25 Mar 2014

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) will kick-start a project aimed at addressing land degradation challenges in Ngamiland.

The project, titled: Mainstreaming Sustainable Land Management (SLM) into Ngamiland Productive Landscapes for Improved Livelihoods, would address problems of increasing people, livestock and wildlife populations as well as proximity of the Okavango Delta to pristine rangeland areas, which were progressively being degraded and posing a threat to long term sustainability of the delta.

The project will also deal with increasing conflicts over land and land-use, increased pressure on the use of veldt products as well as increasing droughts and floods, which were signs of climate change.

The project was approved by Ministry of Environment, Wildlife and Tourism in March and implementation will start in May as soon as the Project Management Unit is on-board. It will be completed in 2018.

When making a presentation to a full North West District Council meeting recently, UNDP representative, Ms Phemo Kgomotso said sustainable land management practices in rangelands and other productive landscapes would promote recovery of degraded lands.

She said the project will help reduce over-stocking, promote bush clearing to avoid bush encroachment by removing invasive species and reduce land clearing for agriculture.

She said the project will also improve management of livestock, create an enabling environment for responsive policies and practice, and facilitate increased benefits from land-use to communities.

She said the project will facilitate effective range management in over one million hectares, which will improve range conditions and flow of ecosystem services to support livelihoods of local communities in Ngamiland.

The project will also assist in local level land use plans for each pilot area to support sustainable utilization of range resources. Improved range management and mixed livelihood systems will be piloted in line with the land use plans.

“The second outcome is effective resource governance frameworks. Markets provide incentives for livestock off-take and compliance with SLM and there would be a regional multi-stakeholder forum for facilitating dialogue on SLM and mainstreaming into regional and national policy programs and processes,” she said.

She added that the programme will also increase access to markets for livestock products, while the processing plant in Ngamiland will increases quantity and variety of locally processed beef products, allowing higher sales of livestock products and off-take.

Ms Kgomotso said the project will be implemented by different departments including the North West District Council, which is also co-financing for the project. The project has been long been in the pipeline and consultation with key stakeholders has been going on over the past two years.

In response, councilors welcomed the project with mixed feelings, as some complained of lack of proper consultation while others hoped it will benefit the entire district.

Some councilors were not happy with the idea of reducing livestock, saying that will increase poverty as a lot of people in Ngamiland depended largely on the livestock. Ends