Namibia: Integrated land use curbs effects of climate change

AllAfrica.com via Namibia Economist: Climate change and resulting sea conditions can financially cripple businesses - especially those relying directly on seawater. The evidence is clear. Several oyster farmers and other industries took a knock and some even went under during the extreme red tide outbreak in March 2008.

A recent seminar on climate change presented by the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry shed some light into the effects of climate change and practices that can curb its negative impacts. Literally being a weathercock may have its advantages when it comes to staying financially afloat. The arranged visit to the Salt Company in Swakopmund underpinned the necessity of taking climate change and extreme weather and sea conditions into account.

The secret of surviving these extreme conditions lies in you ability to contain the influences. Our integrated system of the salt industry with the two other complimentary enterprises, guano and oyster farming, have proven to be one way to curb the influence to a greater extent," said Jannie Klein, managing director of the Salt Company. "When we started with the Salt Company in 1936 it soon became evident that producing guano can be introduced as a complementary business. The saltpan formed small natural islands and these were used by the sea birds as a safe overnight spot, keeping predators at bay. The birds and guano in turn led to our starting oyster farming in 1990. The guano fertilizes the top layer of water providing excellent conditions for a natural food chain - algae, worms, shrimps and then also oysters," he added….

Cape Cross seal colony in Namibia, shot by betty x1138, Wikimedia Commons, under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 License