Drought destroying arable land, Shifeta warns
Environment minister Pohamba Shifeta has warned that arable land is being lost due to drought and desertification. He emphasised that Africa is the most affected continent.
Shifeta was speaking at the National Integrated Landscape Management Conference, which took place in Windhoek last week. Discussions took place under the theme 'Best practices for the restoration of dry broadleaf forest, savannah grazing, and scaling up financing for integrated landscape management'. The minister said Namibia's current state of emergency in all 14 regions due to the devastating drought highlights the need for new strategies.
“This saddening situation indeed calls for us all to rethink, strategise and act," he said.
Crucial factors
Shifeta stressed that human-induced land degradation, such as overgrazing and deforestation, reduces the capacity of the soil to hold water, which amplifies water scarcity and increases the vulnerability of communities and animals to droughts.
“Therefore, enhancing soil health through restoration or rehabilitation of our degraded dry broadleaf forest and savannas can create better resilience to drought.”
The minister said integrating digital tools such as remote sensing and geographic information systems, data analytics and machine learning, decision support systems, mobile applications and citizen science, smart sensors, cloud computing, and data-sharing platforms is also important.
“Adopting the use of these technologies, Namibia will not lag in safeguarding its natural heritage to enhance the efforts of integrated land management.” He added that sustainable land management requires concerted efforts from all stakeholders, including researchers, practitioners and decision-makers.
Shifeta was speaking at the National Integrated Landscape Management Conference, which took place in Windhoek last week. Discussions took place under the theme 'Best practices for the restoration of dry broadleaf forest, savannah grazing, and scaling up financing for integrated landscape management'. The minister said Namibia's current state of emergency in all 14 regions due to the devastating drought highlights the need for new strategies.
“This saddening situation indeed calls for us all to rethink, strategise and act," he said.
Crucial factors
Shifeta stressed that human-induced land degradation, such as overgrazing and deforestation, reduces the capacity of the soil to hold water, which amplifies water scarcity and increases the vulnerability of communities and animals to droughts.
“Therefore, enhancing soil health through restoration or rehabilitation of our degraded dry broadleaf forest and savannas can create better resilience to drought.”
The minister said integrating digital tools such as remote sensing and geographic information systems, data analytics and machine learning, decision support systems, mobile applications and citizen science, smart sensors, cloud computing, and data-sharing platforms is also important.
“Adopting the use of these technologies, Namibia will not lag in safeguarding its natural heritage to enhance the efforts of integrated land management.” He added that sustainable land management requires concerted efforts from all stakeholders, including researchers, practitioners and decision-makers.
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