The Resource Mobilisation for Biodiversity Conservation Project held its final stakeholder dialogue on the 25th September 2018. The workshop aimed to share key outcomes of the Project, as well as engage stakeholders for inputs on the prioritised economic instruments to be incorporated into the drafted Financing Strategy including the proposed Biodiversity Economy in selected Landscape in Namibia.
The workshop kicked off with a keynote speech by the Honourable Deputy Minister Bernadette Jagger who highlighted that the ResMob Project played a valuable role in supporting the Ministry of Environment and Tourism in the areas of valuing ecosystem services and developing economic instruments for biodiversity conservation. These issues are listed in the Second National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP2) for Namibia and further reflected in the Sustainable Development Goals, specifically Target 15.9 which states that; “By 2020, integrate ecosystem and biodiversity values into national and local planning, development processes, poverty reduction strategies and accounts”.
Various studies have been conducted by the Project since its inception in 2014 that contribute to the main objective of the Project – to develop a comprehensive resource mobilisation strategy for the implementation of the NBSAP 2. These deliverable is to be achieved by December 2018, when the Project comes to an end.
Key results from studies such as Biodiversity Expenditure Review, Re-costing of the NBSAP as well as the Economic of Ecosystems and Biodiversity studies were presented under the theme “The value of Nature”. From the studies, it was noted that the benefits provided to Namibians by nature exceeds N$13 billion per year. Meanwhile Namibia spends only slightly more than N$1 billion per year on biodiversity. To fully achieve the national biodiversity targets, Namibia needs to double its investment in biodiversity.
Following that, Mr Kenneth Uiseb – Deputy Director at the Directorate of Scientific Services presented the Biodiversity Economy concept in Namibia followed by Mr Martin Mendelsohn who presented on the potential of a Biodiversity economy in selected Namibian landscapes. He further deliberated on the different value chains present in those landscapes. Further details of the biodiversity economy can be found in a biodiversity economy concept note.
The meeting ended with an interactive world café session were participants actively engaged the Project staff regarding the eight prioritised economic instruments, namely, eco-labelling, environmental levies, lotteries, payment for ecosystem services, park pricing, green finance, biodiversity offsets and crowd funding.
