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Esau explains stance on phosphate moratorium

Deputy Minister of Fisheries and Marine Resources, Hon. Samual Ankama recently developed a speech on behalf of Hon. Bernard Esau explaining the ministry’s stance on the moratorium placed on phosphate mining off the coast of Namibia.
Said the minister in his address, “What has led to the moratorium decision is a conflict of interest between the sustainability of the marine ecosystem that supports valuable fisheries in our sea and the international mining companies seeking to mine the seabed for phosphate deposits.

 This has compelled us to seek assistance and therefore approached the Norwegian researchers for practical advice.”
He added, “From the desktop resource I have read Marcia Stanton, Director of the Earth Organisation Namibia, saying, “Marine phosphate mining has never been done anywhere else in the world and Namibian coastal waters are now facing the threat of being the testing ground.”
“Our fear as a country for mining phosphate on the seabed is justified by the lack of tangible results after mining, hence the moratorium to give this research project a chance,” he added.
The pilot project is underway and will be intensified in 2015 when a study of the entire marine food chain will be conducted. The study will focus on food safety as mining on the shelf off the coast of Namibia.
According to reports released by Earth Organisation Namibia, marine phosphate mining has not been conducted elsewhere in the world.
As a consequence, marine phosphate will be conducted for the first time in Namibia with no emperical evidence on the consequences thereof.

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