The Namibia Natural Resource Consortium (2001), in its contribution to Namibia’s Vision 2030, highlighted the natural resource sector’s vision as – Namibia shall develop its natural capital for the benefit of its social, economic and ecological well-being by adopting strategies that promote the sustainable, equitable and efficient use of natural resources, maximise Namibia’s comparative advantages and reduce inappropriate resource use practices. 

It is a well-known secret that Namibia is well endowed with natural resources – from wildlife, fisheries, forestry, oil, coal, natural gas and even minerals, such as diamond, copper, and uranium as well as quite recent rare metals such as lithium. 

The latter is key to the impending green energy transition. Natural resources are the raw materials for making products we use every day. 

Thus, they play a role in not only primary production but sets the tone for secondary and tertiary production. It is very clear that having a natural resource base as rich as Namibia’s every country’s wish. 

In terms of natural resource conservation, Namibia has long been considered a leader, with 44% of its land protected, as well as the country’s entire coastline. 

Despite this, a 2021 report by the Namibia Statistics Agency reported that approximately 43% of Namibia’s population is living in poverty (59% of them live in rural and 25% in urban areas). 

A recent report by the World Bank stated that a shocking 1.6 million people live in poverty in Namibia. 

From a population of only
about 2.6 million, this is indeed very shocking. Namibia’s economic advantage remains in the hands of a relatively small segment of the population, and significant inequality
continues. 

The country ranks as one of the world’s most unequal countries, with a Gini coefficient of 59.1 accompanied by very high unemployment rates, partly due to slow job creation and low primary-sector productivity. 

The question remains, how then can Namibia practically use its plentiful natural capital to achieve socioeconomic benefits and environmental sustainability based on the above-stated strategies? Let us unpack this dilemma.

Namibia needs to find ways to ensure that its abundant natural resources are being utilized efficiently to benefit all its citizens (equitable), whilst not forfeiting the future generation’s chances of deriving those same benefits as well (sustainability). 

Historically, Namibia has adopted policies and approaches to ensure equitable distribution of its natural resources to previously disadvantaged citizens, however, the definition of “previously disadvantaged” has remained unchanged 32 years and counting after independence. 

This has created a segment of “previously disadvantaged and overly advantaged” citizens. Let’s leave this discussion for another day! One such equitable policy is the Namibianisation policy (currently in use in the fishing industry), which the government introduced to help citizens become key players in their economy, by diverting ownership of the fisheries assets from
foreign to locals. The extent to which its application has been a success is up for debate, especially after the fishrot scandal. 

However, it is imperative to introduce and/or re-enforce this policy in all natural resource sectors, but this time, implement it with the Community Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM) approach. CBNRM empowers communities by providing rights over land and natural resources, building skills and capacity, establishing community decision-making bodies, and promoting community advocacy and inclusion in mainstream economic activities. 

The CBNRM approach, although currently based on wildlife and tourism, has the potential to provide an umbrella for integrated natural resource planning and management by local communities as well as institutional models for inclusivity. 

Host communities of the natural resource ought to be equal owners of derived nature-based enterprises through models such as community cooperatives, etc to not only promote inclusivity but long-term socio-economic livelihood empowerment.

 These two if properly merged and implemented have the potential to promote equity and widespread benefits, socially and economically.

Namibia’s competitive advantage has always been in its (abundant) natural resource base. To its credit, a series of primary-based industries has been successfully built, however, the same cannot be said about secondary and tertiary
industries. 

Most of Namibia’s extractive industries export materials in their rawest and least expensive forms, only to be sold its finished versions at much higher prices. This needs to change. With the proven competitive advantage, Namibia needs to find a way to turn that competitiveness into a comparative advantage, build economies of scale, empower local SMEs, and ultimately enhance internal economic activities. 

The end? A higher GDP. We have abundant fish. Let us build fish processing plants. Do we have abundant oil? Let us build oil refineries. 

Do we have abundant sun and water? Let us build green energy technologies. Do we have foreign investors bidding for any of our natural resources? Let them set up extractive (primary) and even refinery (secondary) technologies here and enforce internal knowledge and technology transfer. 

This concept is what De Wet (2000) refers to as backward integration, in which technology from developed foreign countries is imported within local industries and allows for technology transfer into local Research institutions and personnel, ultimately building local capacity and know-how. 

This should be our win-win condition with foreign investors. In the end, we will be players in the entire value chain involving our natural resources and kill off the dependency syndrome for secondary and tertiary
activities. 

Institutions of Higher Learning need to work with industries in this regard. 

Our natural resources need to be extracted sustainably and optimally to allow for replenishment (in the case of our renewable resources, such as fish) and extended beneficiation (for non-renewable resources). 

This calls for good resource planning and a good monitoring and evaluation system to allow for optimal utilization, resource base monitoring, and benefit sharing and avoid the “resource curse” that has affected many resources rich countries.

*Oswald Siku Mughongora is a recently certified Renewable Energy Consultant with an MBA in Natural Resources Management and a Postgraduate Diploma in Monitoring and Evaluation.