Ministry of Environment and Tourism

PARLIAMENTARY ADDRESS ON BIODIVERSITY

by
Netumbo Nandi·Ndaitwah, MP
Minister of Environment and Tourism

ON THE OCCASION OF THE PARLIAMENTARY SESSION

17 MAY 2010
Windhoek Country Club and Resorts
Honorable Speaker,
Honorable Members,

On the 21st May and 4th June, the world will celebrate the international day of Biodiversity
and Environment respectively.

Nature is rich in variety and is beautiful. Moreover biodiversity and intact ecosystems are
essential to life on this planet of ours in many ways. Biodiversity provide us with the air
we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat, the clothes we wear and it further
regulate our climate. Biodiversity is the premise on which every aspect of human well-
being and the achievement of our national development goals depend. Therefore,
biodiversity is not only about plants, animals and insects, it underpins our survival.
Today, the ecosystems are under massive threat worldwide. Changes to habitats, over
exploitation of both renewable and non-renewable natural resources as well as
environmental pollution are reducing biodiversity and destroying ecosystems
compromising the benefits and services they provide to human kind. Every hour, two
species of the animal and plant kingdom are irretrievably lost and twelve thousand
hectares of forests vanish. Most of this is human induced. We are indeed compromising
ourselves the very source that ensures our sustained survival on this planet is treasured
by us. As our natural resources are lost so too is our prospects for sustainable
development being lost. We need to take care of the environment for the environment to
take care of us.

The loss of biological diversity has great consequences for the developing countries, for
most of the people living there immediately depends on the wealth of the flora and fauna
to survive.

Honorable members,
It is also important to note that 2010 has been declared by the United Nations as the
International Year of Biodiversity. The celebration of 2010 as the IYB offers a good
opportunity to remind ourselves of the importance of biodiversity and a wake-up call
about the devastating loss being experienced. Environmental degradation, biodiversity
loss is one of the main imbalances of our time. Thus commitment for integration of
biodiversity conservation into development objective need to be at the highest level
nationally, regionally and internationally. Namibia has achieved remarkable milestones
with regard to biodiversity conservation, management and sustainable use. Indeed,
Namibia is amongst the very few countries that has such provisions in their constitution.
During this year, nations including Namibia can showcase achievements made in the
area of biodiversity and environmental protection and make them known to a wider
public.

Our country offers a very wide variety of habitats and ecosystems, ranging from
extremely arid desert areas with less than 10 mm of rainfall per year to subtropical
savannahs with over 600 mm. These different habitats and ecosystems are home to a
very rich number of species and also a high number of endemic species. These species
of flora and fauna have been the basis of the livelihood of rural people for centuries, and
they also represent a significant national asset and are playing an important role in
attracting tourists to the country.

At independence, as a country, we were very quick to realise the importance of

biodiversity, and included a responsibility to safeguard biodiversity conservation as
reflected in Article 95 (L) of the Namibian Constitution. Indeed, Namibia is among the
few countries that has such provisions in their Constitution. Thanks to the visionary
leaders we have. Namibia has also ratified the UN Convention on Biological Diversity
(CBD) and is party to the Convention on the International Trade of Endangered Species.
A National Biodiversity Programme 1994-2005 was adopted to implement the CBD.
Lessons learned from that programme have fed into a National Biodiversity Strategy and
Action Plan 2001-2010. The fact that we are in the final year of that plan and in 2010 the
International Year of Biodiversity, represent a good opportunity for us to take stock of
some of our achievements, and we are working on the next Action Plan.

Our commitment to biodiversity conservation is most clearly evident in the over 30% of
our territory that is now under some form of conservation management. This represents
a very high figure with 16.5% of the country being covered by national parks and
protected areas. The latest national park to be proclaimed in 2009 was the Sperrgebiet
which represents the jewel in the crown of Namibian national parks. It is located in the
internationally recognised Succulent Karoo biodiversity hotspot, and contains an
astonishing diversity of plant life only found in Namibia. This resource, unlike the
diamonds that are mined in the area, represents an inexhaustible resource that Namibia
can benefit from for many years to come. A new national park is also set to be
proclaimed this year between the Namib Naukluft Park and the Skeleton Coast, which
wi" see the consolidation of the entire coastal area of Namibia into one continuous
conservation area. This new park wi" be the largest park in Africa, the sixth largest
terrestrial protected area globa"y and the eighth largest protected area in the world.
Namibia wi" become the first continental country to have its entire coastline protected by
means of the greater national coastal park and marine protected areas.

