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EAPAN is proud to be hosting a Bush Encroachment Webinar on 14 October 2020. Cost: N$250. RSVP by 12th OCtober to admin@n-c-e.org or admin@larssa.org.

The Department of Environmental Affairs in the Ministry of Environment and Tourism recently launched http://www.eia.met.gov.na - "Your Gateway to Environmental Clearance" - an online service which allows members of the public to apply for or renew an Environmental Clearance Certificate and to track its status, as well as to report environmental non-compliance.

The site also provides a lot of information on the Environmental Clearance Certificate (ECC) process, Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) and Environmental Assessment Practitioners (EAP), including downloadable files containing legislation, application forms and screening questionnaires.

Namibia’s Cabinet has recently approved the  National Policy on Prospecting and Mining in Protected Areas. This is an important achievement because, prior to this, there were no “no-go” areas in Namibia for prospecting and mining. Please look at Annexes 2-4 to get an overview of the no-go parks and the no-go areas within other parks. We warmly congratulate the two Ministries of Environment & Tourism and Mines & Energy, and Hon Members of Cabinet, for this very significant and progressive policy.

With this in place, we need to start thinking more broadly about other high-priority areas which don’t fall under the Ministry of Environment & Tourism, which would also quality as no-go areas for prospecting and mining. Please see Section 6.1 (starting on page 22) which outlines the characteristics of areas that may qualify for exclusion from prospecting and mining. Areas which immediately come to mind are the offshore islands in the Marine Protected Area which support globally important breeding populations of seabirds, some sinkholes in the Karst system that have endemic fish species, the string of islands in the Okavango River near Andara that support the only true “forest” in Namibia and chief’s burial grounds, Nyae-Nyae pans in Bushmanland, etc.

The countdown to the Land Rehabilitation Society of Southern Africa (LaRSSA) 6^th annual conference has begun! Here is some more information further to our earlier communication.

The conference (13-16 August 2018), will be filled with exciting and innovative activities. The pre-conference workshop is aiming to provide substantial exposure to conservation agriculture which will include a site visit to a farm in the area.  The workshop will be facilitated by Wayne Truter, Erna Kruger and Leana Nel. Our annual networking meet & greet will be hosted at the Drakensberg Brewery and will include sipping on a variety of craft beer samples.  The two days of conference will feature international, local and celebrity keynote and plenary speakers such as, Hugh Pringle, Nick Booth, Dave Pepler, Tanya Smith, Georgina Avlonitis and Nicolette Forbes.   We are excited to launch the "Jones & Wagener - LaRSSA Rehabilitation Library" - the first of its kind in Southern Africa! LaRSSA will be introducing another inspiring initiative - the "Luhlaza Award" for extraordinary contributions within the field of land rehabilitation. This year we will be honouring Dr Faan van Wyk with the Lifetime Achievement Award. The ultimate finale will be the two post-conference tours - "Working for Water" and "Rehabilitating Dongas" in the Okhombe and Mnweni Valley areas respectively.  The conference will also be SAICE and SACNASP CPD accredited.

Please find attached our conference programme, cost summary and more information on our keynote and plenary speakers.

To register, please visit www.larssa.co.za or contact Theresa at admin@larssa.co.za or 0814846833.

Sincerely hoping to see you there!

Piet Smit

As you may be aware, the Ministry of Environment and Tourism is currently reviewing the Environmental Management Act (Act No. 7 of 2007), the draft revised Environmental Impact Assessment Regulations and draft new Strategic Environmental Assessment regulations.

Further input is requested, by the 15th of March, particularly into the "List of activities", namely projects that may not proceed without and Environmental Clearance Certificate. Please see the letter below for full details.

• Environmental Management Act review letter » download letter
• List of Category A Project Activities that Cannot be Undertaken Without Environmental Clearance Certificate » download file

Presentations from the mini-conference are available to download as a compiled pdf of presentations. The pdf includes:

• A method for implementing the mitigation hierarchy, Nigel Rossouw: Shell South Africa Integrated Gas Ventures
• Present and Future Water Resources Limitations in Central Namibia, AC Mostert: NamWater
• In support of resilience …  lessons from resettlement in Malawi, Liza van der Merwe: Resettlement Specialist
• The Effectiveness of Namibia’s EIA System, Mr Sheldon Husselmann: Urban Green cc
• Practical implementation and operation of renewable projects, Mr Stephan Bezuidenhout: Environmental Compliance Consultancy

Other outputs are available in this compiled PDF of AGM Minutes and other mini-conference information. It includes:

• Minutes of the 4th AGM, held on 11th November as part of the mini-conference
• Agenda
• Attendance list
• President’s Annual Report
• Treasurer Report

The Environmental Assessment Professionals Association of Namibia (EAPAN) will be hosting its 2016 annual mini-conference. The theme for this year's mini-conference is "Resource Limitations and Best Practice Environmental Assessment".

EAPAN members, NGOs, Government officials, SOEs and members of the public are hereby invited to attened the mini-conference on Friday 11th November 2016, from 11h30 - 17h00.

Venue for mini-conference: Namibia University of Science and Technology Hotel School, c/o Beethoven and Brahms Street. The talks and presenters are as follows:

• Nigel Rossouw (keynote speaker), Environmental Planner, Shell South Africa: A method for Implementing the Mitigation Hierarchy.
• André Mostert (Pr.Sci.Nat), NamWater: Present and Future Water Resource Limitations in Central Namibia.
• Sheldon Husselmann, EA Practitioner, Urban Green: Effectiveness of Namibia's EIA System.
• Liza van der Merwe, Social Scientist: In support of resilience: lessons from resettlement in Malawi.
• Stephan Bezuidenhout, Environmental Compliance Consultancy, Environmental Practitioner and Consultant: Practical implementation and operations of solar projects.

Entrance fee per member: N$200; non-members: N$300 (includes lunch). Please RSVP by 3 November 2016 to lima@iway.na.

Under the Resources section you will find draft documents for review: draft amended EMA, draft SEA regulations, draft EIA regulations etc. Please submit your comments (using the EAPAN EMA and Regulations Amendment Tables document) to info@eapan.org before the close of business on Wednesday, 27 July 2016.

The outputs from the workshop "Best practice guidelines for avian monitoring and impact mitigation at proposed wind energy development sites in Namibia" held on the 15th of July are now available from the Resources page of the EAPAN website.