Staff Reporter<\/p>\n\n\n\n
THE Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Land Reform has said it is currently challenging the granting of an Environmental Clearance Certificate (ECC) to marine phosphate mining company Namibian Marine Phosphate (NMP).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a notice of motion, the Minister of Agriculture has cited the environmental commissioner and NMP as respondents, stating that she would appeal to the Environment Minister, Indileni Daniel, in terms of Section 50(10) of the Environmental Management Act 7 against the decision by the Environmental Commissioner to grant an Environmental Clearance Certificate on 8 August 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Answering an urgent oral question in Parliament yesterday, the Minister of Environment and Tourism, Indileni Daniel, however, remained curt on questions regarding the moratorium placed on phosphate mining in 2013 by the Government and said that the Environmental Management Act is clear on the process to be followed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAs the minister under which the environmental commissioner is following, I am not in the position to pre-judge that process. Under no circumstances will I deprive what is right for this country; however, we will allow the process to take its course,\u201d Daniel said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The project has garnered opposition from environmental groups such as Ocean Conservation Namibia, which has argued that marine phosphate mining has many potentially catastrophic side effects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe seabed is a sensitive and fragile ecosystem with unique biodiversity. The oceans are already under threat from rising water temperatures and overfishing. Mining operations can cause even more physical destruction of the seabed and habitats, leading to the loss of critical marine species and disruption of the food chain. Marine phosphate mining’s extraction process involves dredging the seabed, creating sediment plumes that can spread over large areas and affect water quality. These plumes can smother marine life, block sunlight, and disrupt the functioning of ecosystems. Runoffs can lead to ocean acidification and other long-term consequences,\u201d the Ocean Conservation group said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another critic, Dr Carola Kirchner, an independent fisheries management scientist, has called for up-to-date information on the fisheries baseline studies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dr Kirchner warned that the Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) uses older pelagic survey material, and its 2014 verification survey explicitly notes that no small pelagics were caught because the bottom-trawl gear used was not designed to catch sardines, anchovy or other non-demersal species.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She added that the assessment therefore cannot be treated as a contemporary abundance assessment of pilchard in the mining area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe 2025 MFMR\/NatMIRC horse mackerel and small-pelagics survey estimated total sardine (pilchard) biomass at approximately 887,739 tonnes (CV 40%). The survey reports that sardines were primarily concentrated in the southern part of the survey area between 22\u00b0S and 25\u00b0S, with the highest densities inside the 200 m depth contour and smaller groups recorded farther offshore. This is material new information for the Sandpiper assessment: it does not demonstrate that dredging will damage the stock, but it shows that present fisheries risk cannot be evaluated solely from the older baseline used in the 2022 ESIA,\u201d Dr Kirchner said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She concluded that the appropriate response is therefore an updated, species-specific assessment of the recovering small-pelagic resource, including spatial overlap, sediment-plume exposure and possible food-web consequences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis is especially important because pilchard has ecological value well beyond the fishery itself,\u201d Dr Kirchner said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Picture for illustrative purposes only. Photo: Namibian Marine Phosphate<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Staff Reporter THE Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Land Reform has said it is currently challenging the granting of an Environmental Clearance Certificate (ECC) to marine phosphate mining company Namibian Marine Phosphate (NMP). In a notice of motion, the Minister of Agriculture has cited the environmental commissioner and NMP as respondents, stating that she …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":400382,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-400381","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n