Honorable members,

We are also cooperating closely with our neighbours bearing in mind that species
typically cut across national borders. This year we are taking a lead role in the
coordination of the Kavango Zambezi Trans-frontier Conservation Area (KAZA), which is
set to become the world's largest TFCA roughly the size of Italy. It is a joint project
involving Angola, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Zambia. In the South the Ai-Ais
Richtersveld Transfrontier Park has been established since 2003 and is jointly managed
successfully by the Namibian and South African authorities. And in the North West, the
IONA TFCA in Angola is on the cards.

Communal conservancies and community forests now cover over 18% of the country's
area, and this percentage is increasing at a rapid rate. by enlarge 59 conservancies
have been established since 1998 involving over 230,000 inhabitants in rural areas.
Conservancies and community forests are a core part of Namibia's people-centred
approach to conservation which rejects past practices that tended to alienate
communities from conservation. The success of the conservancy programme is living
proof that resource users at community level, when provided with incentives for
sustainable use of natural resources, are the best managers and custodians of these
resources. Money in the range of N$40 million per year is being generated from different
activities carried out in conservancies.

Namibia is one of the few countries in the world that is translocating wildlife from its
national parks to communal areas. Communities are now seeing the benefits from the
wise management of these resources, with N$14.3 million being earned by them from
trophy hunting permits and the auction of trophy hunted animals alone. Recent research
from the environmental economics unit using wildlife data from 2004 estimated that
wildlife contributed N$1.3 billion to the Namibian economy in that year. It was also
estimated that there is considerable scope for enlarging this contribution sustainably.
I have to admit that our conservation success comes with challenges. i.e. human-wildlife
conflict. The government through the Ministry of Environment and Tourism, working with
the communities and in line with the human-wildlife conflict policy are looking at all
possible ways to mitigate the impact of such conflicts.

Honorable members,
The integration of community forests and conservancies as well as the need to
guarantee their financial sustainability has recently led to an increasing focus on the
sustainable use and development of indigenous plant resources. Namibia is also well
positioned to benefit from the increasing worldwide demand for "natural" cosmetics,
medicines and food products. We possess a wealth of plant resources with much
associated traditional knowledge. How to harness these international opportunities while
benefiting local communities is the challenge that now faces us. Access to Genetic
Resources and Benefit-Sharing (ABS) agreements are crucial in this regard, the case in
point is the marula oil and hoodia which are generating benefits for communities. Great
progress has also been made in the sustainable harvesting and marketing of Devil's
Claw, Ximenia and Kalahari melon seeds. Other important resources with high value are
wild rice and commiphora.

Communities are beginning to see the true value of their traditional knowledge and are
being trained to ensure that value is added to this knowledge. Namibia is also building
up a core of experts knowledgeable in biodiversity management. A biodiversity
management and research Masters level course has been developed and is now
producing qualified graduates from UNAM. In addition, a wide variety of information
material is now available to guide biodiversity management in Namibia. Examples of this
material include a Tree Atlas book, a wetlands database, maps of forestry hotspots,
compilations of red-listed species and a country study on biological diversity. In addition
biodiversity has been mainstreamed into our macro-policies of NDP3 and Vision 2030
such that development takes place with rather than against our natural resource base.
Effective biodiversity conservation has much potential to drive efforts to combat other
challenges facing our people such as climate change, desertification and alien invasive
species. At the International level and within the frame work of the CBD, negotiations for
an internation region on Access and Benefit Sharing are going on. It is our hope that at
the Conference of Parties to take place in October this year, in Japan, such an
instrument will be agreed upon. Namibia currently serves as the Chief Negotiator for the
African Governments in the ongoing negotiations for an International Protocol on Access
to Genetic Resources. The African Governments have further mandated Namibia to
serve as the African Intercessional Coordinator on ASS. This demonstrates the
recognition of Namibia's leadership in the field of biodiversity.

In this international year of biodiversity, the ministry is embarking on a concerted

awareness campaign to highlight the importance of biodiversity to Namibia and some of
our achievements in this field. We have a full year programme for the year that has
kicked off with Biodiversity Action day in Srandberg from the 7- 9th May, which was
officiated by the deputy Minister, Cde. Herunga.

On the 17th May we had a parliamentary information sharing on biodiversity. I thank

those who have attended especially members of the national council and national
assembly backbenchers.

To mark the international day of biodirecesity there will be activities at Habitant centre in
Katutura on the 21st May, as well as some discusssions at UNAM on the 21st and 22nd
May. Events for the international Environmental Day will take place in Karas region,
from the 3-5 June 2010. For those interested in the programme for the year you can
contact the Ministry of Environment and Tourism, Directorate of Environmental Affairs.

Thank you all.