Africa-Press – Namibia. THE chairperson of the Economic and Social Justice Trust, Herbert Jauch, has urged the minister of environment, tourism and forestry, Pohamba Shifeta, to disregard the views expressed by Chris Brown, the chief executive officer (CEO) of the Chamber of the Environment.
Brown was this week quoted in Namibian Sun as saying marine phosphate would create more jobs than the fishing sector.
According to Jauch, the jobs promised by marine phosphate mining operations are insignificant compared to the over 10 000 direct jobs and around 45 000 indirect and related jobs in Namibia’s fishing industry.
He said the jobs currently created by the fishing industry need to be safeguarded, increased and improved in the years to come through a carefully considered sustainable utilisation of marine resources.
Brown was quoted as saying: “Most of our seabed here . . . is sandy sea floor, and we are talking about a small part here. It’s a tiny area, so with all of these things taken into account . . . all the independent studies have found nothing significant to be concerned about in terms of the ecosystem or fishing sector.
“If you compare the phosphate sector when it is further developed to the fishing sector, the jobs that are created are about something in the order of 50 000. At the moment, there are fewer than 60 000 jobs in the fishing sector.”
In a letter to Shifeta, Jauch said the chamber has been actively promoting marine phosphate mining – both on its website and through Brown in public meetings in his capacity as ‘independent environmentalist’.
“It seems several member organisations of the chamber were not consulted, and, in fact, disagree with Brown’s statement …”
Jauch accused Brown of not showing concern over heavy metals such as cadmium and uranium contained in the five million tonnes of sediment per year to be sucked up from the seabed if marine phosphate mining was to go ahead.
“The dredging site proposed for phosphate is inside and close to nursery areas of commercial fish species, which are protected areas important to the health of its biodiversity,” Jauch said.
He said scientists in the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources, as well as other internationally respected marine scientists have pointed to the enormous risks posed by marine phosphate mining.
Marine phosphate mining projects were rejected by New Zealand, Mexico and Australia, he pointed out.
“Brown deliberately ignores such evidence and pronounces that it is safe to mine for phosphate, and that seabed mining could exist side by side with fishing without a serious impact on the marine ecosystem,” Jauch said.
He said any disturbance of the seabed would present a severe threat to the ecosystem as a whole and all living mechanisms it supports.
“We appeal to you as a respected minister and custodian of the environment to counter Brown’s biased views, and to assure Namibians that your ministry will protect the Benguela ecosystem and ensure the long-term viability of the fishing industry to feed Namibians and to safeguard the jobs created in the sector,” Jauch said.
Environment ministry spokesperson Romeo Muyunda said they are busy with reviewing the Namibia Marine Phosphate application.
After that, the ministry will consult the competent authorities such as the ministries of mines and energy, fisheries and marine resources, and if needs be, it will hire an independent consultant to express an independent view on the application.
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