There is a need to align policies, institutions and resources with the country's natural heritage to close biodiversity financing gaps.

These sentiments were shared by various speakers at the Biodiversity Finance Initiative stakeholder consultation workshop on policy and institutional review in Windhoek today.

The Biodiversity Finance Initiative supports countries to develop robust business cases for increased investment in the sustainable management, protection and restoration of biodiversity and ecosystems in an equitable manner.

For Namibia to access funding through BIOFIN, it is required to develop a National Biodiversity Finance Plan.

The plan should identify and implement innovative financial solutions to sustainably support biodiversity conservation and management across the country.

Deputy Director in the Ministry of Environment, Amon Andreas, said, "As we embark on reviewing our existing policies and institutional frameworks, your presence here today signifies a strong ownership of this process but also reinforces the importance of collaborative governance in achieving long-term conservation outcomes."

According to Namibia's preliminary findings on policy and institutional capacities, it was identified that there is a need to strengthen 11 Acts and 13 policies or strategies that speak to the country's biodiversity and environmental well-being.

Some of the acts and policies are outdated and silent on emerging industries such as phosphate mining, green hydrogen, green energy, climate change impacts and oil and gas.

They are also said to be weak in enforcement and monitoring, while penalty fees for offenders are also low.

These include the Soil Conservation Act 1969, the Nature Conservation Ordinance Act 1975 and the Environmental Management Act of 2007.

Policy & Institutional Review Consultant: BIOFIN, Grace Shihepo, said, "We need to strengthen our EMA specifically on enforcement and also strengthen biodiversity offsetting for project impacts that can not be mitigated, for example, mining. B2 Gold and Namdeb have done well so far with this, and we are saying that we need to implement cross-sectoral biodiversity impact assessments in all integrated land use plans. And update biodiversity policies to address climate adaptation safeguards in renewable energy, invasive species management and habitat connectivity."

The Executive Director of the Namibia Nature Foundation, Angus Middleton, added that addressing gaps in biodiversity funding will ensure environmental sustainability and offer tangible economic benefits for Namibia.

 "What this has basically done is that it sets the scene for policy makers to understand the value of nature, and it makes the case for investment, so back then, in 2018, the total value was estimated at N$13 billion, which today is estimated at about US$1 billion. If ecosystems and services accounts are to be estimated as GDP, it would be 9% making it the largest contributing sector in the country."

The global biodiversity financing gap is estimated at US$700 billion annually.