NAMIBIA: WATER/NBC/21/2/19 SABANews 1
WINDHOEK – The Government of NAMIBIA has agreed to have the country joining TWO major international protocols against marine pollution from ships.
Information and Communication Technology Minister STANLEY SIMATAA has revealed the information in the capital, WINDHOEK.
He says the Cabinet has approved national accession to the Annexures FOUR and SIX of the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships and the International Convention on Civil Liability for Bunker Oil Pollution Damage of 2001.
Minister SIMATAA says the approval shows the need to re-double efforts made nationally and worldwide to address marine pollution.
Researchers say marine pollution results when chemicals; particles; or industrial, agricultural, and residential waste; enter the ocean; as well as from noise or the spread of sinister organisms.
They say at least EIGHT percent of marine pollution comes from land.
Minister SIMATAA says NAMIBIA witnessed its worst oil-spill in MARCH last year, when oil washed ashore at WALVIS BAY.
He says joining the TWO global protocols helps the SADC country enforce international best practices and implement innovative ways to address such problems.
Minister SIMATAA says a pollution levy for companies operating in coastal waters is ONE priorities of the newly established National Marine Pollution Contingency Plan Management Committee.
Meanwhile, the Cabinet has asked the Ministry of International Relations and Cooperation to find ways to expedite granting interested POLISH investors visas to come and explore chances for investment.
NAMIBIA is further involved in other marine activities related to saving the water resources that are available to it.
An earlier report by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, FAO, says unsustainable fishing, pollution, climate change and other human activities continue to exert enormous negative pressure on the world’s oceans.
It says the actions have led to pollution of water bodies, depletion of fish stocks, alteration of ecosystem structures and the overall reduction of the ability of ecosystems to adapt to climate variability and change.
The study also says in a bid to mitigate the situation, NAMIBIA, NORWAY, and FAO signed a cooperative program agreement to implement the Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries Management.
The scheme aims to address multiple impacts of human acts like overfishing and pollution on fish stocks and the marine environment to preserve productivity of the oceans for the benefit of future generations./Sabanews/cam