The Ministry of Environment and Tourism and UNDP Namibia co-hosted a national validation and appraisal workshop for the "Namibia Integrated Landscape Approach for enhancing Livelihoods and Environmental Governance to Eradicate Poverty" (NILALEG) project in Windhoek on 18 February 2019. The workshop aimed to obtain stakeholder inputs for the finalisation of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) CEO Endorsement Request and Project Document. Additionally, it aimed to review the quality and feasibility of the project and advise on its readiness for approval

The project is designed to promote a landscape management approach that integrates key agricultural and forest landscapes, reducing poverty through sustainable nature-based livelihoods, protecting and restoring forests as carbon sinks, and promoting Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN). The implementation of the project will start later in this year up to 2023. The project has four outcomes: Functioning intra-governmental coordination to guide implementation and monitoring of targets, Enhanced sustainable land and forest management, biodiversity conservation and livelihoods, Enhanced access to finance, technical assistance and market information to pilot and scale up the integrated landscape management approach and sustainable enterprises and project results are tracked, and impact of interventions evaluated, with learning captured and shared.

The realization of an integrated landscape management approach at national and sub-national levels, empowers farmers and local communities to plan for and manage agricultural lands, rangelands and forest resources on a sustainable basis, generating livelihoods in a manner that promotes conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, sustainable land and forest management, and climate change mitigation. This project relates to SDG 15 which targets taking urgent and significant action to reduce the degradation of natural habitats, halt the loss of biodiversity and, by 2020, protect and prevent the extinction of threatened species. Additionally, this project is aligned to the third Pillar of the United Nations Partnership Framework (UNPAF), which focuses on environmental sustainability. The specific sustainable land management interventions for the NILALEG project will be undertaken on the ground in five focal landscapes: Omaoipanga, Ruacana, Okongo, Nkulivere and Zambezi focal landscapes.

Namibia’s northern and eastern regions feature Broadleaf Tree and Shrub Savannah and Acacia Tree and Shrub Savannah. About 20% of the country’s surface area was originally covered by dryland forests and woodlands, and of this an estimated 8.6% remains under forest cover. Many people in Namibia are dependent on forests for food and fuel wood, and the continuing destruction of forests threatens livelihoods. About 58% of the country’s population of 2.1 million depend directly – for livelihoods and food security – on the natural resource base for food, fuel, shelter, medicinal and spiritual health and incomes. Two-thirds of these are rural smallholder crop producers, producing for their subsistence, and the rest are mainly livestock farmers. In communal areas, population pressure has led to widespread expansion of crop and stock farming, with some damaging practices such as fresh dryland forest clearing, unsustainable extraction of groundwater, overgrazing and farming practices that are environmentally unsustainable, and lead to land and soil degradation.