Wezi Tjaronda
20 August 2008
Windhoek — Namibia will next month host the annual council meeting of the Leadership for Conservation in Africa (LCA).
The LCA, a joint venture between global business and African conservation leaders and an initiative of South Africa National Parks, is a body that unifies conservation efforts in partnership with the business community.
It aims at influencing international and national leaders to become involved in strategic partnerships of the national conservation authorities of member countries.
LCA Namibia, which was established in July 2007, is among the 13 national African chapters that have already been established. The ultimate goal however is to have a national chapter in every African country.
Announcing the upcoming meeting on Monday, the LCA Namibia chairman, who is also Deputy Minister of Environment and Tourism Leon Jooste, said the meeting, to take place in the Etosha National Park will bring together 60 delegates consisting of representatives of the national chapters, founding patrons, international business patrons, international advisors and the LCA chairperson (David Mabunda).
Some renowned VIPs such as philanthropist of the Howard Buffet Foundation, Howard Buffet, Sabine Platter of the Fancourt and Platter Foundation and heads of conservation of various African counties will also attend the meeting.
The meeting will be preceded by the President's Breakfast on 4 September, which will allow local business and conservation leaders to meet their African and international counterparts.
The discussions at the meeting will include the member countries' LCA related projects and opportunities within their countries, business training and development, creating an environment in which member countries and their respective conservation areas should operate and also Transfrontier Conservation Areas.
Several corporate companies, namely Frans Indongo Group, Standard Bank Namibia and South Africa, Methealth Namibia Administrators, Shell Namibia, Namibia Wildlife Resorts, Sanlam Investment Management, De Beers Group of Companies and Pupkewitz Holding on Monday announced sponsorship towards the breakfast, which came to N$100 000.
Standard Bank South Africa will give N$250 000 for the council meeting, while Standard Bank Namibia will sponsor stationery for the meeting.
The LCA was conceptualised in 2006 by SAN Parks Chief Executive Officer David Mabunda with the support of Gold Fields Ltd and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and 20 other African and international business leaders.
The LCA also aims at creating forums for communication between business and conservation through the establishment of national LAC chapters, to facilitate national and international conservation led socio-economic development programmes, and exploit established relationships between business and conservation to influence governmental and political decision in favour of best conservation practices.
Current national chapters include Namibia, Botswana, Cameroon, Ghana, Ethiopia, Malawi, Mozambique, Republic of Congo, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Last year, Uganda hosted the LCA council meeting.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 New Era. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
