Africa-Press – Namibia. OSHANA governor Elia Irimari has expressed dismay over what appears to be the gradual deforestation of the town of Oshakati. Speaking at the town’s cleaning campaign at the Onawa soccer field today, Irimari said that Oshakati is no longer green and that it is concerning.
“Most of the townships in Oshakati are starting to look like a desert,” he said. Irimari urged the community of Oshakati to find ways to make the town green again.
“Having trees in our community only brings out the best of our town. We know that having trees helps us improve air quality by reducing carbon emissions. Trees can also contribute to the increase of local food and nutrition security,” he noted.
Irimari also pointed out there are parts of Oshakati that are unclean, and not because the council is not doing its job, but because the residents are not taking the initiative to clean their environment.
“We need to understand that cleaning your house is not sufficient if your mentality is still to dump refuse in the streets,” he said.
Irimari explained that investor will not invest in a dirty town, hence it’s important to keep the town clean because it is a representation of the residents of the town.
He then urged resident of Oshakati to continue working within their own communities and to encourage their friends, neighbours and colleagues to play a role in protecting the environment.
Oshakati mayor Leonard Hango said he was pleased to see the number of people gathered to work towards a common goal to keep the town clean. “This event is organised with the main purpose to sensitise our communities on sustainable benefits of taking care of our environment,” he said.
Founder of the Namibia Cleanliness Awareness System Awards (Namcasa), Natalia Shikangala, said everyone has a role to play in respecting and caring for their environment, not just to preserve what they have today, but to also sustain it for future generations.
Shikangala stated that improving the environment is not only the job for government and green groups. “It requires collective effort and more importantly, a change in the way we live and the habits we have become accustomed to,” said Shikangala.
Shikangala added that there is still a lot to be done to improve air quality, to stop the pollution of rivers, to tackle offensive waste sites and to redress land previously contaminated by industry use.
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