N$26m for SASSCAL headquarters
Namibia has availed N$26 million for the construction of headquarters for the Southern African Science Service Centre for Climate Change and Adaptive Land Management (SASSCAL) in Windhoek.
Deputy agriculture minister Anna Shiweda said construction is expected to commence in the first quarter of 2024.
She made these remarks at a SASSCAL high-level climate change dialogue titled ‘Road to COP 28’.
COP 28, or formally the 28th United Nations Climate Change Conference, will be held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, from 30 November to 12 December.
Shiweda noted that Namibia is a highly water stressed country with extreme climate and rainfall patterns.
The country’s climate is forecasted to get hotter and drier in the near future, and “by 2050, the average annual temperature is expected to increase by 1.5 to 2.5 degrees Celsius in the south and 2.5 to three degrees in the northern part of Namibia”, she said.
Joint initiative
“Therefore, a joint initiative taken by Angola, Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia and Germany to establish SASSCAL in response to the challenges of global climate change could not be more relevant at such a time.”
According to Shiweda, for SASSCAL to become a fully-fledged and effective regional entity, it needs to grow its membership beyond the current member states.
“It is SASSCAL’s mandate to facilitate and ensure that more SADC member states come on board so as to arrest the devastating effects of climate change,” she said.
Shiweda added that the climate dialogue is taking place at a time that the world is getting ready to present current science products and services that are relevant in combatting climate change effects.
It is also an important time as Africa will soon be compensated through the Loss and Damage Fund, she said.
Crossroads
“We are in a climate crisis that has largely been caused by more industrialised economies, but the most impacted people are those whose infrastructure is still in development.”
Shiweda said Africa, a region with a developing economy endowed with abundant natural resources, stands at a crossroads where strategic financial investments can steer its trajectory towards a prosperous, climate-resilient future.
The continent has thus become relevant for SASSCAL to become more influential and reach out all relevant stakeholders before COP 28 “to dialogue and come up with practical solutions that can contribute to combatting the effects of climate change”, she noted.
Deputy agriculture minister Anna Shiweda said construction is expected to commence in the first quarter of 2024.
She made these remarks at a SASSCAL high-level climate change dialogue titled ‘Road to COP 28’.
COP 28, or formally the 28th United Nations Climate Change Conference, will be held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, from 30 November to 12 December.
Shiweda noted that Namibia is a highly water stressed country with extreme climate and rainfall patterns.
The country’s climate is forecasted to get hotter and drier in the near future, and “by 2050, the average annual temperature is expected to increase by 1.5 to 2.5 degrees Celsius in the south and 2.5 to three degrees in the northern part of Namibia”, she said.
Joint initiative
“Therefore, a joint initiative taken by Angola, Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia and Germany to establish SASSCAL in response to the challenges of global climate change could not be more relevant at such a time.”
According to Shiweda, for SASSCAL to become a fully-fledged and effective regional entity, it needs to grow its membership beyond the current member states.
“It is SASSCAL’s mandate to facilitate and ensure that more SADC member states come on board so as to arrest the devastating effects of climate change,” she said.
Shiweda added that the climate dialogue is taking place at a time that the world is getting ready to present current science products and services that are relevant in combatting climate change effects.
It is also an important time as Africa will soon be compensated through the Loss and Damage Fund, she said.
Crossroads
“We are in a climate crisis that has largely been caused by more industrialised economies, but the most impacted people are those whose infrastructure is still in development.”
Shiweda said Africa, a region with a developing economy endowed with abundant natural resources, stands at a crossroads where strategic financial investments can steer its trajectory towards a prosperous, climate-resilient future.
The continent has thus become relevant for SASSCAL to become more influential and reach out all relevant stakeholders before COP 28 “to dialogue and come up with practical solutions that can contribute to combatting the effects of climate change”, she noted.
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