21 Jun 2012, NBC
President Hifikepunye Pohamba addressed world leaders gathered in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil for the United Nations meeting on sustainable development.
The President pledged Namibia's support and commitment to carry out sustainable development programmes and to ensure a bright future for present and future generations.
The President also used the opportunity to call on world leaders to support Namibia's bid to host the Green Climate Fund Secretariat.
UN Photo/Guilherme Costa The fund will ensure that resources are made available to developing countries to mitigate climate change effects, threatening the livelihood of many communities.
Rio De Janeiro is a hive of activities this week as heads of states are here in Rio to reach agreement on how to make the global economy more sustainable for people and the environment.
Formally called the UN Conference on Sustainable Development, it is the largest UN summit ever organised, and comes 20 years after the original Rio Earth summit in 1992 and 40 years after a similar meeting in Stockholm, Sweden.
President Pohamba called on fellow leaders to use the opportunity to review and evaluate progress made in the past 20 years, while showing political commitment for sustainable development.
The President also shared Namibia's experience saying laws and programs were introduced to support sustainable development of the country's natural resources.
Der namibische Petroleumkommissar des Energieministeriums, Immanuel Mulunga, die Direktorin von Rich Africa Consultancy, Selma Shimutwikeni, sowie der Geschäftsleiter von Chariot Oil & Gas, Robert Mwanachilenga (v.l.n.r.), bei der gestrigen Vorstellung der Internationalen Öl- und Gas-Konferenz und -Ausstellung. Die Veranstaltung soll am 6. und 7. September stattfinden, dazu werden 400 Teilnehmer erwartet
It’s Official! Namibia has 2.1 million people
New Era,12 Apr 2012 - Story by Alvine Kapitako
WINDHOEK – Namibia’s population stands at 2.1 million people, an increase of 15 percent from the 1.8 million recorded during the 2001 Population and Housing Census.
On average, a 1.5 percent population growth has occurred annually. Of the 2.1 million people, 51 percent are female and 49 percent male, the latest census preliminary results indicate.
In total, 465, 400 households were counted, representing an increase of 32 percent from the 346,455 households registered in the 2001 census. This reflects a reduction in average household size to 4.4 in 2011 compared to 5.1 in 2001.
Average households vary significantly across regions and constituencies. It is highest in the Kavango Region and lowest in the Erongo Region. Generally, large households are to be found in the northern regions, while small ones are found in regions with larger urban populations such as the Erongo and Khomas regions.
The southern regions have moderately-sized households. In terms of rural and urban distribution, a total of 1, 219,400 (58 percent) were enumerated in rural areas, while 885,500 (42 percent) were enumerated in urban areas in 2011.
Compared to the proportional distributions of 67 percent and 33 percent respectively enumerated in the 2001 census, this shows that the rate of urbanization in Namibia is increasing.
The preliminary census results were announced by the Director-General of the National Planning Commission, Tom Alweendo.
“It’s a good growth if you relate that growth to the economic growth. We should still be able to manage our population.”
He explained that a population that grows faster than the economy is not desirable. Alweendo also admitted that the process “turned out to be a much harder exercise” because it was not easy to reach everybody.
Meanwhile, the NPC’s Permanent Secretary, Andries Leevi Hungamo said 800 unemployed Namibian youth were recruited for the census exercise. Experienced compatriots assisted them, he added.
“We have paid almost everyone,” he remarked when asked whether the enumerators were paid their outstanding money, adding that a few individuals have not yet received their money, because some account numbers provided are dormant.
Thus, transfers could not be made, he explained. “We’re doing our best to trace everybody who was not paid,” he said. Alweendo thanked the public for its cooperation. “We had to rely on the information they gave us,” he said.
The 2011 census was conducted under the legal framework of Statistical Act 66 of 1976 that empowers the Central Bureau of Statistics to undertake population and housing censuses.
The census was conducted from August 28 to September 15, last year. The total cost incurred for the entire census exercise was not made public and the outstanding results will be announced in due course, though no exact date was given.