Biodiversity Economy in Selected landscapes in Namibia

Project description

Title: Biodiversity Economy in Selected landscapes in Namibia
Commissioned by: German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU)
Country: Namibia
Lead executing agency: Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism (MEFT)
Overall term: 2019 to 2024

Context

Biodiversity is of key importance for Namibia, where 70 per cent of the population depend on biodiversity and natural resources for their livelihood. The community-based natural resources management (CBNRM) programme with its conservancies is seen internationally as a prime example of the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity. The CBNRM programme has made a meaningful contribution towards the conservation areas, and wildlife populations have increased considerably in the last years. However, both biodiversity and the conservation areas have been facing increasing pressure. The main causes are population growth, unsustainable farming practices, a reduction in arable land due to climate change and human-wildlife conflicts.

Conservation areas such as national parks, communal conservancies and private reserves – which cover more than 40 per cent of Namibia’s land area – are fragmented, underfinanced and lack landscape coordination. In light of this, a “biodiversity economy” flagship programme under the new National Development Plan (NDP5) was initiated. Its aim is to “enhance value addition and the sustainable utilisation of biodiversity”. This is possible through the approach of a biodiversity economy.

The biodiversity economy builds upon sectors such as tourism that depend directly on biodiversity for their core business or that contribute directly to the conservation of biodiversity.

Objective

National parks, private reserves and farmland are effectively managed landscapes. Key players work jointly to boost the biodiversity economy. At national level, the approach is mainstreamed and financial resources are mobilised.

Approach

The concept of the biodiversity economy will be spearheaded in selected landscapes, nevertheless it can be scaled up to other landscapes in Namibia and through the trans-frontier national parks even to other countries in the region. The piloting of selected economic instruments (based on the resource mobilisation strategy) such as payments for ecosystem services and biodiversity offsets in specific landscapes serve as examples that will provide lessons learnt for the nationwide implementation of these instruments. The introduction of best practice guidelines for the mining and tourism sector will make use of case studies but are targeted at the entire sector. At landscape level, the joint conservation targets, flanked by sustainable production and consumption measures such as local sourcing of the lodges, labeling etc. will contribute to mitigation efforts.

Last update: June 2021