Conservation Agriculture
Knowledge Centers For Organic Agriculture - Knowledge Hub Southern Africa (KHSA)
Project Name: Knowledge Centers For Organic Agriculture - Knowledge Hub Southern Africaouthern Africa Knowledge Hub (KHSA)
Funding: Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ)
Partners: Namibia Organic Association (NOA) and Namibia Nature Foundation (NNF)
Starting date: 2019-2022
Target Area: Kavango West and East, and Zambezi Region
Contact Person: Marieke Voigts, Project Coordinator, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Objective:
- The actors of the knowledge hubs and their networks in the regions of Eastern and Southern Africa, West, North and Central Africa are strengthened in their role of promoting organic agriculture and agroecology.
- improved access to and dissemination of knowledge (collection, preparation and dissemination)
- Enhance multiplier capacity (strengthening competence)
- Build and/or strengthen networks and relationships including establishing and supporting PGS groups
Food security and habitat protection in KAZA - KAZA ARISE
Project Name: Food security and habitat protection in KAZA – KAZA ARISE
Funding: German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), through the Bengo Engagement Global program, and World Wildlife Fund (WWF)
Partners: Integrated Rural Development and Nature Conservation (IRDNC)
Starting date: 2021-2024
Target Area: Kavango West and East, and Zambezi Region
Contact Person: Marieke Voigts, Project Coordinator, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Project Summary
This aims to bring stakeholders together to promote agroecological approaches in crop and livestock production. The successful adoption of these approaches should increase food production in smaller areas without shifting cultivation and thus safeguard wildlife habitats and diversify income through the sale of surplus produce. Project activities include crop and vegetable cultivation, livestock production, civil society advocacy, and transboundary collaboration (including Zambia and Zimbabwe).
Objective:
- At least 625 smallholder households in the project area in Namibia benefit from enhanced food security and livelihoods while reducing the degradation of natural habitats and land conversion.
- On a national level, political and institutional support for sustainable agriculture including livestock keeping is enhanced by the active political participation of civil society actors.
InfoRange - Increasing efficiency in rangeland-based livestock value chains through machine learning and digital technologies
Project summary
Pastoral livestock production on rangelands is an important land-use system and contributes between 15 and 60 % to the agricultural GDP of countries in eastern and southern Africa. Largely mobile herds exploit the temporal and spatial heterogeneity in resource availability (pulses) on rangelands. This production strategy has advantageously low fossil fuel input needs but is very knowledge and information intensive. Therefore opportunities derived from digitalisation will have a high potential to increase efficiency (‘precision pastoralism’).
To successfully introduce the technology InfoRange uses a transdisciplinary approach to co-design the ICT solutions with users and embeds them in social innovations. By an actor- and activity oriented approach we build on the knowledge of different involved actor groups to understand how their decision-making can be improved through ICT.
Co-designed ITC solutions will enhance sustainable rangeland use and efficiency in livestock production through improved grazing management and veterinary service provision. InfoRange will combine user-generated information (e.g. similar to geotagging photos in google maps or live traffic updates) with remotely sensed data. State-of-the-art machine learning models will be developed to analyse the generated crowd data (e.g. time series), capture and understand phenomena such as differences in pasture use intensity as well as classify and recognise patterns in different scenarios. Including representatives of different governance bodies from the onset of the project permits to creation of outputs in formats suitable to enhance policy decisions.
- German Institute for Tropical and Subtropical Agriculture– DITSL
- Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering of the University of Kassel (UK)
- Center for Research and Development in Drylands - CRDDCenter for Research and Development in Drylands– CRDD
- University of Nairobi (UoN)
- Namibia Nature Foundation (NNF)
- Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST)
Objectives
InfoRange aims at improving rangeland use and governance and increasing resource-use and production efficiency in rangeland-based livestock production through digital and ICT applications/services that permit user-generated information acquisition and transmission. It also seeks to contribute to integrating external telemetry and observatory data with land-user generated data on bio-geo-physical ecosystem features in order to render digital and ICT services more relevant for land-users’ immediate management decisions on grazing, watering and health management.
