The Mayor of Luderitz has appealed to Namibians, and in particular coastal communities, to protect the country's marine ecosystem.

Benjamin McKay made the call during the launch of the Namibian Islands' Marine Protected Area (NIMPA) project at Luderitz.

The project is aimed at strengthening the management framework and improving livelihoods in these marine protected areas.

A consortium comprising the Namibia Nature Foundation, Blue Marine Foundation, GRID-Arendal, Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds, COSDEC Benquella, and Namibia Foundation for the Conservation of Sea Birds, in partnership with the government, will develop and implement a management framework for NIMPA. 

Funded by Blue Action, the project will be implemented over a period of five years.

"I want to emphasise that our very own Constitution, the Namibian Constitution, Article 95, mandates the maintenance of our ecosystems, essential ecological processes, and biological diversity of and utilisation of living natural resources on a sustainable basis for the benefit of Namibians both present and future," said McKay.

A representative of the Blue Action Fund, Judith Weigand, stressed that global communities face a shared responsibility to conserve the ocean ecosystem.

"But why is the ocean so important? It covers more than 70% of our planet's surface, it is the largest stabiliser of the climate, it captures more than 90% of the imbalance of energy, in other words, the heat that humans are producing, it produces oxygen, every second breath we take comes from the ocean, and last but not least, it produces food and provides livelihoods for billions of people. Yet the ocean is not in a good state. Pollution, overfishing, new or increased uses such as wind energy, shipping, mining, habitual destruction, and climate change are stressing the ocean."