Stakeholders Invited to Engage on Southern Corridor Environmental and Social Assessment

Public consultation provides an important opportunity to help shape how Namibia manages the impacts of green energy and industrial development

The Namibia Green Hydrogen Programme (NGH2P) and ERM are inviting civil society organisations and other interested stakeholders to participate in a Stakeholder Advisory Group meeting on the draft Strategic Environmental and Social Assessment (SESA) for Green Energy Production and Industrialisation in the Southern Corridor Development Initiative (SCDI).

The SESA is important because it looks beyond the environmental and social impacts of individual projects. It considers development across the Southern Corridor more strategically, including how multiple green energy, infrastructure and industrial developments could collectively affect communities, livelihoods, ecosystems and natural resources over time.

The assessment therefore provides an important opportunity to consider these impacts before development advances further and to establish the safeguards, mitigation measures and monitoring arrangements that should guide future projects.

For civil society, key questions include how affected communities will participate in decisions; how land, water resources, biodiversity, cultural heritage and livelihoods will be protected; how local communities will benefit from development; and whether there will be sufficiently strong mechanisms for transparency, accountability, grievance resolution and independent monitoring.

The Stakeholder Advisory Group meeting will provide an opportunity to discuss the findings of the draft SESA directly with the assessment team.

Date: Thursday, 3 September 2026
Time: 10h00–15h30, including a lunch break
Venue: Online
Registration: SESAContact@erm.com

The consultation comes at an important point in the process: the draft SESA and accompanying Mitigation, Management and Monitoring Plan (MMMP) are open for public comment until Friday, 4 September 2026.

CIVIC+264 encourages civil society organisations, community representatives and other interested stakeholders to engage with the assessment, participate in the meeting and use the public-comment process to help ensure that Namibia's green energy transition is environmentally responsible, socially inclusive, transparent and accountable.