to Friday. It offers a curated rundown of the most important stories from the past 24 hours – occasionally with a light, witty touch. It’s an essential way to stay informed. Subscribe and join our newsletter community.