Absalom Shigwedha

Environmental commissioner Timoteus Mufeti has said the Great Green Wall Initiative implementation in Namibia will address environmental challenges. 

He noted that desertification, land degradation and drought, which hamper the achievement of the much-needed sustainable development in the region, could be addressed through the rolling out of such an initiative. 

Mufeti made these remarks at a one-day workshop, held in Windhoek recently, to validate Namibia’s National Action Plan (NAP) for the implementation of the Great Green Wall Initiative (GGWI) in Namibia as part of the efforts to implement the initiative in the SADC region.

The GGWI is an African Union Commission-led project with an epic ambition to restore 8 000km of degraded land across the entire width of Africa. Its goal is to provide food, jobs and a future for the millions of people who live in the region on the frontline of climate change.

Mufeti said desertification, land degradation and droughts are caused by overgrazing, deforestation and over-cultivation, which are, in turn, a result of underlying forces, including poverty and under-development.

He said the GGWI started in the Sahel and Sahel regions in 2005 but the SADC region is now also implementing it; each country in the region will have to implement it on its own. 

“We want to come up with an approach that fits our region,” said Mufeti.

He said the government cannot implement the document alone but it needs the involvement of other stakeholders. 

Coordinator of the GGWI at the African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa Elvis Paul said Namibia played a major role in rolling the GGWI to the SADC region.

He said in 2015, environment minister Pohamba Shifeta expressed the need for extending the initiative to the SADC region, as environmental challenges are transboundary and, therefore, African countries need to work together if the environment is to be protected in its totality.

Paul said the validation of Namibia’s NAP is a milestone for Namibia and the SADC region, adding that Eswatini has also recently launched its NAP for the implementation of the initiative.

He said the GGWI is linked to the African Union’s Agenda 2063 and the 15 Sustainable Development Goals, which call for the protection and conservation of life on land. 

Paul said the GGWI is about collaboration because environmental challenges, such as climate change, do not know political boundaries.

He said the African Union was assisting African member states in the implementation of the initiative.  

Acting representative of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations in Namibia Ferdinand Mwapopi said the GGWI seeks to address a set of environmental challenges, such as desertification, loss of biodiversity and climate change as well as the FAO’s contribution. 

They engaged a consultant to come up with Namibia’s NAP and the implantation of the initiative in the country.

The FAO, he said, is committed to providing support to the implementation of the GGWI, both at the regional level and continental levels. 

In the SADC region, the GGWI is being implemented by 16 countries – and thus far, 25% of NAPs have been achieved.

At the moment, several SADC countries are facing multiple environmental challenges, ranging from loss of biodiversity, desertification, water stress and climate change.

* Absalom Shigwedha is a freelance journalist, specialising in agriculture and environmental reporting.