ONDANGWA – The Minister of Environment, Forestry and Tourism Pohamba Shifeta officially launched the Namibia Integrated Landscape Approach for Enhancing Livelihoods and Environmental Governance to Eradicate Poverty (NILALEG) project at Ondangwa in Oshana on Friday.

The NILALEG project is being implemented jointly by the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism, the University of Namibia and the Environmental Investment Fund of Namibia in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme.

In his launching address, Shifeta stated that the project is funded by the Global Environment Facility with approximately N.dollars 161 million and will be implemented until 2025.
According to Shifeta, the project has three main focus areas; improving environmental governance, sustainable management of natural resources and enhancing livelihoods for poverty eradication in rural areas through nature-based enterprises.
“The project will directly support five sites, called focal landscapes, in five regions namely Omusati, Ohangwena, Kavango West, Zambezi and Kunene,” explained Shifeta.

At these sites, he said, the project will seek to achieve a significant reduction in deforestation rates, while enhancing agricultural productivity, biodiversity conservation, sustainable management of natural resources and the income of small-scale food producers living in these landscapes.

“Coordination structures will be established at the landscape level to ensure that at least 20 000 people across the five focal landscapes benefit directly from the project’s interventions,” the minister narrated.

This should also improve cross-sectoral collaboration between different sectors, including private and public, in the fields of forestry, wildlife, agriculture, livestock, water, energy, tourism and other areas of development.

He went on to say it will also address issues related to human-wildlife-livestock-ecosystem interface and sustainable value chain development.

“Testimony to our commitment to having a positive impact on the livelihoods of our people is that the majority of the funding for this project will be allocated to initiatives and interventions that support on-the-ground actions,” Shifeta told his audience.

The NILALEG project launch was preceded by a two-day inception workshop held at a hotel in Ondangwa on Wednesday and Thursday. – Nampa