Windhoek
As the nation eagerly awaits the outcome of the cabinet committee set up to investigate the impact of phosphate mining and whether to allow or ban the activity in Namibia’s seas, the government has been urged not to take light decisions on the matter.
An online petition organised by Earth Organization Namibia, which is campaigning against marine phosphate mining in Namibia, said government is deciding what world Namibian children and future generations will be faced with and how likely they will survive.
“In Namibia, it is the duty of the government to ensure a sustainable environment for current and future generations. The government must choose whether they will fall under the pressure of international mining giants to ignore critical provisions of law that protect the environment and the people of Namibia, or whether they will take pride in their entrusted duty under the constitution to ensure a sustainable environment for current and future generations,” the petition signed by over 150 people states.
Namibia banned phosphate mining in 2013, pending an environmental study. The ban expired in March last year.
The cabinet committee comprising of fisheries, environment and mines ministry representatives was then tasked to investigate whether marine phosphate mining will be harmful to Namibia’s marine life or if it can co-exist with fishing.
The committee is expected to make recommendations on the way forward. Cabinet will then decide whether to approve the recommendations or not.
The environmental activists feel that in a desert country like Namibia, phosphate mining is a serious threat on a basic survival level. They say fish is good for food security, especially in times of persistent drought.
The Namibian fishing sector, which is a N$5 billion-a-year industry, is strongly against the proposed marine phosphate mining.
The organisation plans to lobby about 1 000 people against the planned activities before the petition is delivered to the Environmental Commissioner Teofilus Nghitila.
The organisation also feels the laws of Namibia are being blatantly ignored, since the constitution states that the government must maintain essential ecological processes and biological diversity on a sustainable basis for current and future generations.
“Honourable President Hage Geingob recently was quoted in agreement stating that ‘The environment is part and parcel of Namibia’s foundation of democracy, peace and stability. It has been so in the past, it is so today and will be so tomorrow. Protection of the environment is enshrined in our constitution.’ Ignoring the constitutional provision which protects the environment would be like losing the soul of our nation,” reads the petition.
According to the petition, to date public and scientific consultation as part of the Environmental Impact Assessment process has been inadequate and not in accordance with Namibian law, International Seabed Authority guidelines, or International Best Practice standards.
As such, the organisation is asking Nghitila to conduct public consultation as required by both the environmental commissioner and the proponents of marine phosphate mining under section 6 of Namibia’s Environmental Management Act of 2007, and sections 16 and 19 of the Environmental Management Act regulations of 2012.
The activists say interested and affected parties have raised numerous concerns in the past, while substantial concerns by the public and scientists about significant negarive effects have been effectively brushed under the surface.
According to the Environmental Management Act of 2007, damage to the environment must be prevented and activities which cause such damage must be reduced, limited or controlled.