Sikanjabuka Community Forest, Katima Rural Constituency, Zambezi Region, 7th October 2022– The Minister of Environment, Forestry and Tourism Pohamba Shifeta officiated the handover of the Sikanjabuka Resilience horticultural project funded under the CBNRM EDA Project that is implemented through the Environmental investment Fund of Namibia.
Delivering the Welcoming remarks was Mr. Bernard Mukasa, Chairperson of the Sikanjabuka Community Forest who noted that the community forest received N$ 4, 956,000.00 from the EIF. “ This grant has increased resilience and improve food security efforts to adopt to climate change and enhanced crop production in the community”.
The CEO of the Environmental Investment Fund of Namibia Mr. Benedict Libanda stated that ”the philosophy of the EIF is geared towards sustainable development that aims to ensure that the communities derive maximum benefits from their resources and their livelihoods are improved and rural economies are strengthened by adding value to the production chain of communities.”.
In delivering his key note address Hon. Pohamba Shifeta, denoted that the community forest leadership should ensure that resources should benefit the community and after all natural resources are the back bone of our economy. He further stated that in order the Namibian economy to flourish, we need to prioritise rural development through investment in our natural resources, value addition, and protection of our wildlife as community benefit through sustainable trophy hunting’s, tourism development and other related livelihoods
Situated in the Katima Rural Constituency in the Zambezi Region, Sikanjabuka Community Forest Conservancy Resilience Horticultural project was funded to the tune of N$ 4, 956,000.00 under Ecosystem Based Adaptation investment window under the Empower to Adapt (EDA) project, which is centred around Creating Climate Change Resilient Livelihoods through Community Based Natural Resource Management in Namibia (CBNRM EDA Project).
The “Integrated Climate Change Adaptation within the Agro-ecological Landscape of the Sikanjabuka Community Forest project” is funded by the Environmental Investment Fund and being implemented by the Sikanjabuka Community Forest in Zambezi region. The Sikanjabuka Community Forest has a population of about 1300 people, which consists 320 households. The communities within the community Forest depend on largely the utilization of forest resources for subsistence needs (grazing, wood and non-wood forest products) and income generation. Although forest resource is managed sustainably, climate change threatens the livelihoods supporting resources within the community forest.
The aim of the project is to increase resilience and improve food security as an effort to adapt to climate change. The project focus is on: (i) Enhancing crop production and productivity for food security and forest harvesting substitution through adoption of climate resilient smart farming technologies to support local livelihoods. (ii). Encouraging and establishing enterprise development opportunities for communities especially for the youth and vulnerable households in organic agriculture to create meaningful job opportunities.
To date, a functional greenhouse system powered by renewable energy has been successfully established with a 10 000-liter water tank installed on site and rehabilitated 3 water boreholes and retrofitted them with solar In addition, the project has procured one tractor and its implement for sustainable rangeland management and procured Bee hives for honey production. The project recorded its bumper harvest early this year and generated an income of N$12 000 which has been invested back into the upkeep of the project.
About EIF
The Environmental Investment Fund is Namibia’s own response to the growing global need for green financing. Established in terms of the Environmental Investment Fund Act, Act 13 of 2001 with a mandate to raise funding for investments into projects and programmes that promote sustainable development it is currently one of the fastest growing green and climate financing institutions in Africa. As part of its vision to be “a recognized leader in the development and application of innovative financing mechanisms to support sustainable development and ensuring inclusive development for all the people of Namibia.
Amongst its recognizable impacts to date since inception, the Fund has disbursed grants valued at more than N$ 583 million, ensured that more than 240, 256 hectares of land are under conservation, 71 grants approved for different environmental projects, created more than 950 employment opportunities mostly rural based and include season ones and retrofitted 169 boreholes that benefitted more than 77 000 who now have access to portable drinking water and attracted N$ 820 million for concessional Green Credit Line with participating commercial bank from Agence Française de Développement (AFD) under the SUNREF project in Namibia. To-date attracted and mobilised more than N$3 billion mostly from multilateral and developmental funding institutions and partners. For more information visit: http://www.eif.org.na/
About the CBNRM EDA Project
In 2015, the Fund obtained accreditation to the Green Climate Fund (GCF), a unique global fund, established within the rubric of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), as a response to climate change for investing in low-emission and climate-resilient development through nomination by the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism as the National Designated Authority (NDA). As an Accredited Entity (AE), EIF is eligible for accessing climate change funding from the GCF on behalf of the National Designated Authority, the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism.
At its 14th meeting of the board in October 2016, the GCF approved funding for the first Community Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM) Enhanced Direct Access (EDA) proposal titled “Empower to Adapt: Creating Climate Change Resilient Livelihoods Through CBNRM In Namibia”. The project, expected to build the resilience of more than 76,000 people living in CBNRM areas in Namibia, and was officially launched on 30th august 2017 in Windhoek.
The overall objective of the CBNRM EDA project is to empower rural communities of the Namibian CBNRM network to respond to climate change in terms of awareness, adaptive capacity, and low-carbon development. The project aims to ensure that local communities within CBNRM areas have reduced vulnerability and increased resilience to the anticipated impacts of climate change by incorporating climate adaptation response strategies into local practices so that assets, livelihoods and ecosystem services are protected from climate-induced risks associated with expected droughts, seasonal shifts and other climate disaster events.
The CBNRM EDA grants facility was officially launched in August 2018 with the first call of proposals placed between August to November 2018 and the second placed from May-July 2019. To date, the grant facility is supporting the implementation of 31 grants awarded to registered communal conservancies and community forests. The awarded grants vary between N$ 799,250.00 and N$ 5,522,700.00 and cover the facility’s three investment windows namely, Climate Resilient Agriculture (CRA), Climate Proof Infrastructure (CPI), and Ecosystem-Based Adaptation (EBA).
