WINDHOEK – The German government has spent about N$700 million in support of Namibia’s conservation and sustainable management of natural resources since the establishment of Namparks in 2006.
This was revealed by German ambassador to Namibia Herbert Beck on Friday in Lüderitz during the inauguration of park infrastructure in the //Karas region. The German government has assisted Namibia in the construction and renovation of park infrastructure in the Tsau //Khaeb National Park.
The support from NamParks to the Tsau //Khaeb (Sperrgebiet) National Park, with the assistance of the German Development Cooperation through KfW, and with co-financing from the Namibian government through Environment and Tourism amounts to about N$80 million.
NamParks is a programme of the Ministry of Environment and Tourism established in 2006, and it is supported by Germany through KfW Development Bank.
These include the construction of more than 20 newly-built houses for the ministry of environment staff members in Oranjemund and Rosh Pinah; the renovation of old offices to be used by the same ministry in Luderitz, as well as the construction of eight signage walls around the park strategic entry points.
The inauguration of the new infrastructure includes the renovation of the Lüderitz Old Post Office to be used as the park headquarters, eight two-bedroom houses for park management staff in Lüderitz, and two two-bedroom houses and conversion of the old office into a two-bedroom for park management staff and one ranger office in Aus.
The infrastructure also includes eight two-bedroom houses in Rosh Pinah and a three-bedroom house for senior staff, and six two-bedroom houses in Oranjemund and minor additions to the existing office. This also included eight signage walls around strategic entry points to the park.
Further, he said the efforts of the Namibian-German cooperation to develop the Namibian national parks are steadily contributing to effective park management.
Shifeta maintained the current NamParks IV phase has focused intensively on infrastructure development for Bwabwata, Mudumu and Tsau //Khaeb (Sperrgebiet) national parks. These investments have significantly contributed to integrated park management.
The last phase of the Namibian parks programme (Phase V) will focus on the development of Namibia’s other coastal parks of Skeleton Coast Park, Dorob National Park, Cape Cross Seal Reserve, and Namib Naukluft Park and surrounding areas.
Sperrgebiet National Park, later renamed Tsau //Khaeb (Sperrgebiet) National Park, was proclaimed a National Park in 2008 in terms of Section 14 of the Nature Conservation Ordinance, 1975 (Ord. 4 of 1975).
The proclamation followed cabinet decision taken in 2004, which was based on the recommendation of the 2003 Sperrgebiet Land Use Plan commissioned jointly by the Ministry of Mines and Energy, the Ministry of Land Reform and the Ministry of Environment and Tourism.
Tsau //Khaeb (Sperrgebiet) National Park is part of what has become one of the longest protected coastlines in the world, stretching from the Iona National Park in south-western Angola, bordering the Skeleton Coast Park – through the Dorob National Park, the Namib-Naukluft Park to the /Ai-/Ais Richtersveld Transfrontier Park and the Ramsar Site at the Orange River Mouth.
“With the signing of the treaty for the establishment of the Iona-Skeleton Coast Transfrontier Park between Namibia and Angola, there is an opportunity to establish a much larger Transfrontier Conservation Area that spans three countries along the Namib coast. In addition to the terrestrial parks, the Tsau //Khaeb (Sperrgebiet) National Park lies adjacent to Namibia’s only marine Protected Area proclaimed by the
Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources,” Shifeta said.
The Marine Protected Areas includes at least 17 ‘islands’ off the Tsau //Khaeb (Sperrgebiet) National Park shores, ranging in size from small rocky outcrops to islands of a few hectares, together with their contiguous coastal and marine areas, and extending landwards up to the high tide mark and the inter-tidal zone.