Windhoek — The Ministry of Environment and Tourism will need about N$648.75 million a year to implement its strategic plan.

This translates into N$3.243 billion from this financial year until 2012. The costing of the new strategic plan is three times more than the previous amounts. According to the strategic plan document that was launched on the outskirts of Windhoek on Monday, this is an indicative budget, which needs to be refined in conjunction with the detailed work plan development by various ministry entities.

The document says adequate funds should be made available for the successful implementation of the strategic plan. The strategic themes in the plan are environmental management and regulation, management of protected areas, habitat and species, development and support of tourism and community-based natural resource management programme, supporting rural development, policy planning, knowledge management and communication, management of business interests and partnerships, human resources management and capacity building and financial management.

The ministry embarked on the strategic plan to create a favourable environment for a focussed and aligned translation of strategies into action as it could help the ministry clarify its roles and mandates, do more with less, build team expertise and improve organisational performance. Among the weaknesses identified are long processes in getting legal and policy instruments passed, poor human resource management, disparities in organisational structure, scattered offices of the Ministry of Environment and Tourism, high running expenses, lack of equipment and bad conditions of park infrastructure, weak coordination among directorates, delegation of power and decision making at appropriate levels.

The ministry has identified its threats as climate change, human wildlife conflicts, HIV/Aids, poverty linked destruction of natural resources, competition for and shortage of skilled staff and competition for Government funds, insufficient funding and dependency on the prevailing fiscal policy. Launching the strategic plan this week, Ministry of Environment and Tourism, Reverend Willem Konjore, said the ministry should align its activities and annual year plan at directorate level to those outlined in the strategic plan to improve performance, effectiveness and service provision.

Since the plan is aligned with NDP3, Konjore said it would help the ministry move closer to achieving the goals of Vision 2030. He mentioned racism and tribalism, disrespect, corrupt practices and rumour mongering as some factors that undermine the smooth running of his ministry.

"These factors undermine the smooth running of the ministry and the public service in general and are inevitably contributing to interpersonal conflict," said Konjore, adding, "I urge you all to ensure that the Ministry of Environment and Tourism becomes a zone that is free of these factors."