usaid/nambia environmental threats and opportunities assessment

Conflicts in land-use, disparate political “Visions” for Namibia’s future, and low status and
capacity of both the Ministry of Environment and Tourism (MET) and the Directorate of
Forestry (DoF) of the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry (MWF).
The absence of adequate Land Use Planning (LUP) threatens biodiversity and conservation
efforts throughout Namibia.
The environment competes with people, livestock, mines, industry, and irrigation for Namibia’s
scarce water resources. Human water demand in the country is expected to increase by 230%
between 2008 and 2030. The environmental implications on ecosystems and the hydrological
cycle are not well considered and political decisions regarding water use are not always consistent
with policy directives.
While woodlands are conserved to some degree inside protected areas, community forests, and
conservancies, the controls on wood harvesting, transportation, and selling of wood products is
inadequate. As a result, trees are suffering increasing rates of deforestation. The biggest losses of
natural woodland have occurred from clearing of land for crop cultivation, cutting of trees for
firewood and construction, and the frequent burning of trees as a result of veld fires in the
northeast. As people’s livelihoods become more threatened by increasing temperatures and
aridification (as predicted in the most recent climate change reports) rural poverty is likely to
increase and with it, rates of deforestation and increasingly unsustainable land-use practices and
the harvesting of indigenous forest products.
The carrying capacity of an estimated 26 million hectares of rangelands in central and eastern
Namibia has been greatly reduced by bush encroachment – a major form of land degradation.
These dense thickets of thorny bush grow in response to the overstocking of cattle, a
corresponding loss of perennial grasses and a reduction in the number of browsing ungulates.
These human-induced threats are exacerbated by climatic conditions that favor the flowering,
seeding, and germination of woody plants – especially during dry periods when water is more
accessible to deep-rooted plants, rather than shallow-rooted grasses.
Namibia is currently experiencing rapid growth in its charcoal industry. Unless adequately
monitored, this potentially valuable industry (it can help to combat bush encroachment) is likely
to result in the over-exploitation of many valuable tree species.
Higher temperatures, lower rainfall and higher evaporation rates across Namibia are predicted
with climate change. These cumulative impacts will result in increasing aridification across most
of the country, lower primary production of rangelands and reduced carrying capacity for
wildlife.
From a biodiversity perspective, the CC impacts on water availability are likely to be severe –
especially in western Namibia where trees in ephemeral riverbeds act as linear oases that provide
essential fodder and habitats to many species. The decline in surface water (small springs and
seeps) in the more arid areas will affect bird and game populations negatively. Reduced inflows
into the Etosha Pan may impact on the natural springs around the southern parts of the pan and
on the breeding of some important species.
In addition to the direct impacts of CC on biodiversity, global warming will further exacerbate
poverty and household food amongst subsistence farmers – thus placing more pressure on the
land and its resources.
USAID/NAMIBIA ENVIRONMENTAL THREATS AND OPPORTUNITIES ASSESSMENT 5