Namibia will send a delegation of about twenty people to the 13th Conference of Parties to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) to be held from 4 to 17 December in Cancun, Mexico
The Minister of Environment and Tourism, Honourable Pohamba Shifeta, who will attend the Convention on Biological Diversity in Mexico from 4 December 2016 with a delegation of about 20 Namibians.
The Minister of Environment and Tourism, Honourable Pohamba Shifeta, will lead the Namibian delegation, according to Martin Kasaona, the Chief Conservation Scientist at the Ministry.
Mr. Kasaona who deals with issues of biodiversity at the Ministry said a number of topics would be of interest to Namibia.
These are the effects of climate change on biodiversity, ecosystem restoration, biodiversity and sustainable land management, as well as biodiversity and human health. The mobilization of resources for the conservation of biodiversity in the terrestrial, marine and coastal zones will also be discussed. Also interesting will be the sustainable use of biodiversity with reference to wildlife management and the utilization of venison.
Namibia launched its first National Biodiversity and Action Plan (NBSAP 1) in 2001 as part of its efforts to conserve biodiversity. Namibia is a Party to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), whose objectives are the conservation of biodiversity, the sustainable use of its components and the fair and equitable benefit sharing arising from the commercial utilization of genetic resources and related traditional knowledge.
Namibia is currently finalizing its it Bill on Access and Benefit Sharing and Related Traditional Knowledge, in line with the CBD’s 2010 Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing. The CBD is one of three Rio Conventions.
The other two are the UN Framework Convention Climate Change and the UN Convention to Combat Desertification. As resource mobilization for biodiversity conservation has become a vital matter towards biodiversity conservation, the Ministry of Environment and Tourism implemented a five-year Resource Mobilization for Biodiversity Conservation (ResMob) project.
The overarching goal of the ResMob project is to improve Namibia’s capacity in mobilizing resources for biodiversity conservation, specifically to enable the country to effectively implement its second National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP 2).
The ResMob project is jointly implemented by the Ministry of Environment and Tourism and GIZ, commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety.