Climate Change and Inclusive Use of Natural Resources (CCIU)

Project description

Title: Climate Change and Inclusive Use of Natural Resources
Commissioned by: German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) (with Co-Funding from the European Union EU)
Co-funded by: European Union
Country: Namibia
Lead executing agency: Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism (MEFT)
Overall term: 2021 to 2024

Community projects support income generation and livelihood diversification

Context

About half of all Namibians live in rural areas and depend on the use of natural resources for their livelihoods. Through the delegation of rights to utilise natural resources under the Community-Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM) approach, communities are able to gain benefits from this utilisation, thus leading to important incentives to conserve and safeguard the environment they depend on.

These resources are however under increasing pressure, due to – for instance - changing land uses and the negative impacts of climate change. To promote a climate-adapted, resilient, and equitable management of natural resources, Namibia has established the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement, and has set out to review its CBNRM approach and improve coordination among its stakeholders. The aim is to increase the resilience of local communities and help preserve Namibia’s unique nature and wildlife for future generations.

Objective

The capacities of the population and responsible institutions for a resilient, inclusive and climate-adapted natural resource management are increased.

Wildlife also roams free outside of protected areas in Namibia

Approach

The CCIU Programme facilitates the coherent implementation of climate-resilient interventions and promote the inclusive use of natural resources. The target groups comprise all 230,000 people living in Namibia’s 86 communal conservancies and community forests, as well as vulnerable households in peri-urban areas. The programme focuses on four key areas, which are being implemented at various geographic and institutional levels:

  1. improvement of good governance standards and institutional capacities of Community-Based Organisations involved in CBNRM;
  2. provision of services to enhance equitable valorisation of natural resources and to diversify livelihoods; 
  3. strengthening the institutional capacities of MEFT to support the effective implementation of the relevant regulatory and institutional frameworks;
  4. supporting the updating of the NDC Partnership Plan and developing an implementation strategy and corresponding measures.

From this, for example more than 14,000 harvest workers of biological resources like Marula or Devil’s Claw benefit from better working conditions and fairer incomes. Given the recurring droughts in Namibia, communities also benefit from efforts to mitigate human-wildlife conflict, such as through enhanced water infrastructure or wildlife-proof crop storage solutions.

Last update: Februar 2022

Environmental education is important to raise public awareness about climate change and biodiver-sity loss

Additional information