New Green documentary

Namibia is known as an arid country with sparse vegetation, but the fact is that a large part of the rural population of Namibia depends on the 9,3% of forests and woodlands for their livelihoods. A new documentary produced by the Namibia Nature Foundation (NNF), focuses on the issues and solutions related to deforestation in Namibia, and will be released next month.

Particularly the densely wooded areas in northern Namibia are vulnerable to deforestation. Wood is used as fuel for cooking and warmth, construction of homes and animal enclosures, tools and other additional uses. Other issues contributing to deforestation is the fact that a lot of woodland and forestry are cleared to make room for settlements and crops.

In addition, many believe that by burning areas of bush and grassland, they are accelerating plant growth, despite the fact that fires often run out of control, spreading widely and annihilating wooded areas.
Humans are not the only ones contributing to deforestation.

Elephants, most notably in areas where the elephant populations are huge such as in the Kavango and Caprivi, are large browsers who can destroy trees and branches during feeding.

The rate of deforestation in Namibia has reached alarming rates, especially considering the fact that Namibia is one of the most arid countries in southern Africa especially vulnerable to climate change.
Deforestation can result in a decline of biodiversity, poor resilience to climate change, disturbance of water cycles and drastically decrease the benefits that humans reap from forests.

In response to the urgent need to educate the public on the negative long and short term effects of deforestation, the Namibia Nature Foundation (NNF) collaborated with a number of partners to produce a documentary addressing these issues.

The film, made by Green Awareness Africa (GAWA), InteractDRAFTFCB and Take Note, depicts the realities on the ground, showing Namibians the circumstances as they are and providing a number of suggestions on solving the problems.

Gwashi Uushona, the NNF project leader on the documentary, said this week that the documentary’s primary aim is to make Namibians aware of the issues surrounding the subject of deforestation by promoting “sustainable development, the conservation of biological diversity and natural ecosystems, and the wise and ethical use of natural resources for the benefit of all Namibians, both present and future.”

The documentary will serve as a vehicle through which the NNF and others hope to spread the message and the number of solutions available to address the challenges posed by deforestation.

“Today, conservation is no longer excluded from the social and economic impacts it has on people,” Uushona said, warning that conservation issues affect the lives of everyone. Forests and woodlands do not serve a single purpose, but are important for a number of reasons.

“Forests take in and store a lot of the earth’s atmospheric carbon dioxide. Forests serve as habitats for wildlife and people. Trees also take up water and eventually release it as water vapour into the atmosphere; forests bind soils together and prevent damage during heavy rainfall. All of these are crucial for maintaining life on earth.”

The NNF documentary is, as GAWA puts it, driven by the “problems to solutions” phenomena. The film attempts to tell the audience that “these are the benefits we collectively reap from our forests and woodlands; these are the threats and challenges we face and this is what we are doing about them.”

Specifically though, the film deals with the fact that many rural Namibians have ownership rights over their natural resources through the establishment of conservancies or community forests. NNF staff and partners have a well-established relationship with these communities ,and the film will be used as an educational tool for information-sharing in the regions.

Solutions are never straightforward, especially in settings where poverty is dominant and reliance on resources are life-sustaining.

“Deforestation or any type of degradation of the environment cannot be separated from the livelihoods of the human species,” Uushona pointed out.

But, as the human population grows, ever greater pressure is placed on the environment and human needs cannot be supported indefinitely in an unsustainable setting. Solutions are needed to correct the situation and provide humans with alternative, less harmful survival mechanisms.

“Currently what is needed is innovation in natural resource management practices, for example, finding an affordable option or substitute for fuel wood and construction of new households, demarcating vast areas for conservation is another way, re-planting species indigenous to Namibia is another and the list goes on. The keyword is innovation and striking a healthy balance between development and the maintenance of our natural environment,” said Uushona.

Uushona does emphasise ,however, that while the northern areas are the main focus of the film, the “general context of conservation of our plant species” is an important lesson for the entire country.

“For example, along the coastline, the Namib Desert hosts the Welwitschia Mirabilis, in the south you find the protected Quiver trees near Keetmanshoop and succulent shrub lands which play vital roles in their ecosystems,” she said.

The film was funded by the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation through the National Forest Programme Facility, which is a three-year project aimed at supporting the Directorate of Forestry in achieving its national development goals.

Through their partnerships with the ministries, the private sector and several NGOs, NNF hopes that the documentary will also be aired on national television.

For over 20 years the NNF had a proven track record of promoting and linking wise management of natural resources with the sustainable development of Namibia’s peoples. NNF has offices in Windhoek, Rundu and Katima Mulilo.

Currently, the NNF administers, implements and co-ordinates over 50 environmental projects for several government and non-governmental institutions.