Namibia Second National Communication to UNFCCC 2011.pdf

NATIONAL CIRCUMSTANCES | page 252.5 LAND USE AND LAND TENUREWith the exclusion of protected areas, land tenure in Namibia takesthree forms: freehold private land (43% - mainly in the south and incentral Namibia), communal land (37% - mainly in the north central/north east and east of the country) and municipal, town and otherState lands (1%). Namibia’s extensive network of Protected Areas(PA) on State Lands covers 13.8% of the country’s land surface.The PA network is being expanded through the incorporation of newsites, with a total area of 33,341 km 2 . In addition, there are 63registered Communal Conservancies on communal lands (totalling123,347 km 2 ) which is essentially a management unit with legalrights over the use and management of natural resources (seesection 2.8). An estimated 15% or 7,600 km 2 of Namibia’s freeholdland is dedicated to wildlife management.The main land uses in Namibia include farming (crop, livestockand game, commercial and subsistence on communal land, smalland large scale); conservation on proclaimed state protectedareas; resource use, management and conservation on registeredcommunal conservancies; areas earmarked for resettlement;urban areas and informal settling; government agriculture farms;tourism and mining.Long-term investments of any kind require firm property rights.The communal areas of Namibia are currently left somewhat in avoid between traditional law and newly-established judiciaries notyet functional nor necessarily accepted. The tenure arrangementsdo not lend themselves to promote the type of infrastructuralinvestments climate change adaptation would warrant. Currenttenure arrangements in Namibia are presented in Figure 2.9.2.6 AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRYThe agriculture sector secures food for the majority of thepopulation and provides formal and informal jobs. Directly orindirectly, it supports over 70% of the country’s population (NationalProgramme for Food Security, 2007). Agricultural contribution toGDP (Table 2.3) grew from 4.5% in 2001 to about 7% in 2005, withgrowth driven primarily by the commercial sector. However, this fellshort of the second National Development Plan’s (NDP2) targets,owing to episodes of drought and currency appreciation amongother constraints (National Programme for Food Security, 2007). In2008, the contribution to GDP had fallen to 5.5% (Figure 2.11).Namibia is a nett importer of most agricultural and fisheriesrelated products. Meat and fish are the exception as they areproduced in abundance and are exported to neighbouring countriesand internationally. Namibia pursues a policy of import substitutioni.e. producing more of the imported agricultural products locally.The agricultural sector has, broadly, a dual system comprising awell developed, capital intensive and export oriented commercialsub-sector and a subsistence-based communal farming subsector,low in technology and external inputs and highly dependenton labour. In 2005, total agricultural output was estimated atTable 2.3: Contributionof Agriculture andForestry sectors to GDP.Source: Republic ofNamibia (2007a)Sector 2001 2003 2005Agriculture and Forestry 4.5 5.8 7.0Commercial 2.8 4.3 5.0Subsistence 1.7 1.5 2.0Figure 2.9: Land tenure in Namibia.Source: Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry, in DRFN (2008)LAND OWNERSHIPPreviously advantagedWhite & foreignCorporate entitiesPreviously disadvantagedand advantaged ownersPreviously disadvantagedAffirmative action loan schemeResettlement farmsFarms bought with private fundsOdendal & RehobothCommunal areasOtherGovernment & protected areasMunicipality, Organisations & TrustsUnspecifiedNamibia Second National Communication to the UNFCCC