COMMUNITY members and visitors to Namibia’s pristine coastal desert area have expressed concern over a massive jatropha plantation planned in the Tsîseb Conservancy close to the Dorob Park.
They say the plantation would irrevocably change – and damage – the fragile desert environment.
To add insult to injury, members of the public said, government approval and an environmental impact assessment are still outstanding but the local traditional authority and conservancy committee have already signed an agreement with local businessmen that approved the project.
Local businessmen with the support of German investor Jatropha Biofuel Company (JBC) are reportedly planning to establish jatropha plantations covering 3 500 hectares.
A senior councillor of the Daure Daman Traditional Authority, Phillips Gâseb, yesterday confirmed that the authority had signed an agreement with the businessmen last week, giving provisional approval for the project.
Gâseb said the area identified stretches from about 120 kilometres from Henties Bay towards the Brandberg, which is a tourist hotspot.
According to him, the local businessmen have promised the community schools, study bursaries for promising students and a percentage of the income from the jatropha plantations.
The traditional authority’s secretary, Lien /Uises, also confirmed that an agreement was struck to this effect, and said the businessmen had promised to build houses, set up a clinic in the area, and pay a monthly fee of N$20 000 to the traditional authority and the Tsîseb Conservancy committee.
“It is a big project,” said /Uises. “Negotiations started in 2008 after Cabinet and line ministries like the Ministry of Trade and Industry, Ministry of Lands and Resettlement, and Ministry of Environment had given the go-ahead for this.”
Community members said the preliminary agreement was jointly signed by the traditional authority and the Tsîseb Conservancy committee.
But this was denied by the vice chairperson of the conservancy committee, Sakarias Seibeb, who said the conservancy had never had any direct communication with the JBC.
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Namibia: Jatropha Plans in Conservancy Raises Hackles