KfW extends N$37 million for conservation in Zambezi Region
By Freeman Ya Ngulu.
According to a senior official of the German development bank, Namibia has received N$37 million in funding for community conservation in the Zambezi Region from the German Government via the KfW Development Bank.
KfW country director, Beatrice Lucke, stated that both governments place a high priority on safeguarding Namibia’s natural resources.
“Nature and wildlife in Namibia are not just resources; they are the lifeblood of this land and must be safeguarded for the sake of Namibia and its people,” she stated.
The Minister of Environment, Forestry, and Tourism, Hon Pohamba Shifeta said in a statement on Friday during the launch of the community livelihood development and human-wildlife mitigation project in the Zambezi Region, that N$20 million is set aside for mitigating the poverty effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in Namibia’s Communal Conservancies.
Another N$17 million is earmarked for reducing human wildlife conflict and mitigating the damage from such events.
Shifeta stated that Namibia’s growing wildlife population, particularly iconic species like lions, crocodiles, elephants, hippopotamuses, and rhinoceroses, causes an increase in human wildlife conflict despite being a conservation success story.
“As a balancing measure, our ministry continues to implement livelihood improvement initiatives to ensure communities benefit from the abundant natural resources in their area,” he said adding that communities are empowered because the grant programmes and technical solutions are implemented at their level.
At the official handing over of a N$17 million grant for community conservation in the Zambezi Region, from the left, Hon Lawrence Sampofu, Zambezi Governor, Steve Galloway, Board Chairman of the Community Conservation Fund, Hon Simushi, Chairperson of the Zambezi Regional Council, Hon Pohamba Shifeta, Minister of Environment, Forestry and Tourism, HE Dr Thorsten Hutter, German Ambassador and Willibard Simasiku of the Zambezi Regional Council.
