Namibia to host UN desertification meeting

Namibia will hold the 11th Conference of the Parties (COP 11) in September this year.

COP 11 is a United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) initiative that has 195 members who meet every two years.

This will be the first time COP11 will be held in the Southern African Development Community region since its inception in 1994 to address the management of land in arid, semi-arid and dry sub- humid areas with a view to maintain and restore land as well as soil productivity.

Namibia is home to the Namib Desert, the second largest in Africa which stretches for more than 2,000 km along the Atlantic Ocean coast of Angola, Namibia and South Africa.

The decision to have the conference held in Namibia was made at the 11th session of the UNCCD's review committee convention held in Bonn, Germany on April 15-19 this year and was confirmed Wednesday in Windhoek by Minister of Environment and Tourism Uahekua Herunga.

Speaking to the media, Herunga said the review meeting had given Namibia the opportunity to present its capacity to host COP11 and to give a brief overview of what the country will offer.

He said Windhoek has been chosen as the host city to about 2, 000 and 3,000 delegates that are expected to attend the conference on Sept. 16-27.

Herunga said hosting COP11 will solidify Namibia's commitment to addressing land degradation and reduce poverty.

Already, the Namibian cabinet has budgeted about 10 million Namibian dollars (1.1 million U.S. dollars) for the event that is expected to bring in profits in the region of 40 million Namibian dollars (4.4 million U.S. dollars), according to Herunga.

"Land degradation is a major threat to development and a driver of poverty in Namibia's rural areas and it is a threat we are committed to addressing," the minister said.

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