Likwaterera Community Forest, Rundu Rural Constituency, Kavango East Region, 10th October
2022-The Minister of Environment, Forestry and Tourism Pohamba Shifeta today officiated the handover of the Moringa production site funded under the CBNRM EDA Project that is implemented through the Environmental investment Fund of Namibia.
Speaking on behalf of the Regional Governor of Kavango East and delivering Welcoming Remarks was the Personal Assistant to the Governor, Mr. Andrew Haingura who encouraged the community forest management committee to ensure that the objectives and aims of the project are fully implemented to be of the community.
The Executive Director of the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism Mr. Theofilus Nghitila highlighted that the Ministry is committed to using the natural resources and of the Likwaterera Community Forest more specifically agroforestry resources to deeply transform the livelihoods of the people and urged the management committee members of the project to ensure that they make meaningful impact in the livelihoods of the people of the community
In delivering his key note address Hon. Pohamba Shifeta, pointed that “the Likwaterera moringa plantation demonstrates the potential in effectively addressing issues of unemployment, foreign earning and build momentum for sustainable economic growth in our country”. He further denoted that the project being handover under the theme “Unleashing the potential of Climate Change Strategy for Likwaterera Community Forest” is focused on scaling up the organic production of the Moringa oleifera as a form of diversification of livelihoods and sustainable community development.
Delivering the closing remarks was Hon. Paulus Mbangu, Regional Constituency Councillor for Rundu Rural Constituency who appreciated these innovative funding under which the project is is funded by the Environmental Investment Fund of Namibia. He encouraged community management committee to encourage the community members to plant more moringa trees as there is a market for the moringa production so that the community can transform their livelihoods and set examples for other communities in Namibia.
Situated in the Rundu Rural Constituency in the Kavango East Region, Likwaterera Community Forest project was funded to the tune of N$ 5,299,539.25 under Ecosystem Based Adaptation investment window under the Empower to Adapt (EDA) project, which is centred around Creating Climate Change Resilient Livelihoods through Community Based Natural Resource Management in Namibia (CBNRM EDA Project).
The “Unleashing the potential of Climate Change Strategy for Likwaterera Community Forest” is funded by the Environmental Investment Fund and being implemented by the Likwaterera Community Forest in Kavango East region. The project focused on scaling up the organic production of the Moringa oleifera as a form of diversification of livelihoods and sustainable community development. The Likwaterera Community Forest covers an area of 13790ha. The Community Forest is highly affected by deforestation, land degradation which has resulting in low productivity of forest resources and consequently and income for the community.
The Project aims to increase resilience to climate change through introducing climate resilient agricultural practices and use of appropriate technologies, so as to improve livelihoods of the community, while safeguarding and preserving the community forest for future generations. The focus of the project is on the scaling up of the organic production of the Moringa to communities within the Likwaterera Community Forest as a form of diversification income sources and livelihoods supporting activities.
To date, a ten-hector piece of land is fenced off, with five hectors under moringa plantation. In addition, the project has successfully constructed a moringa processing warehouse, installed five times 10 000-liter water tanks, and procured animal feed processing machine to benefit this project. The project has further hosted rain water harvesting training and constructed rainwater harvesting infrastructure.
Furthermore, the project has directly benefited a total of 60 households by establishing backyard moringa plantation at their respective household for them to supply and supplement moringa harvest at the main plantation hub. It is to my understanding that, the moringa plantation site under this project has obtained international certification standard allowing the produced moringa product to access the European market and generate income for Likwaterera Community.
About EIF
The Environmental Investment Fund is Namibia’s own response to the growing global need for green financing. Established in terms of the Environmental Investment Fund Act, Act 13 of 2001 with a mandate to raise funding for investments into projects and programmes that promote sustainable development it is currently one of the fastest growing green and climate financing institutions in Africa. As part of its vision to be “a recognized leader in the development and application of innovative financing mechanisms to support sustainable development and ensuring inclusive development for all the people of Namibia.
Amongst its recognizable impacts to date since inception, the Fund has disbursed grants valued at more than N$ 583 million, ensured that more than 240, 256 hectares of land are under conservation, 71 grants approved for different environmental projects, created more than 950 employment opportunities mostly rural based and include season ones and retrofitted 169 boreholes that benefitted more than 77 000 who now have access to portable drinking water and attracted N$ 820 million for concessional Green Credit Line with participating commercial bank from Agence Française de Développement (AFD) under the SUNREF project in Namibia. To-date attracted and mobilised more than N$3 billion mostly from multilateral and developmental funding institutions and partners. For more information visit: http://www.eif.org.na/
About the CBNRM EDA Project
In 2015, the Fund obtained accreditation to the Green Climate Fund (GCF), a unique global fund, established within the rubric of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), as a response to climate change for investing in low-emission and climate-resilient development through nomination by the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism as the National Designated Authority (NDA). As an Accredited Entity (AE), EIF is eligible for accessing climate change funding from the GCF on behalf of the National Designated Authority, the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism.
At its 14th meeting of the board in October 2016, the GCF approved funding for the first Community Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM) Enhanced Direct Access (EDA) proposal titled “Empower to Adapt: Creating Climate Change Resilient Livelihoods Through CBNRM In Namibia”. The project, expected to build the resilience of more than 76,000 people living in CBNRM areas in Namibia, and was officially launched on 30th august 2017 in Windhoek.
The overall objective of the CBNRM EDA project is to empower rural communities of the Namibian CBNRM network to respond to climate change in terms of awareness, adaptive capacity, and low-carbon development. The project aims to ensure that local communities within CBNRM areas have reduced vulnerability and increased resilience to the anticipated impacts of climate change by incorporating climate adaptation response strategies into local practices so that assets, livelihoods and ecosystem services are protected from climate-induced risks associated with expected droughts, seasonal shifts and other climate disaster events.
The CBNRM EDA grants facility was officially launched in August 2018 with the first call of proposals placed between August to November 2018 and the second placed from May-July 2019. To date, the grant facility is supporting the implementation of 31 grants awarded to registered communal conservancies and community forests. The awarded grants vary between N$ 799,250.00 and N$ 5,522,700.00 and cover the facility’s three investment windows namely, Climate Resilient Agriculture (CRA), Climate Proof Infrastructure (CPI), and Ecosystem-Based Adaptation (EBA).
