N$3m cash injection for Okongo climate project

A N$3 million climate change project is being implemented in the Ohangwena Region&#039;s Okongo Community Forest.Funded by the Environmental Investment Fund (EIF), the project recorded a bumper harvest early this year, generating an income of N$30 000.It has employed two permanent and 65 temporary workers.This is according to environment minister Pohamba Shifeta, who was speaking at a project handover titled ‘Hydroponic farming systems in Okongo Community Forest’.This project aims to increase the community forest’s vulnerable communities’ resilience to climate change threats through collective capacity-building and the promotion of climate-smart technologies and climate-resilient livelihoods.Great potentialShifeta handed over three completed greenhouse units, a hydroponic unit for fodder production, a nursery, one borehole retrofitted with solar power as well as a 10 000-litre water tank and a cold storage facility.According to him, the Okongo Community Forest covers about 55 918 hectares of land. The major sources of livelihood for the communities in the Okongo area are crop production, livestock rearing and the collection of non-timber forest products.The forest has great potential to create more employment opportunities through horticultural production, sustainable income generation and integrated natural resource business ventures through timber processing, bee farming and other forest products, he said.Shifeta added that government - through his ministry - is working to fight climate change through established national policy frameworks such as the implementation of the national climate change policy and the national determined contribution.Negative effectThe minister said the EIF has been instrumental in contributing to this attainment as a national special purpose vehicle in addressing climate finance.“The status quo caused by climate change has negatively affected Namibia as a country, and the Ohangwena Region specifically, thus making it one of the poorest in the country.”

N$3m cash injection for Okongo climate project

Comments

Namibian Sun 2025-06-18

Please login to leave a comment

N$3m cash injection for Okongo climate project

Comments

Namibian Sun 2025-06-18

Please login to leave a comment

Login