Namibia is situated in the southwestern region of the African continent and lies between latitude 17° and 29°S and longitude 11° and 26°E. The country covers a land area of 825,418 km2 and has a 1500 km long coastline on the South Atlantic Ocean. It shares borders with Angola to the North, South Africa to the South, Zambia to the far North, and Botswana to the East. Namibia is one of the biggest and driest countries in sub-Saharan Africa. It is characterized by high climatic variability in the form of persistent droughts, unpredictable and variable rainfall patterns, variability in temperatures and scarcity of water. The mining and quarrying industry is the highest contributor to GDP accounting for 12.4% in 2007. Agriculture and forestry is presently the second highest with 5.9%, surpassing fishing and fish processing on board (3.6%). Despite its modest contribution to GDP, agriculture impacts directly on the livelihood of 70% of the population including 48% of Namibia’s rural households that depend on subsistence agriculture (NDP4). Namibia is a net sink of GHGs but this is expected to change by the mid 2020s when Namibia will potentially be a net emitter on the BAU scenario (Namibia’s Third National Communication to the UNFCC).

Namibia stands a high risks to suffer from the impacts of climate change. This has prompted government to take necessary actions to mitigate and adapt to climate change. Hence, the National Policy on Climate Change for Namibia was produced in 2011 to better translate government’s will and commitment to tackle climate change. Furthermore, a National Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan for the period 2013-2020 has also been developed and paves the way to the strategic options to be adopted for coping with climate change challenges while contributing to the international agenda to meet decisions of the Conference of the Parties (COP). Namibia ratified the Paris Agreement on September 21, 2016 and its Nationally Determined Contribution can be found here.