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Namibia's National Biodiversity
Programme was set up in September
1994 to coordinate, support, guide
and stimulate national activities
relating to biodiversity
conservation and the sustainable use
of biological resources. It is
coordinated from within the
Directorate of Environmental Affairs
(DEA) of the Ministry of Environment
and Tourism, but works closely with
a number of institutional and
individual partners. Its
coordination office is comparable to
the National Biodiversity Unit (NBU)
of other countries.
Namibia
signed the
Convention
on Biological Diversity (CBD)
in Rio at UNCED in June
1992, and ratified it in
March 1997. By the time of
ratification, the National
Biodiversity Programme was
in a strong position to
support Namibia's national
and international
obligations under the CBD.
Because of its solid traditions and
history of scientific enquiry,
Namibia is in a relatively strong
position in terms of biodiversity
information management. However,
much of that information was poorly
accessible: little was computerized,
and even less analyzed for
policy-makers. It has thus been a
priority of the National
Biodiversity Programme to
strengthen, computerize and make the
country's data available for
environmental planning and
management purposes.
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