Namibian Government Solutions to Livestock-Driven Desertification: Successes and Shortcomings

       As the driest country in Sub-Saharan Africa, Namibia is impacted heavily by changes occurring in water availability and sustainability. The region faces a crisis of desertification, with declining water reservoirs and an overall decline in the amount of arable land plaguing agriculturists across the country.
      The government of Namibia has responded to this looming threat with a mixed bag of strategies. Some are meant to alleviate economic pressures that drought conditions are bringing to many farmers, while others are meant to incentivize activities that may help address the root causes of this environmental degradation.

Livestock are an important status symbol for many in Namibia, but there are more of them than can be supported according to representatives from the Namibian Ministry of Agriculture, Water, and Rural Development

Uahekua Herunga, the Minister of Environment and
Tourism speaks about Namibia's drought strategy
 at the World Day to Combat Desertification
Conference in Ovitoto

      One policy that attempted to accomplish both of these goals was a multi-faceted drought plan put in place by the Namibian government in 2013 that provided farmers with subsidies for drilling new boor-holes, leasing grazing lands to non-livestock activities, and selling livestock for slaughter. The plan attempted to provide economic motivation for farmers to reduce the size of their livestock herds, while improving the water infrastructure across the region.

      While the policy has shown some positive effects, it has also raised controversy. Several sources say that money was not effectively budgeted for the plan. In addition to this administrative delays have plagued the program, and some advocacy groups have claimed that the subsidy systems discriminates against resource poor farmers, who do not have the capital to make up front investments to receive the lucrative subsidies. Moving forward, it will be important that policy leaders in Namibia carefully consider the successes and failures of these strategies as they attempt to further curtail the impacts of desertification in the region.

     -Cole Holderman
Sources: http://www.irinnews.org/news/2004/06/16/fight-against-creeping-desertification
https://economist.com.na/5169/environment/namibia-commits-to-fight-desertification/
https://www.namibian.com.na/print.php?id=111831&type=2