NAMIBIA
>> GEF-SGP biodiversity projects
>> UNDP Equator Initiative Finalists and Winners
Selected GEF biodiversity projects:
>> Namib Coast biodiversity conservation and management project:
The project objective is to put in place a coastal zone management system that will lead to the sustainable use and protection of the biodiversity of Namibia's Namib Coast.>> Support to the implementation of the National Biosafety Framework:
The overall objective of this project is to strengthen capacity for the implementation of the National Biosafety Framework in compliance with the obligations of the Cartagena Protocol. Specific objectives are as follows: 1) to support the establishment of the legal and administrative system needed to enable the safe development, handling, transport, use, transfer and release of Living Modified Organisms (LMOs) in Namibia and meet the obligations foreseen under the Cartagena Protocol; 2) to improve the ability to screen LMOs in order to monitor and manage the risks associated to their handling, transport, use, transfer and release by equipping an independent scientific laboratory; 3) to strengthen capacity, including research capacity, of main stakeholders; 4) to strengthen information sharing among relevant stakeholders and enhance public awareness on biosafety-related issues.>> National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan:
This project will assist the national Government to meet its obligations under the Convention on Biological Diversity.>> Back to top
Selected GEF-SGP biodiversity projects
>> Palmwag Concession / Save the Rhino Trust:
The Kunene Region in Namibia is home to the world’s only black rhino population to have survived on communal lands without formal conservation status. These rhinos are also the only desert ecotype population of black rhinos. Unfortunately, the growth rate of this black rhino population (3.27%) is well below the IUCN African Rhino Specialist Group’s healthy growth rate (5% or more). The Kunene black rhino population represents a valuable opportunity to conserve biodiversity as well as improve local livelihoods. The Save the Rhino Trust will help local communities to develop and expand rhino conservancies on communal lands. These conservancies will increase ecotourism and reconcile biological management with regional Community Based Natural Resource Management goals.>> Reducing human-elephant conflicts in the Elephants' Corner Conservancy:
This project seeks to assist a community-based conservancy in the semi-desert northwestern Kunune Region to address the longstanding conflict between desert-dwelling elephants and livestock farmers. The conflict revolves around water. Elephant populations have grown as result of conservation efforts by government, NGOs and local communities. This leads to competition for scarce water resources between livestock and domestic use on one side, and elephants on the other. In this process, elephants damage water installations, kill livestock and occasionally take human lives. The project seeks to build specially made 'elephants only' drinking places away from household water points. This will reduce interaction between humans, their livestock and elephants.>> Back to top
UNDP Equator Prize Finalists and Winners:
>> Torra Conservancy (Equator Prize 2004 Finalist)
Torra Conservancy covers 352,000 hectares of land in the Kunene region of northwest Namibia. This successful community-based conservancy was formed following passage of Namibia’s unique conservancy legislation in 1996. Since then, Torra has established sustainable hunting and ecotourism activities that have earned significant profits for the entire community. Together with the private sector, they have also founded Damaraland Camp, a luxury tented lodge that has received accolades as an outstanding ecotourism destination. Damaraland Camp is fully managed and staffed by conservancy residents and has injected 1.6 million Namibian dollars into the community economy. As members of the Management Committee, community members also monitor wildlife and human activity and ensure that policies for land and wildlife management are locally informed and, ultimately, successful.
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