InfoRange uses transdisciplinary approach to
- Adapt, modify and further develop existing ICT tools for decision support in rangeland management and use as well as for veterinary service provision
- Develop procedures and solutions to enhance the use of ICT tools by land-users and increase their distribution and accessibility under reduced network coverage
- Combine approaches from citizen-science, crowd-data sourcing, machine-learning and participatory monitoring and evaluation to render these tools more relevant for decision making at different governance levels
Project location
In Kenya, the project will be implemented in the northern arid and semi-arid Marsabit County in Laisamis and Moyale Subcounties – i.e. two study locations. In Namibia, InfoRange will be implemented in the Kavango East Region (including the Ndiyona Constituency) and Omaheke Region (including the Otjombinde Constituency). The chosen sites represent communal livestock-management systems, which will ensure that the techniques developed for better resource monitoring and evaluation (M&E) are relevant for the people on the ground and will enable an easy scaling-up of the project activities.
Project structure, work packages and their tasks
InfoRange is structured in seven Work Packages (WPs) with defined Work Tasks (WTs) for each WP
Marine Species Research and Conservation
NIMPA+
Project Name: Strengthening Namibia's Marine Protected Area management and improving livelihood opportunities of coastal communities
Project Donor: Blue Action Fund (BAF), Oceans 5, Shark Conservation Fund, Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB)
Partners: Namibia Nature Foundation (NNF) as the lead grantee and Blue Marine Foundation (Blue Marine); GRID-Arendal (GRID); TheSouthern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (SANCCOB); South Atlantic Environmental Research Institute (SAERI); Community Skills Development Centre (COSDEC Benguela)
Project period: 2023 - 2027
Objectives:
The project will support the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resource (MFMR) in employing the following strategies and technical approaches to achieve the four following project objectives:
Objective 1: Update and strengthen the formal management system of NIMPA and the capacities needed to implement it effectively
Objective 2: Engender broad support for NIMPA from civil society and engaged coastal communities
Objective 3: Strengthen and diversify coastal livelihoods
Objective 4: Scale up marine conservation efforts nationally based on the successes of NIMPA
Oceans 5
Project Name: Oceans 5 - Strengthening the effective management of the Namibian Islands Marine Protected Area (NIMPA) and expansion of MPA network in Namibia
Project Donor: Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors
Partners: Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources and, The Fisheries Observer Agency
Starting date: 1st April 2022 - March 2023
Goal: To strengthen NIMPA and MPA management effectiveness and expand the network of MPAs in Namibia
Objectives:
- Support Management Planning and Implementation of NIMPA
- Supporting increased Marine Protection Areas in Namibia
- Improve Technical Capacity for and Sustainable Financing of Marine Conservation in Namibia
- Increased political support and public knowledge to raise awareness on the importance of marine conservation and the role of MPAs
Namibia's Rays and Sharks
Project Name: Namibia's Rays and Sharks (NaRaS)
Project Donor: Shark Conservation Fund
Partners: South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity (SAIAB), Abalobi, Vericatch, The Fisheries Observer Agency, and the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources.
Starting date: 2022
Key Activities:
- Collaboration with recreational anglers along Namibia's coastline, to record their catches.
- Recording shark and ray bycatch in commercial fisheries.
- Developing the first comprehensive species list for chondrichthyans in Namibian waters, and a species identification guide.
- Research to better understand the sharks, rays, and chimeras using the Namibian Islands Marine Protected Area and their movements both within and beyond the MPA.
Anticipated Outcome:
Almost no research has been done on chondrichthyans in Namibian waters, but we know that healthy shark, skate, and ray populations are an important part of healthy oceans. This project will establish, for the first time, the chondrichthyan species present inside the NIMPA and in other key marine habitats along Namibia’s coastline, and will inform management strategies for those species. The data generated can also contribute to future decisions around the designation and management of MPAs, to maximize benefits to chondrichthyans.
Albatross Task Force
Project Name: Albatross Task Force - Reducing seabird bycatch in Namibian demersal longline and trawl fisheries
Project Donor: Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB)
Partners: Birds Life Internation and the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources.
