by Absalom Shigwedha
https://www.namibian.com.na/86544/read/Bad-land-use-blamed-for-biodiversity-loss
UNSUSTAINBLE land use is one of the drivers of biodiversity loss in Namibia, says a senior conservation scientist in the Ministry of Environment and Tourism.
Amon Andreas, who is responsible for issues of sustainable land management and biodiversity at the ministry, said unsustainable land use practices include forest clearing for agricultural purposes.
“If people can just stay on their land and try to improve it by applying conservation tillage, that will be a good thing,” said Andreas.
Conservation tillage is the turning of soil over to prepare it for planting crops or control weeds. It minimises the disruption of soil by using specialised equipment that enables the seed to be planted directly into standing stubble. Conservation tillage also helps rebuild the soil by slowly adding organic matter from the previous year’s crops.
He said other factors which also lead to biodiversity loss in Namibia are unsustainable waster use, climate change, uncontrolled fires and alien invasive species.
Andreas made a presentation on biodiversity and ecosystems services in Namibia at a three-day national technical training workshop on environmental statistics held in Windhoek recently.
Biodiversity is defined as genes, species and ecosystems on the planet.
He explained that the section on sustainable land management and biodiversity in the ministry is tasked with coming up with policies and plans aimed at implementing the provisions of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) and the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (UNCBD) in Namibia.
Namibia is a Party to both the UNCCD and the UNCBD. He said the two multilateral environmental agreements call on each party to develop national plans or programmes for biodiversity and sustainable land management or adapt existing strategies, plans or programmes.
“Our role is to develop and coordinate activities in Namibia and to report to the secretariat of these conventions,” he said.
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