Staff Reporter
THE Namibian Chamber of Environment’s (NCE) Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Dr. Chris Brown, has requested a meeting with the German Minister of Environment to discuss the potential negative effects of the green hydrogen project on the Tsau ǁKhaeb National Park’s (TKNP / Sperrgebiet) biodiversity, landscape, and tourism.
“The TKNP is within one of only 36 global biodiversity hotspots. It is Namibia’s most biodiverse national park. It has more endemic and near-endemic species (species that occur nowhere else on earth) than any other national park in Namibia. The global importance of this national park is greater than all the national parks in Germany, which would be the main recipient of green hydrogen produced in the TKNP,” Brown said.
He argued that the project serves primarily the short-term energy demands of Germany and certain other regions of the European Union (EU), and the damage to the park’s integrity, biodiversity, landscape, and future tourism will be immense.
“With such damage to one of Namibia’s most globally important national parks and to our biodiversity, can this hydrogen really be called ‘green’? We would suggest that it be called red hydrogen – because industrializing the TKNP will drive many species onto the biodiversity Red List and hydrogen produced in the TKNP will carry the blood of its lost biodiversity,” he said.
Brown further called on the Namibian and German governments as well as the EU to immediately commission an independent and transparent Strategic Environmental Assessment of Namibia’s green hydrogen sector.
“We also request a meeting with the German Minister of Environment to explain the importance and significance of the TKNP and the damage which the production of green hydrogen in that sensitive area will do to its biodiversity, its future and the reputations of all who facilitate its development,” Brown added.