Starting date: 1st April 2022 - March 2023
Goal: To improve compliance with seabird bycatch regulations in the trawl fleet; ensure that demonstrated seabird bycatch reductions in the Namibian longline fishery are sustained over the long-term
Objectives:
- Monitor seabird bycatch in key Namibian fisheries
- Access and collate FOA bycatch and mitigation compliance information for all key fleets (hake trawl and longline, monk trawl, midwater and pelagic longline).
- Work on improving data entry system within the MFMR
- Press to secure permanent place and at least annual discussion of seabird bycatch issues, particularly related to MSC conditions of the hake fisheries
- Carry out advocacy with MFMR with support from NNF
- Take targeted action to address compliance concerns in the hake longline fishery
- Continue to support improved relations with the Fisheries Inspectorate
- Deliver two seabird bycatch trainings (in Walvis Bay and Lüderitz) for observers, inspectors, fleet managers and shore skippers
- Improve sustainability of seabird bycatch mitigation interventions in key institutions
- Maintain a watching brief on Meme Itumbapo’s partnership with Walvis Traw
One Ocean Hub
Project Name: One Ocean Hub - Strengthening the effective management of the Namibian Islands Marine Protected Area (NIMPA) and expansion of the Marine Protect Areas network in Namibia
Project Donor: One Ocean Hub
Partners: Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources and, The Fisheries Observer Agency, and Southern Atlantic and Environmental Institute (SAERI), Overseas Development Institute (ODI)
Starting date: 01 July 2021 to 30 June 2022
Goal: To advance understanding of the value of ecosystem services in Namibia’s exclusive economic zone, in order to inform the sustainable implementation of Namibia’s Blue Economy plan as well as appropriate MPA designation and management.
Objectives:
- Develop a more in-depth understanding of the value of the natural environment to Namibia’s blue economy
- Understand the key trade-offs between different blue economy development decisions and, in doing so, build capacity to further evaluate these trade-offs for Namibia.
- Provide an additional layer of information to guide MPA designation and management
Shark Conservation Fund
Project Name: Shark Conservation Fund - Assessing the diversity and status of elasmobranchs in Namibia
Project Donor:
Partners: Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources and, The Fisheries Observer Agency
Starting date: 17 January 2022 – 16 January 2023
Goal: To have a baseline understanding of the impact fisheries have on elasmobranch populations and species most vulnerable to bycatch in Namibian fisheries is urgently needed, as well as a protocol that allows for the collection of effort-based catches, to species level, of all elasmobranchs.
Objectives:
- Conduct a preliminary assessment of the species caught in two industrial fisheries, and generate a species list
- Create ID guide for elasmobranchs encountered in Namibian fisheries
- Create data collection protocol to enable the collection of elasmobranch bycatch data for all fisheries
- Train observers in species identification and data collection
- Implement data collection in at least two fisheries using fisheries observers
- Develop suggestions for the NPOA-Sharks and Namibian Islands Marine Protected Area (NIMPA) management plan
Blue Marine
Project Name: Blue Marine - Securing the Namibian Islands’ Marine Protected Area
Project Donor: Blue Marine Foundation, and
Partners: Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources
Starting date: 01 January 2020 to 31 December 2022
Goal: To initiate and support the development of a Management Plan for the Namibian Islands Marine Protected Area and its implementation.
Objectives:
- Initiate and develop a collaborative Management Plan for the Namibian Islands Marine Protected Area.
- Mobilize resources towards the implementation of the Namibian Islands Marine Protected Area.
- Support priority actions under the Namibian Islands Marine Protected Area Management plan.
Independent Baseline Description of the Walvis Ridge
Project Name: Independent Baseline Description of the Walvis Ridge
Project Donor: Blue Marine Foundation
Partners: Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources and, The Fisheries Observer Agency
Starting date: 27 April 2022 to 27 July 2022
The key project objectives are to:
- Undertake a Rigorous Independent Baseline Description from literature and mined data sources.
- Undertake a stakeholder mapping and analysis to ascertain international and in-country stakeholders that should be engaged in any policy that is developed relating to the Walvis Ridge.
Fresh Water and Inland Fisheries
Strengthening Community Fisheries in KAZA
Title: Strengthening Community Fisheries in KAZA
Funding: European Union (EU)
Partners: Government Fisheries Department (Zambia), Okavango Research Institute, University of Namibia.
