Onatshiku sand mining a ‘shining initiative’

The Uukwambi Traditional Authority (UTA) says the sand-mining project at Onatshiku village is proving to be a lucrative venture for the local community.

The village is situated at Okatana in the Oshana region.

Authority spokesperson Othitukuti Kalimba, who is also a resident of the village, says the village and the traditional authority have agreed that sand collectors pay the village N$200 for each load of sand.

This is then split between the village and the UTA, meaning each get N$100.

“There are no challenges thus far. Everything is going smoothly. The Uukwambi Traditional Authority and the village are getting the benefits from the project as agreed,” Kalimba says.

Onatshiku village residents, through the UTA, have secured a three-year environmental clearance certificate from the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism to allow sand mining.

Kalimba says this licence will expire in August next year, but the UTA can renew it to explore sand-mining activities elsewhere in the Uukwambi Traditional Authority’s jurisdiction.

He says village residents are currently building a community hall with the proceeds of the project.

“Construction is ongoing,” he says.

Kalimba says the area’s natural springs are not affected as they are located on the perimeter of the main sand-mining area.

Sand mining involves the extraction of sand for construction purposes.

The village’s arrangement ties in well with the provisions of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity’s Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing.

The protocol seeks to ensure that rural people who are the custodians of biodiversity fairly and equitably benefit from natural resources in their environments.

In the recent past, illegal sand mining in Namibia has been a challenge to the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism.

Ministry spokesperson Romeo Muyunda says: “We have since stepped in to intervene, where we have issued compliance orders to those who are illegally undertaking the activity. We have even gone to the extent of stopping some activities.”

He says the ministry has in the meantime developed regulations for sand mining to guide the process of acquiring environmental clearance certificates.

The ministry’s chief warden at Ongwediva, Laimi Erckie, says the Onatshiku village project is a “shining initiative”.