Namibia is hosting the inaugural Spatial Monitoring and Reporting Tool (SMART) congress.

Namibia, with a clear focus on promoting biodiversity conservation and sustainable utilisation of resources, adopted the SMART approach in all its protected areas to enhance monitoring in those areas.

The digital technology-driven Spatial Monitoring and Reporting tool has, for over a decade, supported tens of thousands of conservation practitioners in protecting wildlife.

The Ministry of Environment, Forestry, and Tourism's Executive Director says poaching of rhinos and elephants in Namibia has decreased significantly over the years. 

This year, Teofilus Nghitila says 48 rhinos and eight elephants were poached.
Nghitila says this year's poaching statistics are better compared to 2018, when 84 rhinos and 27 elephants were poached. 

He attributed the poaching reduction to the measures they have put in place. 

Namibia is still working to reclaim its number-one position as the cleanest country in Africa.

To that effect, the Ministry of Environment, Forestry, and Tourism recently joined hands with the organisation 'Let's Do It Namibia' to create awareness around cleanliness.

Currently, Namibia is ranked as the 10th cleanest country in Africa, down from the number one spot after it lost that status to Rwanda. 

The Ministry of Environment, Forestry, and Tourism is developing a five-year National Human-Wildlife Conflict Action Plan.

The action plan comes after the Cabinet's approval of the resolutions of the first National Conference on Human-Wildlife Conflict Management that was held earlier this year.

Cabinet directed the ministry to develop a five-year action plan for implementation of the resolution within three months.

In close collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme, the Ministry of Environment, Forestry, and Tourism played a crucial role in facilitating the preparation and adoption of the national framework.

The main objective of this framework is to enable Namibia's active participation in the international carbon market. It outlines the necessary processes for developing and implementing carbon market activities within the country.

More than N$163 million was spent on upgrading the road network infrastructure that connects to the Etosha National Park.

The upgrade was meant to enhance mobility and accessibility for visitors to the park, as well as provide a service road for effective park management.

From 2018/2019 to 2023/2024, the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism initiated a project to upgrade the restricted western roads and parks within the Etosha National Park.

To date, some of the roads have been successfully upgraded. 

The Ministry of Environment, Forestry, and Tourism carried out the dehorning of rhinos at Etosha National Park in order to combat poaching in the country.

The Ministry says the dehorning of all rhinos is also a means of safeguarding them from poaching activities and preventing them from causing harm to each other.

Since 2014, more than 2,000 rhinos have undergone the dehorning process.

During the recent operation, only two rhinos were dehorned.

The Minister of Environment, Forestry, and Tourism Pohamba Shifeta has expressed concern at the increase in the population of brown fur seals at Cape Cross.

The Cape Fur Seal colony on the Skeleton Coast of Namibia is the biggest on the African coast, with over 100,000 seals.
 
The months of October, November, and December are usually the seal breeding season, where male seals reserve and defend their territories that consist of harems of between five and 25 females.

A search team from the Ministry of Environment, Tourism, and Forestry only managed to recover the head of a male victim , who was caught by a crocodile at Rundjara in the Kavango East Region.

It's the rainy season and the best time to fish for residents living along the Kavango River.

However, it is also the most dangerous time, as the river is rising.

In Rundjarara village, there are spots where one should never try to swim, fish, or even attempt to fetch water, as some dangerous crocodiles known to the community are spotted here.

With the frequent influx of tourists following the lifting of the COVID-19 travel ban, the state of the gravel roads within the flagship Etosha National Park is said to be rapidly deteriorating.
   
A U.S. citizen and tourist who has been visiting Namibia for the past 10 years, Christopher Bugbee, expressed concern with the roads, saying they may pose a risk to travelers if left unresolved.