Land restoration faces challenges
Scaling up land restoration initiatives remains a big challenge, particularly in Namibia where the root causes of land degradation are attributed to high levels of rural poverty, weak financing for sustainable land management, inadequate application of technology for dry land production and recurring droughts.
This according to environment minister Pohamba Shifeta, who said amid these challenges and the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, Namibia, however, remains fully committed to fighting land degradation by continuing to initiate pragmatic restoration projects, programmes and strategies and implementing them in areas that are severely affected by land degradation.
Shifeta was speaking at the High-Level Segment of the 15th Conference of the Parties (COP15) to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), held in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire.
He made the remarks at the second roundtable on land restoration, themed ‘A path to sustainable post-pandemic recovery’.
“In 2014, Namibia became one of the few countries to participate in the Land Degradation Neutrality Target Setting Programme and has set ambitious national targets to restore degraded lands.”
He added that these targets commit Namibia to reforest and increase forest productivity in up to 40 000 hectares of forest showing early signs of deforestation by 2030, and to improve productivity in up to 10 million hectares of shrubs and grasslands showing early signs of declining productivity by 2040.
It also commits Namibia to reducing degradation of invasive bush encroacher over an area of two million hectares by 2040 and maintaining soil organic carbons beyond 2040 in forests at 17 tonnes per hectare, shrubs and grassland at 14 tonnes per hectare and in wetlands at 16 tonnes per hectare.
Worrisome degradation
According to Shifeta, land degradation is a global phenomenon that occurs in all parts of the terrestrial world.
It is estimated globally that over 70% of land areas have been transformed from their natural state, causing worrisome environmental degradation and contributing significantly to biodiversity loss and climate change, he said.
“Although the impacts from land degradation cut across the whole society, the poorest rural communities that reside in dryland landscapes are especially vulnerable to desertification and land degradation, with cascading impacts on food security.”
Shifeta noted that severe land degradation also has the potential to reverse the positive environmental impacts achieved through sustainable rangeland management and agricultural practices.
Namibia believes that to successfully implement Land Degradation Neutral initiatives, the causes of land degradation need to be addressed through a bottom-up approach, he added.
“Therefore, the local communities should be made part of the decision-making systems through local land management level to engage in or support land restoration measures.”
He said land use planning must offer solutions that avoid land degradation like conservation agriculture (ensuring food security while avoiding further land clearing for agricultural purposes) and, at the same time, promoting restoration of forests and rangeland through protecting, restoring or re-establishing vegetation associations that are relevant and needed by local consumers.
“Solutions must also include alternative sustainable mechanisms to benefit from protecting natural resources to increase socio-economic resilience, and transformational solutions that address food security, livelihood support and income generation on intensely managed and highly diversified food forests.”
The minister said it is essential that a pro-active approach is taken to improve land restoration efforts by increasing financial and technical support towards rural community development to eradicate poverty and livelihood improvement in our affected countries.
According to him, Namibia has domesticated the third national action programme of the UNCCD and developed ambitious outcomes of the plan to combat desertification, land degradation and droughts.
It has also domesticated the second National Biodiversity and Strategic Action Plan and the revised nationally determined contribution.
[email protected]
This according to environment minister Pohamba Shifeta, who said amid these challenges and the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, Namibia, however, remains fully committed to fighting land degradation by continuing to initiate pragmatic restoration projects, programmes and strategies and implementing them in areas that are severely affected by land degradation.
Shifeta was speaking at the High-Level Segment of the 15th Conference of the Parties (COP15) to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), held in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire.
He made the remarks at the second roundtable on land restoration, themed ‘A path to sustainable post-pandemic recovery’.
“In 2014, Namibia became one of the few countries to participate in the Land Degradation Neutrality Target Setting Programme and has set ambitious national targets to restore degraded lands.”
He added that these targets commit Namibia to reforest and increase forest productivity in up to 40 000 hectares of forest showing early signs of deforestation by 2030, and to improve productivity in up to 10 million hectares of shrubs and grasslands showing early signs of declining productivity by 2040.
It also commits Namibia to reducing degradation of invasive bush encroacher over an area of two million hectares by 2040 and maintaining soil organic carbons beyond 2040 in forests at 17 tonnes per hectare, shrubs and grassland at 14 tonnes per hectare and in wetlands at 16 tonnes per hectare.
Worrisome degradation
According to Shifeta, land degradation is a global phenomenon that occurs in all parts of the terrestrial world.
It is estimated globally that over 70% of land areas have been transformed from their natural state, causing worrisome environmental degradation and contributing significantly to biodiversity loss and climate change, he said.
“Although the impacts from land degradation cut across the whole society, the poorest rural communities that reside in dryland landscapes are especially vulnerable to desertification and land degradation, with cascading impacts on food security.”
Shifeta noted that severe land degradation also has the potential to reverse the positive environmental impacts achieved through sustainable rangeland management and agricultural practices.
Namibia believes that to successfully implement Land Degradation Neutral initiatives, the causes of land degradation need to be addressed through a bottom-up approach, he added.
“Therefore, the local communities should be made part of the decision-making systems through local land management level to engage in or support land restoration measures.”
He said land use planning must offer solutions that avoid land degradation like conservation agriculture (ensuring food security while avoiding further land clearing for agricultural purposes) and, at the same time, promoting restoration of forests and rangeland through protecting, restoring or re-establishing vegetation associations that are relevant and needed by local consumers.
“Solutions must also include alternative sustainable mechanisms to benefit from protecting natural resources to increase socio-economic resilience, and transformational solutions that address food security, livelihood support and income generation on intensely managed and highly diversified food forests.”
The minister said it is essential that a pro-active approach is taken to improve land restoration efforts by increasing financial and technical support towards rural community development to eradicate poverty and livelihood improvement in our affected countries.
According to him, Namibia has domesticated the third national action programme of the UNCCD and developed ambitious outcomes of the plan to combat desertification, land degradation and droughts.
It has also domesticated the second National Biodiversity and Strategic Action Plan and the revised nationally determined contribution.
[email protected]
Comments
Namibian Sun
No comments have been left on this article