Policy On Climate Change Needs Review – PM

Catherine Sasman

24 June 2011

Prime Minister Nahas Angula said the national policy on climate change for Namibia should be reviewed to place it within the global framework of political, developmental, and technological interests.

“The policy needs a lot to be desired and needs to be reviewed,” suggested Angula in Parliament on Wednesday as the debate on the policy continued.

What the policy does do, is to acknowledge that climate change in all its complexities impacts on all sectors, particularly the agricultural and fisheries sectors, with adverse effects on livelihoods and profound health and welfare implications.

Minister of Agriculture, Water and Forestry John Mutorwa, said the effects of global warming are evidenced through the increasingly damaging flooding of northern Namibia, that have during this raining season, even wreaked havoc in parts of the Erongo Region.

He said it is an undeniable truth that the effects of climate change are felt from individual to global levels, and not just a mere intellectual proposition.

Mutorwa said resultant weather changes would upset global agricultural productivity and thus induce political strife as nations become food insecure, with increasing stresses on the earth’s life support systems and renewable natural resources.

“If not properly managed and controlled, our common heritage, the earth and all its contents will not be destroyed by wars, but by human activities through climate change,” Mutorwa said.

DTA president Katuutire Kaura was not convinced that human activity has brought about climatic changes, arguing that climate change has occurred even before the arrival of the human species on earth.

“Who disturbed the environment that led to the existence of the Sahara and Namib deserts?” he asked rhetorically.

But Minister of Education Abraham Iyambo was of the opinion that humankind is reaping what it sowed.

“The question is who is responsible for it,” said Iyambo, suggesting that polluting industrial countries should take responsibility for their role by assisting developing countries to mitigate the effects of climate change.

Rally for Democracy and Progress MP Steve Bezuidenhoudt concurred with a ‘polluter must pay’ stance, suggesting that Namibia proactively try to access funds to deal with the environmental effects.

“We have a right to adaptation funds,” he maintained.

Bezuidenhoudt was also of the opinion that nuclear power generation requires a re-think, though not complete abandonment, in favour of safer and better technologies for energy generation, urging Namibia to consider renewable energies instead.

Minister of Health Richard Kamwi said while Namibia was on the verge of eliminating the malaria scourge through the eradication of malaria-bearing mosquitoes, mosquito eggs of one type were transported to Namibia with flood waters from Angola and Zambia.

Malaria thus remains a risk, although there has been a significant reduction in reported cases, he said.

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