CONSERVE: Namibia's north-eastern forest areas are part of southern Africa's Miombo woodland. Photo: conservationnamibia.com
CONSERVE: Namibia's north-eastern forest areas are part of southern Africa's Miombo woodland. Photo: conservationnamibia.com

Miombo woodland biodiversity ‘undervalued’

Poverty to blame
The Miombo woodland provides various ecosystem services, including wildlife, fish and agricultural produce.
Ellanie Smit
Despite the natural wealth and available plant and animal life in the Miombo woodland, the importance of its biodiversity is greatly undervalued and the forest has one of the highest concentrations of poverty.

This according to Paulus Mbangu, a member of the Standing Committee on Agriculture, Environment and Natural Resources, who said this poverty is what drives the loss of its biodiversity “as many take from the land without giving back to the land what it needs to keep sustaining the people who live from it”.

“Those who live in the forest must be front and centre of all initiatives relating to the conservation of the Miombo woodland,” he added.

He made the remarks in his motivation to the National Council with regards to a report on the Miombo Woodland Conference Initiative, which was held during April in Washington DC.

Namibia's north-eastern forest areas are part of southern Africa's Miombo woodland, which forms the largest tropical forest ecosystem, spanning nearly 2.7 million square kilometres across central and southern Africa.



Conservation efforts

Mbangu said it is imperative that people understand and appreciate the potential and significance of the Miombo woodland, and therefore conservation efforts must be promoted first from community level before they reach international level.

He explained that the Miombo woodland is also responsible for maintaining the Great Zambezi Basin, one of the most important transboundary river basins in the southern African region. The basin spans eight countries - Namibia, Angola, Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe - and accommodates around 300 million people.

He added that the Miombo woodland provides various ecosystem services, including wildlife, fish and agricultural produce. “Food and nutritional security, sourcing of medicines and air quality owe much to tropical ecosystems including the Miombo.”



Key areas

Findings reached during the April engagement were that there is a need to incorporate some level of transboundary structured methods and policies in the management and conservation of the Miombo landscape, Mbangu said. It was also agreed that there is a need to identify key areas in which biodiversity and livelihoods are at risk from land use and climate change in the region.

He urged the environment ministry to identify the risks to human life and livelihood as a result of the degradation and deforestation and produce mitigating measures. Meanwhile, he called on the agriculture ministry to provide technical assistance to communities with the introduction of alternative agricultural practices that protect the environment.

Suggestions for the energy ministry were for it to further expand and accelerate the electricity supply infrastructure to rural areas to improve not only the socioeconomic conditions of Namibians, but reduce the use of fossil fuels and prevent deforestation.

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Namibian Sun 2024-11-08

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