In Namibia's villages, conservancies, and informal settlements, resilience is not an abstract term, it is a daily reality when rains fail, crops wither, and livestock perish.
When floods arrive, homes, schools, and clinics are washed away, and families must begin again.
Women and young people bear the heaviest burden, walking longer distances for water, tending fields, and caring for households in difficult conditions.
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For them, more than a goal, resilience is the difference between recovery and loss.
Namibia's climate priorities are clear and immediate: secure water, resilient food systems, and livelihoods that can withstand droughts and floods, with women and youth meaningfully included in decisions and benefits.
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)-supported programmes are organised around these needs and led through participatory, community-centred governance.
From the rangelands of the north to the coasts of Walvis Bay, solutions are built that protect land, conserve water, and strengthen food systems, even as climate impacts intensify.
BUILDING RESILIENCE ON LAND
With funding from the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the UNDP is working with the government of Namibia to assist communities in adaptation and diversification of livelihoods.
The Namibia Integrated Landscape Approach for Enhancing Livelihoods and Environmental Governance project works with traditional authorities and conservancies to restore degraded land, promote sustainable grazing, and expand small enterprises based on natural resources.
Communities are reclaiming productivity, reducing vulnerability, and improving their livelihoods while conserving ecosystems.
In the Nkulivere landscape, in the Kavango West region, youth groups are thinning encroacher bush on communal land and turning it into opportunity.
On previously degraded rangeland, they are clearing woody species, producing bush-based fodder, and cultivating hay, lucerne and buffalo grass.
These activities are improving grazing, creating paid work for young people, and building feed reserves for dry seasons - a practical buffer against drought.
In the Cuvelai-Kunene River basins, the GEF funded Enhanced Water Security and Community Resilience in the Adjacent Cuvelai and Kunene Transboundary River Basins project strengthens preparedness for both drought and flood.
Co-designed with basin institutions, the project improves water governance, establishes groundwater monitoring, expands rainwater harvesting and small-scale irrigation, and strengthens community early-warning systems, ensuring that communities are able to adapt to increasing climate variability.
The project also promotes small-scale irrigation, drought-tolerant crops, and early-warning systems that protect lives and livelihoods.
Innovation is reshaping food production, too.
The forthcoming GEF funded Circular Integrated Aquaculture-Horticulture Systems for Climate Resilience project, with community participation, combines fish farming and horticulture in closed-loop systems that recycle water and nutrients.
In practical terms, NamiGreen is designed to support farmers, youth groups, and cooperatives to combine small fish ponds with vegetable beds, where nutrient-rich water from ponds is used to irrigate and fertilise crops, reducing fertiliser use and water demand, furthermore, local fish feed recipes will be developed based on by-products and locally available ingredients, reducing dependency on imported feeds and lowering production costs.
This approach will improve efficiency, boost nutrition, and diversifies income sources for rural households, providing a blueprint for food security in water-scarce regions.
LIFE BELOW WATER
Along the coast, the Mainstreaming Climate-Resilient Blue Economy in the Benguela Current Large Marine Ecosystem project, implemented join tly by Namibia, Angola, and South Africa, focuses on safeguarding marine resources while promoting sustainable coastal economies.
Through ecosystem restoration, marine spatial planning, and blue-finance innovation, the project will support communities that depend on fisheries, tourism, and coastal livelihoods.
NAMIBIA'S MESSAGE TO COP30
At COP30, these experiences are being shared with the world.
The Namibian pavilion sessions are highlighting Namibia's practical lessons in linking community solutions with national policy and global learning.
Speaking at the official opening of the Namibian pavilion, minister of environment and tourism Indileni Daniel highlighted that resilience efforts must be designed to protect the dignity of local communities.
During their 'Agroecology as a Pathway to Climate Action and Resilient Food Systems in Africa' session, the Pan-Africa Climate Justice Alliance highlighted the importance of agroecology systems that are rooted in indigenous knowledge, biodiversity and ecosystems to build resilient and sustainable food systems.
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These dialogues emphasise that adaptation is not a side issue, but central to sustainable development and climate justice.
As COP30 negotiations advance, president Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah has reminded the world that adaptation is a shared responsibility.
Nations have been called upon to honour their commitments to climate finance and technology transfer, to make global systems more inclusive, and to recognise that adaptation is fundamental to stability and prosperity.
Her words reflect Namibia's conviction that resilience begins with people, guided by policy, strengthened by partnerships, and sustained by fairness.
In Namibia's fields, rangelands, and coastlines, this message is already taking root: one community, one season, and one solution at a time.
- UNDP
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