The Council of Churches in Namibia (CCN) has engaged Keetmanshoop-based community leaders for input on natural resource beneficiation and how communities can derive benefits.

The consultative meeting was held under the theme 'Increasing benefits from Namibia's natural resources to address the social economic challenges – including poverty, unemployment, and inequality'. 

Focus areas of discussion were mining, extractive industries, including oil and gas and green hydrogen, and equal distribution of profits from natural resources.

CCN's Policy Advisor for the Social Economic Justice Unit, Uhuru Dempers, said, "There is a lot of talk about oil, gas, and green hydrogen. And we are asking ourselves, how do we ensure that this time around, we don't end up with these resources being extracted on a massive scale, generating billions of dollars, but the citizens of the country remain poor? What lessons do we draw from the diamond industry, zinc and copper, and other resources that we have? How can we change the models that we are using? How can we change our agreements with foreign companies to benefit more from our natural resources?"