24 Aug 2015

Assistant Minister of Education and Skills Development, Mr Moiseraele Goya has assured the Ngamiland community that the listing of the Okavango Delta will not deny them the rights they previously enjoyed.

Officiating at a celebration to mark the delta’s listing as a World Heritage Site at Boro recently, Mr Goya said no one would be evicted because of the listing.

However, he announced that no mining activities would be allowed in the delta.

He told the community that the delta’s listing would bring a lot of benefits which would address issues of unemployment and poverty.

He noted that the communities had been taking advantage of Community Based Natural Resource Management programmes which created jobs for them, and said the nomination of the delta would increase jobs and tourism activities.

Mr Goya also informed residents who had gathered in large numbers that the government would ensure that no extractive industry was permitted in the delta, adding that monitoring would be done to manage mining in the buffer through the Environment Impact Assessment Act.

He emphasised the need to expand and strengthen programmes which accommodate traditional resource use for livelihoods, user rights and access to opportunities in tourism. 

He noted that the delta was a source of living for about 130 000 people as it provided them with food, water, jobs and medications.

In addition, the assistant minister praised the community for taking care and ensuring proper management of the delta, noting that the Okavango Delta stood out globally when compared with other deltas in the world. 

He also noted that when the site was listed, it was compared with other six sites such as Pantanal in Brazil, Olanos in Venezula, Danube in Romania, Mesopotamia in Iraq, Miger Delta in Mali and Sudd Wetlands in Sudan.

He said the Okavango Delta remained outstanding in terms of its natural processes, higher species concentration and habit diversity within a large protected area. 

He explained that the delta was the largest Ramsar site and the only mega inland delta in Sub-Saharan Africa, adding that there was a wetland in South Africa called Isimangaliso, but that it was seven times smaller than Okavango.

Mr Goya said the delta was also an important bird area harbouring 24 species of threatened birds. 

“It contains 33 species of water birds that exceeds 0.5 of global population as such I urge you to continue taking care of the delta to ensure it sustains its beauty,” he said.

He said the government would continue to develop partnerships with universities and other experts to monitor wildlife populations.

For his part, the director of National Museum and Monuments, Mr Gaogakwe Phorano outlined some of the implications of listing, noting that once a site was nominated, it enjoyed the benefits accorded to World Heritage Properties.

He said the World Heritage Centre was at the forefront of the international community’s efforts to protect and preserve emergency assistance to safeguard properties in danger, long-term conservation, management plans, awareness building and professional training.

In addition, Mr Phorano noted that the site would attract new visitors, recognised internationally and also act as the focus for tourism and economy. 

He said the government would submit a report to UNESCO every six years on the state of conservation of the World Heritage Site. Ends