Biodiversity conservation a costly exercise
A re-costing exercise of Namibia's biodiversity strategy indicates that the estimated costs are about 12 times higher than was originally projected.
The strategy seeks to preserve and protect all the countries ecosystems and natural resources in a bid to give impetus to sustainable development.
The revised total estimate for Namibia's second National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan 2013 -2022 now stands at N$7.4 billion in comparison to the previous estimate of N$606 million.
According to the Namibia Nature Foundation, in order to fully implement the strategy by 2022, significant ramp-up in financing will be required.
“In some cases the original strategy estimation for the entire activity fails to be adequate to meet the projected needs for just one year of the activity recosting.”
The estimated spending between 2013 and 2017 on biodiversity was N$2.5 billion and the estimated financing required for 2018 to 2022 is N$4.8 billion.
“To achieve the goals of the strategy Namibia must double its biodiversity investment,” the foundation says.
It shows that for sustainable use, an amount of N$52.7 million was originally budgeted and in the re-costing this amount increased to N$2.3 billion. For restoration it was estimated to be N$61.4 million and this has jumped to N$1.8 billion, while for biodiversity and development planning, N$182 million was planned for and costs have increased to N$1.3 billion.
These are just some of the categories where shortfalls were identified.
The figures were presented at the third dialogue of the Resource Mobilisation for the Biodiversity Conservation Project (ResMob).
The meeting was held to exchange ideas on how to mobilise extra resources for biodiversity conservation as funding gaps in the sector were identified and are not likely to improve.
The projected decline in real biodiversity expenditure by government, donors and the private sector between 2014/15 and 2020/21 is expected to be at 24%.
Total real biodiversity expenditure was estimated to peak at N$1.18 billion in 2014/15 and this expenditure is subsequently projected to decline to N$906 million in 2020/21.
Environmental commissioner Teofilius Nghitila read a speech on behalf of environment minister Pohamba Shifeta, saying innovative ways have to be explored to address these financial gaps.
Shifeta said the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, including Namibia, have agreed and committed to halting biodiversity loss by 2020.
“Loss of biodiversity, as a result of human activity, is one of the key national environmental challenges we are facing today.”
According to him habitat conversion, invasive alien species, pollution, over-exploitation of natural resources and illegal wildlife poaching and trade are some of the key factors leading to the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services.
“What we really need to do now is to address the root causes of biodiversity loss.”
He said a number of studies have been undertaken through ResMob to reveal the value of biodiversity and mainstream its value into planning and decision-making.
“The challenge we now have is to translate the findings of these studies into action at the local, regional and national level.”
Namibia launched its first National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP 1) in 2001 as the cornerstone of its efforts to conserve biodiversity. Although this acted as an important tool for biodiversity financing, the NBSAP 1 review found that implementation had been limited in some areas due to funding and communication constraints.
“Therefore, there is a need to improve Namibia's capacity to mobilise more resources for biodiversity conservation, specifically to enable the country to implement the objectives outlined in its second NBSAP. We need to target the full range of options in this regard – public sector, bilateral and multilateral sources, market-related mechanisms such as levies, as well as private sector financing and partnerships.”
Shifeta said he is also aware that capacity constraints are a major concern in this area.
“Yet biodiversity financing and economics is a field which is very much likely to grow in importance in the coming years. Let us be prepared and proactive to capacitate our economists and students in this field.”
He noted that there has been collaboration between the project with the University of Namibia and the Namibia University of Science and Technology in providing training.
“However, we should be conscious that this project, like many of our natural resources, is a finite resource. We will need to build on and scale up the good work that the Project has done so far.”
Source: https://www.namibiansun.com/news/conservation-costs-up-12-fold2017-11-29/
A re-costing exercise of Namibia's biodiversity strategy indicates that the estimated costs are about 12 times higher than was originally projected.
The strategy seeks to preserve and protect all the countries ecosystems and natural resources in a bid to give impetus to sustainable development.
The revised total estimate for Namibia's second National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan 2013 -2022 now stands at N$7.4 billion in comparison to the previous estimate of N$606 million.
According to the Namibia Nature Foundation, in order to fully implement the strategy by 2022, significant ramp-up in financing will be required.
“In some cases the original strategy estimation for the entire activity fails to be adequate to meet the projected needs for just one year of the activity recosting.”
The estimated spending between 2013 and 2017 on biodiversity was N$2.5 billion and the estimated financing required for 2018 to 2022 is N$4.8 billion.
“To achieve the goals of the strategy Namibia must double its biodiversity investment,” the foundation says.
It shows that for sustainable use, an amount of N$52.7 million was originally budgeted and in the re-costing this amount increased to N$2.3 billion. For restoration it was estimated to be N$61.4 million and this has jumped to N$1.8 billion, while for biodiversity and development planning, N$182 million was planned for and costs have increased to N$1.3 billion.
These are just some of the categories where shortfalls were identified.
The figures were presented at the third dialogue of the Resource Mobilisation for the Biodiversity Conservation Project (ResMob).
The meeting was held to exchange ideas on how to mobilise extra resources for biodiversity conservation as funding gaps in the sector were identified and are not likely to improve.
The projected decline in real biodiversity expenditure by government, donors and the private sector between 2014/15 and 2020/21 is expected to be at 24%.
Total real biodiversity expenditure was estimated to peak at N$1.18 billion in 2014/15 and this expenditure is subsequently projected to decline to N$906 million in 2020/21.
Environmental commissioner Teofilius Nghitila read a speech on behalf of environment minister Pohamba Shifeta, saying innovative ways have to be explored to address these financial gaps.
Shifeta said the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, including Namibia, have agreed and committed to halting biodiversity loss by 2020.
“Loss of biodiversity, as a result of human activity, is one of the key national environmental challenges we are facing today.”
According to him habitat conversion, invasive alien species, pollution, over-exploitation of natural resources and illegal wildlife poaching and trade are some of the key factors leading to the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services.
“What we really need to do now is to address the root causes of biodiversity loss.”
He said a number of studies have been undertaken through ResMob to reveal the value of biodiversity and mainstream its value into planning and decision-making.
“The challenge we now have is to translate the findings of these studies into action at the local, regional and national level.”
Namibia launched its first National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP 1) in 2001 as the cornerstone of its efforts to conserve biodiversity. Although this acted as an important tool for biodiversity financing, the NBSAP 1 review found that implementation had been limited in some areas due to funding and communication constraints.
“Therefore, there is a need to improve Namibia's capacity to mobilise more resources for biodiversity conservation, specifically to enable the country to implement the objectives outlined in its second NBSAP. We need to target the full range of options in this regard – public sector, bilateral and multilateral sources, market-related mechanisms such as levies, as well as private sector financing and partnerships.”
Shifeta said he is also aware that capacity constraints are a major concern in this area.
“Yet biodiversity financing and economics is a field which is very much likely to grow in importance in the coming years. Let us be prepared and proactive to capacitate our economists and students in this field.”
He noted that there has been collaboration between the project with the University of Namibia and the Namibia University of Science and Technology in providing training.
“However, we should be conscious that this project, like many of our natural resources, is a finite resource. We will need to build on and scale up the good work that the Project has done so far.”
Source: https://www.namibiansun.com/news/conservation-costs-up-12-fold2017-11-29/
