In late December 2006, Dr Mary Seely, presented a paper entitled: ‘Implementing and mainstreams of evolving best practices: national case study from Namibia’, at the last IYDD conference of the year held in Algiers. Co-authorsfrom Namibia were Patrik Klintenberg, DRFN, and Sem Shikongo, MET. The conference was entitled – Desertification and the International Policy Imperative – and enjoyed participation from a number of countries.

The paper presented points out that the policy landscape in Namibia represents a relatively progressive framework for combating desertification. On the other hand, understanding of the interrelationships among desertification, poverty alleviation, land reform and sustainable development is limited. Although elements of the policy landscape are not being activated, a number of supportive initiatives are being undertaken within the interpretation of this landscape although not directly within its ambit. Based on broad participation and extensive communication, approaches initiated through Namibia’s Programme to Combat Desertification are now integrated into various government services, adopted by communities and continue to evolve through ongoing testing and application.

Questions and comments on the paper included the fact that many people appreciated Namibia’s overall banner of ‘Proud of our Deserts while Combating Desertification’. Several people commented on the statement that Namibia adopted a ‘rolling planning’ approach for combating desertification rather than writing a National Action Plan to decorate office shelves. The community-based approaches were less easy for people to comprehend and several people commented that these would ‘not be readily applicable’ in their own country.

The conference was concluded with the signing of a document appointing the Algerian Minister of Environment to recommend to the UN that 2010-2020 be declared the International Decade of Deserts and Desertification. We await developments with interest.

Picture taken by Dr Zafar Adeel, organizer of the United Nations University conference