Africa-Press – Namibia. THE Minister of Environment, Forestry, and Tourism, Pohamba Shifeta, says about N$112,3 billion is needed to combat climate change.
Shifeta was speaking on Friday during the annual staff address in Windhoek.
“At least 90% of the required funding to implement the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) will be sourced from multilateral and bilateral sources, and only 10 % of the funding will be sourced domestically.
Out of N$112,3 billion, N$65,2 billion is for mitigation measures and N$47,1 billion is for adaptation targets respectively,” he said.
Shifeta said they are planning to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 91% by the year 2030.
“We are excited and fully committed to the development of the green hydrogen industry and have designated land in the Tsau //Khaeb National Park for the Southern Corridor Development Initiative for green hydrogen,” he said.
In 2021, the ministry submitted the NDC, Namibia’s climate change commitments as per the requirement of the Paris Agreement, to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
They pledged commitment to the world towards limiting the global temperature rise to well below 1,5 degrees Celsius, as well as how to increase resilience across the key economic sectors.
“In terms of limiting our greenhouse gas emissions, we have targeted four sectors, energy, waste, industrial processes and product use, agriculture, forestry, and other land use.
“The ministry will continue to work with all stakeholders to ensure that climate change issues are integrated into all spheres of our developmental aspirations and conservation efforts,” he said.
Meanwhile, on the human wildlife conflict front, Shifeta said Namibia is still losing significant amounts of wildlife to poaching, particularly of highly valued species such as rhinos, elephants, and pangolins.
At least 87 rhinos were reported poached in 2022, 45 in 2021, compared to 43 in 2020, and 61 in 2019.
“Currently, two rhinos have been poached so far in 2022. The poaching of elephants continues to decline with four poached in 2022. In 2021, 10 elephants were poached, 12 in 2020, and 13 in 2019.
“We also recorded a total of 112 cases involving pangolins from January 2021 to date, of which 41 cases were recorded in 2022. Authorities confiscated 1 192 pangolin products, including 33 live animals, 95 skins, 1 skin piece, and 1 059 scales from suspects,” he said.
Shifeta said poaching has severe economic implications through adverse impacts on tourism, conservation hunting, and the conservation of the species.
“As Namibians, we should be vigilant in preserving our precious wildlife by reporting suspicious activities to the authorities.
I also take this opportunity to condemn ill-intentioned activities and call upon those involved to refrain from such activities with immediate effect or risk the chances of being caught and face the full wrath of the law,” he said.
Shifeta said there has been a reduction in human-wildlife conflict cases, from 590 in 2021 to 372 cases in 2022.
In 2022/2023, the ministry reported that 15 people’s lives were tragically lost due to crocodile, hippo, and elephant attacks, and a total of N$1,5 million was paid out to the families as funeral assistance.
“In addition, over N$580 000 was paid for the 206 cases of livestock losses recorded. A total of 18 people were paid a combined total of N$180 000 for injuries caused by wild animals and 126 cases of crop damages, for which over N$356 000 was paid to affected community members,” he said.
Shifeta said the number of international tourist arrivals increased by almost 38% in 2021 compared to 2020.
“Yet in terms of actual numbers, only 233 692 tourist arrivals were recorded in 2021, compared to over 1,5 million arrivals in 2019,” he said.
In early February, three of the ministry’s staff were arrested after they allegedly hunted a blue wildebeest at Daan Viljoen.
Ministry spokesperson Romeo Muyunda confirmed the arrest, saying the ministry’s staff is crucial to the quest to achieve strategic objectives and mandates.
“Therefore, we always encourage the ministry’s staff to observe high moral grounds and reject temptations like participating in illegal activities that contravene our values and principles as an institution.
“We urge that the law should take its course and justice must prevail in this case,” Muyunda said.
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