The Nama Traditional Leaders Association (NTLA) says the symposium attended by Nama communities across the Hardap and ||Kharas regions was a success.
The three-day symposium themed 'Indigenous Peoples Reflections on Green Hydrogen in Southern Namibia' held at Luderitz ended on Thursday.
NTLA Technical Adviser Mabos Ortman says the symposium's objectives of educating and reflecting on the green hydrogen development at Luderitz were achieved.
"I want to underline here that NTLA and all Nama Traditional Authorities welcomed development, and we are not against development and economic development in any of the regions of Namibia, especially in the ||Kharas and Hardap regions. However, they felt that they were a little bit left out because they were not having direct consultations with them as the traditional leaders and the owners of heritage in these two regions, and they felt it was important to invite experts in this area to get more information, to get a better understanding of the concept and of what green hydrogen is, and after understanding the benefits that they will get from the social, economic, and environmental implications, as well as the legal framework that is needed to make this a reality."
According to Ortman, the symposium recommended short-, medium-, and long-term strategies for the inclusion of the Nama communities in green hydrogen development.
However, Ortman did not elaborate on the recommendations.
The Society for Threatened Peoples was also in attendance.
"What is actually happening, who is dealing with it, and who is benefiting from those projects? And for us, it is pretty clear that in the country of Namibia, the affected communities have to benefit, and I think that came out pretty clearly from this workshop that also the Nama, and like all the regions that are here, those people have top benefits through either job, but I also think our vision is not to have the Namibians as employees but as employers at some point. You know this would be the real system change; then we could work towards justice in this place, and that was a very strong message we received here from this workshop," said the Society for Threatened Peoples director, Roman Kuhn.