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99
The Community Based Natural Resource
Management programme has contributed to
empowering people to gain access to resources
and to build their capacity. Opportunities are
available to expand the programme and the
support base by working closely with government
institutions such as agriculture, inland fisheries,
water, rural development, and by synchronizing
and harmonizing approaches tomake optimal
use of both the financial and human resources
available. If the programme continues to grow
at its present rate, and if the capacity to support
and sustain this growth is available, 70 per cent
of the communal areas – about 20 million ha –
could be within conservancies by 2030, and the
programme could be earning as much as N$800
million per year (Government of Namibia 2008).
Access to safe drinking water and improved
sanitation by 2015
Access by urban households to safe drinking
water is slightly less than 100 per cent, but
decreasing. Access of rural households to safe
drinking water was 88 per cent in 2008, up
from 67 per cent in 2000. The government has
improved water supply to rural communities
through the provision of new boreholes and the
rehabilitation of existing boreholes, as well as the
development of pipelines. Namibia recycles water,
especially in urban areas. Figures 4.35 and 4.36
show trends in access to water and sanitation.
While Namibia has improved access to water and
sanitation, the country’s primary environmental
concerns remainwater pollution andwater scarcity,
that is, insufficient water resources for its growing
population (Namibia Nature Foundation 2007).
Groundwater accounts for roughly half of all
water consumption, but only one per cent
of Namibia’s meagre rainfall goes towards
recharging groundwater, thus over-extraction
is a growing concern (Government of
Namibia 2008).
Improve the lives of slum dwellers by 2020
One-third of the urban population of Namibia
lives in slum conditions, a situation that has
remained almost static since 1990, reducing by
less than one per cent, as shown in Figure 4.37.
Figure 4.34
Figure 4.35
Figure 4.37
Figure 4.36
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
Number of species
Number of threatened species
in Namibia
Source: IUCN 2003, 2008
2000
2003
2008
Rural
Urban
National
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
2000
2002
2004
2006
2008
Percentage
Source: AfDB 2010
Population using improved water
sources in Namibia
Rural
Urban
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
2000
2004
2008
Percentage
Source: Government of Namibia 2008
Households with access to basic
sanitation in Namibia
33.2
33.4
33.6
33.8
34.0
34.2
34.4
34.6
1990
2007
Proportion of urban dwellers living
in slum conditions in Namibia
Source: Government of Namibia 2008