Since its inception in 2012, the Southern African Science Service Centre for Climate Change and Adaptive Land Management (SASSCAL) has implemented nine projects to the tune of N$60 million in Namibia.
This was revealed by its Programme Coordinator, Panduleni Hamukwaya, during a media engagement held in Windhoek.
Hamukwaya says the nine projects in question have been implemented at the community level to help communities deal with the impact of climate change.
"These are specific projects that will allow our communities to adapt to the issue of climate change, capacitate them to also address climate change on their own, and look at the issue of food security. Most of the projects are looking at food security and water challenges that are facing Namibia and issues of forestry."
On her part, the Executive Director of SASSCAL, Jane Olwoch, emphasised the important role science and research play in dealing with climate change, describing them as services needed by societies that are most severely affected by climate change.
"Research is the basis for any country's development; without it, there is no innovation or participation in international dialogues. So what we have increased is research funding to N$23 million in 2018, N$2.2 million for AU, N$10 million for climate change research, and N$40 million for Atlas and others. Increasing research is a fundamental impact of SASSCAL."
Recently, SASSCAL also launched the first Green Hydrogen Atlas of Southern Africa, which provides evidence-based information on different resources for the production of green hydrogen.
This information includes water resources, land availability, renewable energy resources, the levelized cost of hydrogen production, and other key indicators like social, policy, export and transport, and political and energy regulatory frameworks.
"Our hope was that the atlas would be used to advise governments on how to produce green hydrogen without disadvantaging other sectors that are important to us too."
On the occasion, it was also revealed that the Namibian government will allocate about N$30 million towards the construction of SASSCAL's headquarters in Windhoek.