Namibia is an arid country with climate variability. I the last five years, the country has become more vulnerable to extreme weather events such as prolonged droughts and heavy rainfall. Despite its small population, approximately 70% of Namibians rely on natural resources for a living. Climate and non-climatic factors threaten the productivity of these resources, exacerbating rural communities’ vulnerability.
Between 2023 and 2024, Commonwealth Alumnus Maria Shimhanda was part of the Consulting Team providing technical expertise to Namibia’s pioneering SAP006 Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA) project, implemented by the Environmental Investment Fund (EIF), Namibia’s sole Green Climate Fund (GCF) accredited entity. The pioneering initiative, ‘Building the Resilience of Communities in Climate-Threatened Landscapes through an Ecosystem-based Adaptation Approach’, is Namibia’s first GCF funded EbA project aimed at strengthening climate resilience in vulnerable rural communities.
Implementing change for resilience
Maria served as a Natural Resources Management Specialist, leading on the project’s Component 2: ‘Increasing Resilience of Productive Landscapes’. This focused on safeguarding ecosystem goods and services that underpin community livelihoods.
Maria’s technical expertise resulted in the development of effective monitoring frameworks, evidence-based management approaches for landscape-scale adaptation projects, and climate data analysis for decision-making.
Her work on Component 2 influenced the need for policy assessment reports, recommending the scaling up and mainstreaming of Ecologically Based Approaches (EbA) into national development planning. Maria’s expertise in community-based resource management also contributed to Namibia’s first comprehensive EbA programme, which has improved ecosystem health and livelihood security. The initiative showcased how strategic EbA implementation can transform climate-vulnerable landscapes.
Educating for everyday and long-term change
Namibia’s prolonged drought conditions, particularly in the southern regions, have created urgent water scarcity challenges affecting communities, wildlife and ecosystems.
In response, Maria, alongside the EIF team developed a suite of targeted EbA measures designed to deliver both immediate relief and long-term resilience. This included rehabilitating boreholes and increasing water points to improve climate-resilient water access whilst reducing environmental degradation. Increasing the number of boreholes reduces land degradation by enabling communities greater access to freshwater across a single landscape.
The team implemented strategic wildlife water points to minimise human-animal conflict whilst maintaining ecological balance, alongside introducing climate-smart agricultural techniques to enhance food security.
Recognising the need for sustainable livelihood alternatives, Maria promoted livelihood diversification initiatives such as beekeeping and sustainable backyard gardening initiatives while transitioning water pumping systems from diesel generators to solar power.
Each intervention was carefully adapted to local conditions, and Maria stressed the importance of context-specific solutions that address how different landscapes experience water stress.
“The way you are helping communities in the southern area, where there’s water scarcity and water is found underground, is not the same as when you are in the Mudumu landscape, where there is a river, and where there is more vegetation.”
To ensure the EbA is correctly applied to deliver successful and sustainable adaptations in future, Maria has also reviewed the EbA training manual for facilitators and community members.
She shares that a key difference in the communication on the importance of EbA between these two groups is the focus on livelihoods. The EbA seeks to build climate resilience that benefits both communities and ecosystems, however communities vulnerable to climate change are often more concerned about the immediate threat to their livelihoods than the natural environment. To develop the community version of the manual, the team had to be conscious of presenting both advantages of the approach in a way that would gain the buy-in of communities.
Following the development of the EbA, the next component of the EIF’s work is to develop policy assessment reports, which will recommend the scaling up and mainstreaming of EbA into national development planning.
Working to protect biodiversity
Maria completed her Master’s in Environmental Management at Coventry University in 2019. Research conducted during her Master’s on climate change media representations in Namibia and South Africa was published in the Namibia Journal of Environment and has been cited by fellow researchers.
On her return home, she joined the University of Namibia’s Department of Wildlife Management and Tourism Studies (DWMTS) as a research intern to provide environmental and sustainable management expertise to its programmes.
The department is situated in Namibia’s Zambezi region and supports the conservation and protection of biodiversity in the Kavango-Zambezi Trans-Frontier Conservation Area (KaZa TFC) through research and environmental programmes.
