Ecosystem restoration project hosts training sessions in six regions
The Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism’s Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA) project recently hosted workshops in six regions across the country, highlighting Namibia’s obligations to national and international climate change frameworks.
The training workshops took place in the regional towns of Keetmanshoop (/Kharas Region), Otjiwarongo (Otjozondjupa Region), Khorixas (Kunene North Region), Opuwo (Kunene East Region), Ondangwa (Oshana Region), Rundu (Kavango East Region) and Katima Mulilo (Zambezi Region).
The EbA project is the first to be approved in ecosystem restoration and is implemented by the Environmental Investment Fund of Namibia (EIF). The project is financed to the tune of U$ 8,904,000 through Green Climate Fund. The project aims towards increasing landscape productivity across the targeted 8 landscapes of Namibia to strengthen social and ecological systems that sustain livelihoods at local levels and facilitate value chains of natural resources.
The workshops were further aimed at informing Community-Based Organisations or participants about the project objectives and it activated participants to identify the need priorities of their respective communities, as well as to familiarise participants with some technical tools in planning and climate change-related issues.
Leading the facilitation, Project Manager, Bryan Gaomab, said the workshops seek to strengthen the knowledge of the participants about the EbA project and the roles of the different stakeholders, to ensure a better understanding of technical terms, to seek community inputs on adaptation mechanisms, to highlight matters on environmental and social safeguards, and gender mainstreaming and to effectively introduce the EbA grants and application procedures.
According to the Technical Expert on climate change, from the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism, Johannes Munango, Namibia’s vulnerability to the impacts of climate change stem from the fact that Namibia is one of the driest countries in Sub- Saharan Africa where it faces problems like water scarcity coupled with the changing climate, therefore, making us more vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.
“During the vulnerability assessment that we conducted in 2020 for the regions in Namibia, we found that most regions are actually dependant on ecological based enterprises in the form of livelihood and are more vulnerable to the impacts of climate change,” Munango said.
He further alluded to the vulnerability to climate change being region-specific and that they follow different factors which inform them about the contributing factors like livelihood income per household, taking into consideration women-led households, services in that region like school facilities. These amongst others, determine the vulnerabilities of these regions to the impact of climate change.
The regions of Namibia are clustered into eight (8) landscapes which make up the Southern landscape, Kunene South and Daures landscape, Kunene North landscape, Lower-Eastern landscape, North Central landscape, Kavango East and West landscape, Zambezi East and West and Ovitoto and Otjimbingwe landscapes.
Participants falling under the Kunene South and Daures landscape gather after a two-day training session in Khorixas.
