Despite being Africa’s second-largest marine reserve, NIMPA is threatened by overfishing, mining, pollution, untested phosphate extraction, and even live marine mammal harvesting. Since its gazettement in 2009, insufficient government resourcing and an inadequate management framework have meant that it has failed to protect many of its key values.
With partners NNF we are supporting the Namibian government to achieve effective management of the NIMPA, and improve the livelihood opportunities of coastal communities. The government has committed to designating 10 per cent of the country’s Exclusive Economic Zone as MPAs.
To support this, we hope to use the lessons learned and models generated from NIMPA to help create two new MPAs by designating Ecologically and Biologically Significant Areas. Candidates for this include Cape Fria, a strong upwelling cell within a bio-geographic transition zone, and the Namibe, a region shared with neighbouring Angola.
The NIMPA is an area of outstanding marine biodiversity, supporting globally significant populations of seabirds and marine mammals, and important marine industries. It boasts a wide variety of habitats, including lagoons, wetlands, salt pans, rocky shores, reefs, sandy beaches, kelp beds and several small islands. The islands are spawning grounds for the entire Namibian breeding population of Cape gannets, and almost all the country’s endangered African penguins.
Photos by: Jessica Kemper and Benoit Guazere
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A two-week summit bringing together Indigenous community members from every continent.
5-18 September 2025
Windhoek, Namibia
Every person on earth is connected to the ocean, from the food we eat to the air we breathe. No matter where you live, be it by the coast or many miles inland, the ocean features in your life every single day.
14 December 2024
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