On 21 July 2017 six members of the Namibian Chamber of Environment (NCE) visited the Bannerman Mining Resources Site about 40 km east of Swakopmund, near Goanikontes in the Namib Desert. Bannerman Resources undertakes a twice-yearly external environmental audit of its operations. This is done by Alex Speiser (A. Speiser Environmental Consultants). The NCE and its members were invited to participate, engage with Alex and the Bannerman team of Werner Ewald and Tinus Prinsloo, review what is being done and make suggestions.

NCE recently met two young, enthusiastic Chinese nationals who visited Namibia. Hongxiang Huang (Hong) and Edwina Zhang work for “China House” in Nairobi, Kenya. Hong is the Founder & CEO of China House - “committed to the development of a socially and environmentally responsible model of Chinese investment in Africa”. Their mission is “to help Chinese companies and individuals better integrate into Africa”.

On Saturday, 22 April 2017, between 09:00 and 12:00, the public completed a multiple-choice survey on plastics, and potential regulations to be imposed on the use of plastics. A total of 82 people completed the survey. The Plastic Free Campaign Petition was also signed by 147 people.

Read more and listen to an interview about how plastic waste affects Namibia.

On Earth Day, NCE promoted the Plastic Free campaign at SuperSpar Maerua. Many people took advantage of the offer to bring 20 used plastic bags to Superspar Maerua and get a free canvas bag in exchange. In total, several hundred canvas bags were distributed.

Read more and listen to an interview about how plastic waste affects Namibia.

Newly-formed Namibian Chamber for Environment brings different sectors together

At the very first symposium organized by the Namibian Chamber for Environment on animal movements and satellite tracking in Namibia, researchers from the Ministry of Environment and Tourism and of various NGOs were not only presenting their projects and research results, but also found that the value of their work was enriched when they shared their information.