The KaZa TFC is the second-largest nature and landscape conservation area in the world, situated between Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. It is home to a wide range of plants and wildlife, including one of the largest populations of African elephants.
Climate change poses a significant threat to preserving biodiversity in the KaZa TFC. Impacts already observed include the drying of rivers, unpredictable and extreme weather events and changing behaviours amongst wildlife.
In 2020, Maria was appointed project administrator support for a project between KfW Development Bank and DWMTS.
Maria administered the project on the ground and acted as a link between the project stakeholders. Under the project, Maria played a critical role in transforming BSc and MSc curricula for the department. She took the initiative to review and implement new administrative processes and systems to improve the day-to-day operations of the DWMTS and supported the department with their digital transition in the face of COVID-19 restrictions.
Maria also helped shape the department’s research agenda and was involved in research and projects. One notable project is the development of a comprehensive Biodiversity Monitoring Framework (BMF) for the Mudumu National Park (MNP) in the KaZa TFC, commissioned by the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism (MEFT).
Successfully communicating how to gather data
As part of establishing the BMF, the project included the installation of field equipment to gather data on wildlife and vegetation in the MNP and monitor any changes which may be attributable to climate change.
Maria was tasked with developing training tools to enable MEFT officials to use the field equipment to gather data to complete wildlife and vegetation assessments. Developing the training was an interesting opportunity for her. MEFT officials recruited to monitor wildlife in the area are typically Grade 12 high school graduates and do not have prior training or knowledge on conducting these types of assessments or in wildlife conservation.
“It is quite challenging, but at the same time, it was interesting because you have to denote scientific information into simple words that can be understood by someone who has only education up to Grade 12, from not even college, but from school.”
Alongside communicating information using non-scientific language and explanations, Maria developed in-person demonstrations and fieldwork to help officials in interacting with the equipment and identifying vegetation.
The journey from a Master’s to a PhD
Recognising her potential, the DWMTS selected Maria for their capacity-building initiative and are currently sponsoring her PhD in Natural Resource Management. This academic progression is enabling her to further develop expertise in addressing the complex conservation challenges facing Namibia’s protected areas and surrounding communities.
Maria is in the final year of her PhD at the Okavango Research Institute (ORI), University of Botswana. Her research assesses the sustainability of community-based wildlife tourism (WT) in Namibia’s Mudumu North Complex (MNC), a critical wildlife corridor within the Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA TFCA).
Collaborating directly with local stakeholders, she is developing a participatory framework to evaluate WT sustainability to identify key indicators that empower communities to achieve long-term environmental, economic and social benefits from tourism. Her study will advance the global discourse on sustainable WT by offering actionable recommendations for inclusive governance, community empowerment, and diversified tourism initiatives.
Her PhD studies have enabled her to advance her Master’s studies and professional experiences to support the tourism sector in Namibia.
“That link between my Master’s and my current work, it was really great, and it’s something that I always wanted to do.”
Taking learnt skills into the real world
Maria’s Master’s studies have positioned her as an expert in environmental management and environmental sustainability in Namibia. She credits her course with supporting her to develop critical skills in conducting environmental and social impact assessments, integrating Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) standards into projects, and communicating information to a range of stakeholders.
She also benefitted from fieldwork opportunities during her studies, enabling her to learn and apply her studies in real-world settings, as well as receive training in using GPS technology to conduct Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs).
“We had more of hands-on studies, where we go more often in the field. Every module, we have gone out there to experience a real-life scenario. When we were doing the Environmental Impact Assessment module, we completed EIAs for companies that exist in the UK, like it’s in real life.”
Alongside her PhD studies, Maria has established her own environmental consulting company in Namibia. As the founder and lead consultant of Aligned Sustainability and Environmental Consultants (ASEC) she is in the early stages of growing her consultancy and welcoming clients. Maria credits her master’s degree as a key motivation in this pursuit, enabling her to contribute directly to sustainable development in Namibia.
“When I went to the UK, I was more into ‘I just need to study and work for someone’. But after doing my Master’s, I started getting the desire to do consultancy work and project management in environmental sustainability. I started having the ideas of having my own company that I didn’t have before.”
Maria Shimhanda is a 2018 Commonwealth Scholar from Namibia. She completed an MSc in Environmental Management at Coventry University.