Date: 2020-2023
Contact person: Britta Hackenberg This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Objective:
To strengthen fisheries management in the KAZA region through ecosystem-based adaptation enhancing the socio-ecological resilience of communities.
Transboundary Fisheries Restoration
Title:Transboundary Fisheries Restoration
Funding: Peace Parks Foundation (PPF)
Date: 2019-2022
Contact person: Britta Hackenberg This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Objective:
To contribute to the recovery of the transboundary fishery resource in focal communities along the Zambezi and Chobe, within the Zambian Stratum V so that residents have a secure source of protein and fishing remains an important part of the social fabric.
Support to Community Fisheries
Title: Support to Community Fisheries
Funding: The Nature Conservation (TNC)
Date: 2021-2022
Contact person: Britta Hackenberg This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Objective:
Implementing a suite of community-led freshwater and fisheries conservation interventions and management activities designed to improve the livelihoods of the local communities while also conserving vital freshwater ecosystems in the upper catchment of the Okavango river basin in Angola and along the border between Namibia and Angola.
Implementing an integrated approach to Natural Resource Management in the Middle Cubango-Okavango Basin to mitigate land degradation
Title: Implementing an integrated approach to Natural Resource Management in the Middle Cubango-Okavango Basin to mitigate land degradation
Funding: European Union (EU)
Date: 2021-2022
Contact person: Britta Hackenberg This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Objective:
- To strengthen land management through improved land use planning,
- Reduction of environmental degradation
- Consideration of ecological service provision, and Improved livelihoods
- Diversified opportunities and increased income:
- Increased knowledge of policies around degradation and biodiversity loss
- Establishment of a fish reserve
Completed Projects
Integrated Co-management Fisheries Resources
Funding: WWF Norway
Partners: Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources, NNF, WWF
Project dates: January 2010 to December 2012
Project details
The fish resources of the Zambezi and Chobe rivers and associated Caprivi floodplains are both a vital component of the livelihoods of the floodplain inhabitants and a major angling tourist attraction. Fish is thus a major contributor to food security and the local economy.
Improved communications in the area and consequent increased commercialization of the fishery were identified as a major threat to rural livelihoods and to aquatic biodiversity through over-exploitation of the larger fish species that are most valuable for both food and for angling tourism. Concerns were expressed by the local fishing communities and by the tourist organizations that the fishery was in serious decline as a result of widespread use of illegal and destructive fishing methods, and the results of monitoring programmes carried out since 1997 by the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources confirmed over-exploitation of the large tilapiine cichlid species.
The Zambezi/Chobe fisheries project was thus conceived as a way of empowering the local communities to manage the resources in a sustainable way through the formation of local management committees and devolution of responsibility for management, as envisaged in the Namibian constitution and the Inland Fisheries White Paper. The project set out to facilitate the management of the fisheries by developing a system of integrated co-management and because the Zambezi fishery is a shared resource with Zambia, harmonization of activities and cooperation in surveys and monitoring. It has always been acknowledged that this type of activity requires a long-term commitment. After the first phase of the project ended in December 2009, the second phase ran from January 2010 to December 2012. Management of the project was shared between Mr. D. Tweddle as Project Executant and Dr. C. Hay as Project Co-executant.
Project outputs
Output 1: Cross-border collaboration achieved in the management of the fisheries resources.
Output 2: The management plan for the fisheries developed during Project Phase 1 was successfully implemented (in collaboration with neighboring countries) for the benefit of the communities.
Output 3: Fish Protection Areas established and fully functional in targeted pilot communities.
Output 4: Tourist angling lodges operating in agreement with local fishing/conservancy committees.
Output 5: Capacity built-in research and monitoring of fish resources.
Output 6: Collaboration in the next phase of the NNF fish ranching project.
NamPower/NNF Strategic Partnership
Funding: European Investment Bank (EIB), Nedbank Go Green Fund, Environmental Investment Fund (EIF) Namibia, NamPower
Partners: NamPower, Regional Electricity Distributors (REDs), other power utilities and a variety of stakeholders
Dates: 2008, ongoing
Location of the project: throughout Namibia
Contact persons: Mike & Ann Scott (email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)
Why an industry-conservation partnership?
