Namibia

Food System Characteristics

The Ovatue and Ovatjimba are largely nomadic and pastoralists and rely on livestock and crop farming. The government has a drought relief programme in place to cater for communities that are not able to meet their food needs and there is also a special social protection programme for the San. The San largely rely on rainfed crop farming as well as use of non timber forest products.

Main climatic & environmental stresses

Drought has been increasing in frequency with occasional floods in the northern regions. The creation of national parks on Indigenous homelands has moved especially the San communities from the landscapes where they used to derive their livelihood into largely marginal lands.

Main social stresses

The San have been relocated into marginal lands where they rely on crop farming and since the forced removal from procalimed national parks, this caused the community to split in different directions and thus their social capital and safety nets were broken and increased their vulnerability and marginalisation. The major stressors are climate change, high unemployment, low literacy levels and food insecurity.

Key Collaborators

• The Society for Family Health Namibia(http://sfh.org.na).
• Ministry of Gender Equality, Poverty Eradication and Social Welfare.