Journal of Climate Change and Pollution

ABSTRACT

Namibia has suffered drought for a long time and as such, drought shapes our country and impacts us daily. We all know that water is scarce but how many of us truly act on that information? In this article, we will discuss drought and how it has affected our country. What are we doing about it and what still needs to change? Topics that will be addressed are our dependency on groundwater and seasonal rain, inefficient water use, lack of policy enforcement, lack of access to water efficient fixtures to name a few. We all know that drought is here to stay and will become the new normal. So why aren’t we doing more to adapt? Although drought is the new normal in Namibia, we tend to wait until the season of rainy shoes to think about drought and plan for it. By then it is too late. We can’t wait until the clouds stop gracing us with their presence to start thinking about drought. In order to build resilience, we need to start thinking about and implementing solutions today. Some of these solutions include water conservation change, rainwater harvesting and wastewater recycling among others. Mindsets will have to change if we want to make any real change towards becoming more droughts resilient. Technology won’t save us if we don’t hold our institutions accountable for their actions and for implementing policies that will ensure we don’t run out of water. We need to act NOW and change our mindset from reacting to proactively planning for drought if we want to become a drought resilient country that others can learn from.

Keywords: Drought Resilience; Water Conservation; Climate Smart Practices; Water Scarcity; Water Sustainable Management; Rural Communities; Climate Adaption; Namibia