THE deputy minister of agriculture, water and land reform, Anna Shiweda, has called on Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries that are not members of the Southern African Science Service Centre for Climate Change and Adaptive Land Management (Sasscal) to join the initiative as climate change does not respect territorial boundaries.
Shiweda made the call at the two-day Sasscal Climate Change Dialogue Namibia, which started in Windhoek yesterday.
She said there is a need for Sasscal to grow its membership.
“Climate change does not know borders, and Sasscal cannot be limited to just five member countries. All 15 SADC member states should join,” she said.
Sasscal currently comprises Namibia, Botswana, South Africa, Zambia and Germany, and was established in response to addressing the challenge of climate change in the southern African region.
Shiweda said climate change is a reality and a global challenge.
“We are experiencing it, especially in the water sector.
Year in and year out, we experience droughts, heavy rainfall and diseases, and therefore, we need to accept the reality and we have no choice, but to adapt,” she said.
Shiweda said although rural communities are striving to adapt to the negative impacts of climate change, they are doing so under difficult circumstances.
She said Namibia has been doing well in paying its financial contribution to the centre.
Shiweda said efforts are underway to ensure that Sasscal becomes a fully fledged organisation, and an amount of N$26 million has been made available for the construction of Sasscal’s headquarters in Windhoek.
She said Sasscal has achieved a lot, including supporting a graduate programme at the Namibia University of Science and Technology which focuses on integrated water resource management.
This, Shiweda said, is a very important development, as Namibia is water-stressed.
She said Sasscal is also making efforts to tap into renewable energy through identifying hotspots for the production of green hydrogen in the region.
“I think this is also a way of getting other SADC countries to join Sasscal,” she said.
Sasscal executive director Jane Olwoch said compared to other regions in Africa, southern Africa is hit the most by climate change.
Sasscal recently donated 66 weather stations to the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Land Reform, she said.
The deputy chairperson of the Sasscal board of directors, Elija Ngurare said, climate is indeed changing, and this can be seen through changes in rainfall patterns, which impacts people’s livelihoods in the southern African region negatively.
Ngurare said the aim of the dialogue is to create a platform for Namibia to consider its position and policy towards the 28th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to be held in Dubai from 30 November to 12 December.
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