By:Justicia Shipena
Having become a hub for oil exploration, Namibia’s investment promotion wing has stressed that it is not violating environmental protection pledges.
The Namibia Investment and Promotion and Development Board’s (NIPDB) Chief Executive Officer NangulaUaandja said this during the launch of Namibia’s Oil and Gas Conference to take place in the coming two weeks.
Namibia has recently been criticised for contradicting itself by pushing green solutions with drilling for oil.
Uaandja said Namibia has done nothing to contradict everything it has promised to in terms of multilateral environmental protection agreements Relevant for the country.
The United Nations climate conference, COP26, in 2021 called for a worldwide accord to expedite climate action by shifting to green energy.
“Namibia is not contravening any that we have committed to. So, the government of Namibia whether is in terms of the Paris Agreement, we have made our national determination to contribute to the environment and we are living up to it,” she pointed out.
Namibia is a party to the Paris Agreement, a legally binding international convention on climate change that was approved on 12 December 2015 by 196 parties at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP21) in Paris, France.
The Paris Agreement, which went into effect on 4 November 2016, intends to restrict “the increase in global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels” and to pursue measures “to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.”
To restrict global warming to 1.5°C, greenhouse gas emissions must peak by 2025 at the latest and then fall by 43% by 2030, according to the United Nations.
When asked if Namibia should be concerned about international pressure on the issue, Uaandja stated that there is no international body to which Namibia belongs that opposes Namibia’s oil drilling.
Namibia’s massive natural resources are believed to be 11 billion barrels of oil, according to data.
“Regarding international organisations where we are members, we are fully participating and committed to that international membership,” she emphasised.
On the other hand, Uaandja highlighted Africa’s energy poverty in the just transition.
“The world is transitioning from something to something and we are transitioning from nothing to something. Our contribution to climate efforts, pollution and dangerous climatic conditions as Africa is minimal and Namibia is even less.”
Uaandja further noted that if Namibia has an industry that the world wants and that business has the potential to assist the government in addressing issues such as poverty and unemployment, then the Namibian government is not performing its job if it abandons it.
She also stated that oil development will not jeopardise Namibia’s commitment to the environment.
Organisations ranging from the World Bank to the European Investment Bank (EIB) have dropped support for African fossil fuel production in hopes of encouraging a transition from oil, gas and coal to sustainable energy sources like wind and solar power.
At the same event, Clemens von Doderer, Hanns Seidel Foundation Namibia Resident Representative, said finances pouring in and the money made available to the Namibian government enabled the government to achieve things it could not do previously.
He offered the example of Namibia losing nearly a quarter of its forest cover in the Northern-eastern part of the country since 1990, stressing that the Namibian government now lacks the funds to launch a big reforestation programme.
“With projects like the oil and gas coming up now, the government will have funds to start exactly that. To look at additional programmes to help and mitigate impacts of climate change to support local biodiversity development and therefore also to sustain the livelihoods of people on the ground.”