events Fairtrade Latest News
Standard Bank Biomass Fair 2024 – Innovating For A Greener Future
Otjiwarongo, Namibia, 09 August 2024 – The Governor of Otjozondjupa Region, James Uerikua, and the Mayor of Otjiwarongo, Gottlieb Shivute, welcomed the participants of the 2024 Standard Bank Biomass Fair to Otjiwarongo on Thursday, 8 August. They called the city the ‘centre of a heavily bush encroached region’ and stressed [...]
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Social Impact
Towards Sustainable Charcoal Production through Certification
How a Generational Farmer is Advancing His Family Farm using Quality Environmental and Social Practices ~ Mbati Tjiho is a generational farmer who traded in his twenty-five-year office job to explore his passion for farming in 2017. Farm Winnie, which was a predominant livestock production farm, is found close to [...]
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Women Empowerment
Equal Employment Opportunities for Women
How the Charcoal Industry is creating Equality in Namibia ~ While legal equality hasn’t fully translated into economic independence and self-sufficiency for women globally, there are many sectors that are seeing huge growth in women’s empowerment. In sub-Saharan Africa, the charcoal sector has seen a boom in recent years and [...]
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Social Impact
The Business Opportunity in Bush Biomass
SME Success Proves the Business Opportunity in Responsible Bush Control ~ Philipus Alugodhi, based in Otavi, is proving his entrepreneurial prowess through his charcoal business, which he has grown in a short space of time to be a choice employer for charcoal workers. Philipus has worked as a police officer, [...]
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Ecosystem Restoration
The Return of Functioning Ecosystems Through Rewilding
A mine’s vision on the rehabilitation of degraded ecosystems in central Namibia ~ “For us, bush thinning is very important to get this area back to a functional ecosystem. The main reason we want to make it functional, is to ensure that wildlife have sufficient space and grazing. We inherited [...]
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Social Impact
Creating Opportunities for New Farmers
How a Mother and Son Duo is Using Biomass Through a Group Scheme to Continue their Family Farming Dream ~ Remodeling of tenure rights and redistribution of land, using a willing buyer and willing seller method and for the benefit of the landless and the previously disadvantaged, is what the [...]
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Ecosystem Restoration
Building Biodiversity Through Soil Rejuvenation
How Richer Microbial Activity and Soil Diversity Returns after Bush Thinning ~ “Data has shown that if you restore your habitat you will increase grazing capacity, that will also translate to more economic benefits because you are able to increase your wildlife or cattle carrying capacity. But there are also [...]
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Ecosystem Restoration
Tourism, Conservation and Sustainable Bush Thinning Strategies
How Wisdom is Creating Benefits for Tourism and Conservation Strategies ~ Founded in 1991, the AfriCat Foundation is based on the Okonjima Nature Reserve in Otjozondjupa region. The foundation conducts ecological research focusing on rare and endangered species. Over the years, this nature reserve has been practicing bush thinning for [...]
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Fairtrade
Improving Workers Lives with Fairtrade
How Fairtrade is Improving the Lives of Workers in the Midst of a Pandemic ~ Fairtrade, the logo we see on our favourite coffee and chocolate, claims to be about tackling the injustices of conventional trade, which traditionally discriminates against the most vulnerable. Here in Namibia, a group of charcoal [...]
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Rangeland Management
Holistic Rangeland Management for Better Grazing
Holistic rangeland management in combination with bush thinning can lead to productivity for cattle farming. When Hendrik began addressing bush encroachment in 1996, his farm could only stock 670 head of cattle, whereas now that same farm can carry 1400 head of cattle, and as Hendrik explains, “more cattle means [...]
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Drought Resilience
Surviving Drought on Encroacher Bush Species
If I did not learn about using bush to produce feed, I could have lost everything – even the bull itself Salomo Kauari, like his father before him, is a full-time farmer. He is a communal farmer and a member of the African Wild Dog Communal Conservancy. Salomo attended as [...]
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Innovation
Gains for Generations with Biochar
People see yields going down or longer dry spells and they think it is just the norm, but this is where biochar comes into play. Prime Biochar is made using encroacher species of bush biomass, but with parts too small to be used in charcoal production. Biochar is combined with [...]
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