Want to know more? Get in touch

If you want to understand how the standard works, who belongs to it, what we monitor, what the High Conservation Value assessment found, or how to raise a concern or grievance, please contact us using the details further down this page. Neighbours, community members, Traditional Authorities, workers, NGOs, customers and members of the public are all welcome to ask.

About the standard

The NamPower Forestry Group Standard is a group certification that several farm owners belong to at once. It covers selective thinning of Namibian encroacher bush on the participating Farm Management Units, together with the production and transport of the harvested woody biomass to its first point of sale. Each member’s harvesting plan carries the list of protected, rare, threatened, endangered, endemic and iconic plant species set out in the Namibian Forest Act, 2001, and no Highly Hazardous Pesticides that are prohibited under the standard may be used.

Stakeholder access to information

Stakeholders are free to ask about the standard, request further detail, and lodge a grievance or a concern. On request, and subject to commercial confidentiality and the protection of personal data, ECC will share the following:

• the Public Summary of the standard and its later revisions;
• the current list of members and their Farm Management Units;
• summaries and Farm Management Unit findings from the High Conservation Value (HCV) Assessment Report for Namibia (ECC-0-0-REP-03-A Rev 3);
• the Integrated Pest and Vegetation Management approach and the Environmental and Social Risk Assessment summaries;
• the pre-admission procedures and the group membership terms, with personal detail removed;
• monitoring reports against the standard’s monitoring indicators;
• the Dispute and Grievance Procedure and the grievance register, with personal detail removed;
• internal evaluation reports and external surveillance audit summaries.

Information about the Otjikoto Biomass Power Project itself is published by the proponent at https://www.nampower.com.na/Projects/.

Dispute and Grievance Procedure

The main way to raise a grievance about the project, including anything arising under this standard, is the project Stakeholder Grievance Mechanism that the proponent publishes on its project page. ECC runs a layer on top of that mechanism for the group standard. The two work off a shared seven step process and a single register, so nothing gets lost between them. The procedure was not written in isolation. It grew out of the public participation process for the project Environmental and Social Impact Assessment, which reached interested and affected parties, neighbouring landowners, farming communities and the relevant Traditional Authorities and settled the channels people actually use. It is kept current through the consultation workshops, Steering Committee meetings and community outreach that continue
under the Environmental Management Plan. You may lodge a grievance in any Namibian language, at no cost, and anonymously if you prefer. You never have to give your name, your contact details or your organisation. Anonymous submissions come in on every channel and are looked into on exactly the same basis as named ones. The full Dispute and Grievance Procedure is available on request.

How to reach us:

• Email ECC: info@eccenvironmental.com.
• Phone ECC: +264 81 669 7608.
• Write to ECC, PO Box 91193, Klein Windhoek, Namibia.
• Fill in the Register an Interest form on this page. The name and contact fields can be left blank.
• Use the project Stakeholder Grievance Mechanism on the proponent’s project page at https://www.nampower.com.na/Projects/.
• Speak to the relevant Traditional Authority, or give us your grievance out loud and we will write it down for you. You can also use the relevant NBC language radio service.

Cultural sensitivity and inclusive engagement

We want every stakeholder to be able to reach us and be heard, whatever their language, reading ability, gender, age, background, disability, or distance from a town. We can provide information and hold discussions in any of Namibia’s main languages, among them Oshiwambo, Otjiherero, Khoekhoegowab, Rukwangali, Rumanyo, Thimbukushu, Silozi, Setswana, Ju|’hoansi and other San languages, and Afrikaans, and we bring in qualified interpreters at our own cost. The way we engage today comes directly out of the public participation process for the project Environmental and Social Impact Assessment, and it is kept alive through the consultation workshops and Steering Committee meetings held under the Environmental Management Plan. Where work touches communal land, customary tenure, or places that matter culturally, ECC deals with the relevant Traditional Authority recognised under the Traditional Authorities Act, 2000, and follows the customary protocols for entry and consultation. Where the rights of Indigenous Peoples or historically marginalised communities are involved, we follow a free, prior and informed consent process before work goes ahead.

Register an Interest

Use the Register an Interest form to sign up as an Interested and Affected Party, to ask for more information, or to raise a grievance or concern. If you would rather stay anonymous, leave the name and contact fields blank. You can also just email ECC at info@eccenvironmental.com.

Submit anonymously

Grievances can be lodged in any Namibian language, at no cost, and anonymously if you prefer. Use the Register an Interest form and leave the name and contact fields blank.