12 March 2018

Remember the Paris Agreement? The one the USA pulled out of? Each country should come up with their Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDC). Namibia has done hers, and the implementation of our plan will cost about NAD 400 billion until 2030. It goes without question that most of this money, 90% in fact, will (have to) be sourced from outside sources.

Dirty global development is costing us this much. Can you imagine how much it is costing the entire world, if just our country has a bill this big? Somehow, in our global economic growth plans, these bills are not subtracted from the 'growth in wealth'.

Namibia has signed an MoU with the Bank of Southern Africa to access larger amounts of financing from the Green Climate Fund. The only accredited institution (so far) in Namibia is the Environmental Investment Fund, which can only access limited funding, and so to mobilise larger amounts, we have to connect with accredited institutions who have that kind of access. Our Minister of Environment, Pohamba Shifeta, said that this MoU would allow Namibia to mobilise the kind of financing that we need to enhance climate resilience and tap into mitigation opportunities.

Climate change, despite the (very scary) cognitive dissonance and resulting denial by us masses, is one of the (if not the) greatest challenges of our time. None of us will be able to escape it. You think the rain this year is bad, but hope it will be better next year? This is the new normal. And it is systemic. It is not just a 'weather' thing. Your food, your water, your day to day finances, your relationships, employment - everything will be affected. If you and I don't pull together as a global community today to make the changes we can, things will get much worse. But if we do pull together in time, we can strive to build a better world. You choose which one you want to be part of.

Image credit: www.iecn-namibia.com