Staff Reporter
THE National Planning Commission (NPC), the Environment Minister, and the German Development Bank (KfW) have signed a grant agreement worth €3 million, equivalent to nearly N$60 million, to establish a Sustainable Financing Mechanism to support Namibia’s state-protected areas.
According to the German Embassy, the funds are designated for the sustainable management of Namibia’s 20 national parks. The aim is to enhance the conservation of Namibian biodiversity and ecosystems while improving rural livelihoods and local incomes.
“Communities adjacent to protected areas and those living in the managed resource use zones of specific protected areas will, through their community-based natural resources management structures, benefit from improved protected area management of the national parks through the implementation of tourism concessions, improved human-wildlife conflict management, and other targeted conservation management interventions. Furthermore, new income opportunities from nature-based tourism, sustainable value chains, and biodiversity-related job creation will result from enhanced park management guaranteed via means of sustainable finance interventions,” the German Embassy explained.
The embassy added that the grant complements the Ministry of Environment’s own budget allocation via the Game Products Trust Fund (GPTF) towards its state-protected area network.
“Namibia has made considerable efforts to protect its natural environment and its resources and has placed large parts of its country under formal protection. All national parks are of great economic, social, and ecological importance. They provide sources of livelihood for Namibians in many respects and are important for the region as such and for all of mankind. With an innovative approach referred to as ‘Integrated Park Management’, the MEFT seeks to achieve biodiversity conservation on the one hand and poverty reduction through job creation via tourism on the other,” the German Embassy explained.
The embassy also highlighted that communal conservancies and local communities are involved in the planning, development, and management of the national parks and protected areas, providing them with incentives to manage Namibia’s natural resources sustainably.
Sesriem Park Station. Photo: Günter Brettschneider.