Wildlife and electricity supply conflicts are costly both to industry and to our biodiversity. Inconvenient outages (blackouts) caused by wildlife interactions such as electrocutions and collisions and the nesting of birds on power line structures may result in high maintenance and repair costs, especially in terms of the impacts of Sociable Weaver nesting activity during the rainy season.
At the same time, 71 (10%) of Namibia’s 687 bird species are recognised as being under threat. About 75% of this group fall into one or more of the following groups: coastal and marine birds; scavenging birds; birds impacted by power lines; and wetland birds. Although information is still being gathered on the extent of the impacts of power supply structures on wildlife at present, in terms of collisions and electrocutions, these factors are emerging as a very real threat.
Many of these impacts could be reduced or prevented with appropriate communication, planning and management. Due to a growing concern about the above issues, the NamPower/Namibia Nature Foundation Strategic Partnership was launched in 2008, with generous funding by the European Investment Bank.
What is the purpose of the project?
The mission of the Partnership is to address wildlife and electricity supply interactions in Namibia.
What are the objectives? To:
- Monitor, report, research and manage electricity supply and wildlife interactions;
- Incorporate wildlife mitigation into existing electricity supply networks, and into the planning for future networks;
- Promote awareness, education, communication and collaboration about the risks that the electricity supply poses to wildlife, and wildlife to the electricity supply.
Project action plan
The above objectives are directly related to a dynamic project action plan, developed and updated regularly in consultation with stakeholders.
How you can become involved
- We need your help to build our database of relevant information that is the basis of our dynamic, web-based Environmental Information Service (EIS) for Namibia (see www.the-eis.com).
- We specifically need information and photographs on wildlife and electricity supply interactions (e.g. mortalities or injuries due to collisions or electrocutions; nesting or roosting etc. on electricity supply structures in your area). Please use the Field Investigation Form to record this information.
- Subscribe and contribute to the Partnership's free, electronic newsletter
Project Action Plan for the NamPower/Namibia Nature Foundation Strategic Partnership
- Conduct power line surveys/monitoring
1.1 Conduct power line surveys/monitoring
1.2 Enter/process/analyse/provide feedback on data
2. Implement effective mitigation
2.1 Implement proactive mitigation measures for new electricity supply structures
2.2 Implement mitigation for existing electricity supply structures
2.3 Support monitoring/mitigation in renewable energy developments
3. Conduct focal research projects
3.1 Research and implement mitigation for impacts of weaver nesting on electricity supply structures
3.2 Bustard and power lines project
3.3 Flamingo tracking project
3.4 Investigate sources of bias in data gathering
- Promote awareness, information-sharing, education, outreach, collaboration
4.1 Produce newsletters and media releases
4.2 Produce further project information: flyer; website; guidelines
4.3 Disseminate information and material to identified target groups
4.4 Encourage further communication/collaboration with local partners
4.5 Encourage further communication/collaboration with international partners
4.6 Conduct training/awareness workshops and other workshops
4.7 Support and promote a free online Environmental Information Service (EIS)
Newsletters:
NP/NNF Newsletter No1 (Jun 2009)
NP/NNF Newsletter No2 (Oct 2009)
NP/NNF Newsletter No3 (Feb 2010)
NP/NNF Newsletter No4 (Jun 2010)
NP/NNF Newsletter No5 (Sep 2010)
NP/NNF Newsletter No6 (Feb 2011)
NP/NNF Newsletter No7 (May 2011)
NP/NNF Newsletter No8 (Sep 2011)
NP/NNF Newsletter No9 (May 2012)
NP/NNF Newsletter No10 (Nov 2012)
NP/NNF Newsletter No11 (Mar 2013)
NP/NNF Newsletter No12 (Oct 2013)
NP/NNF Newsletter No13 (Apr 2014)
NP/NNF Newsletter No14 (Nov 2014)
NP/NNF Newsletter No15 (Apr 2015)
NP/NNF Newsletter No16 (Nov 2015)
NP/NNF Newsletter No17 (Oct 2016)
Downloads:
Wildlife/Power Line Incident Form
Stories:
The NamPower/NNF Strategic Partnership - A Groundbreaking Alliance
For further information or to report wildlife and power supply incidents, please email Mike and Ann Scott at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..