Agriculture plays a crucial role in the Namibian economy. Around 70% of the population relies on farming and cattle herding as a primary source of income, particularly in rural areas. However, the country’s arid climate and geographic conditions do not favour farming. Namibia is indeed one of the driest countries in sub-Saharan Africa and among the most vulnerable to climate change. Erratic rainfall, prolonged droughts, and land degradation are putting pressure on both farmers and local ecosystems.  

At the same time, Namibia faces rising energy demand while continuing to rely heavily on imported, coal-based electricity. Close to half of the population does not have access to electricity. As the country seeks to strengthen its energy security and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, renewable energy has become a national priority. Yet unlike many countries focused solely on solar and wind, Namibia possesses another largely untapped resource growing across its savannahs: encroaching woody biomass.

To many visitors, Namibia’s vast expanses of thorny bush may appear natural. In reality, they are a sign of an ecosystem out of balance. Over 45 million hectares of land in Namibia are covered by these bushes, an area larger than the size of Germany. Bush encroachment occurs when woody plants spread across grasslands, crowding out grasses that livestock and wildlife depend on.  

For Koos, the science translated into everyday decisions. As thorn bush spread across Farm Buffelhoek, cattle could no longer move freely between grazing areas. Grass disappeared beneath dense shrubs, forcing him to keep fewer animals on land that had once sustained much larger herds.

The impacts of bush encroachment also extend beyond agriculture. As bush replaces grass, habitats for many species are degraded, threatening biodiversity and the nature-based tourism on which Namibia’s economy also depends.

For decades, reducing bush in density was largely viewed as a necessary cost of farming. However, since the early 2000s, harvested bush has increasingly been used to produce charcoal for export. More recently, the sector has expanded into producing wood chips, industrial heat, animal feed, and innovative building materials. “When the sector started, people harvested bush manually using axes and pangas,” explains Daniel Shagama, Operations Manager at the National Biomass Industry Group (N-BiG). “Now we’ve got different value chains. The industry is growing very fast.” 

The Namibia – Biomass project, supported by the Mitigation Action Facility, is developing sustainable biomass value chains through the construction and operation of the 40 MW Otjikoto Biomass Power Station (OBPS), creating a locally sourced renewable energy option that strengthens energy security and grid stability. It will become the world’s first large-scale biomass power plant fueled primarily by encroaching bush. For the energy sector, it will provide 40 megawatts of baseload power – around 300 gigawatt hours every year, roughly seven percent of Namibia’s current electricity needs. But it also helps farmers struggling with bush encroachment by creating a market for harvested biomass.

Rather than treating encroacher bush only as a resource to be extracted, the project also promotes sustainable landscape management that balances renewable energy production with ecosystem restoration through aftercare. Aftercare is a critical part of the harvesting process because it prevents regrowth. If harvested stumps are left untreated, they will naturally respond by resprouting, as this is an adaptation that allows the vegetation to recover. Without proper aftercare, the vegetation can quickly rebound, leading to bush encroachment that may, in some cases, become even more severe than it was before harvesting. 

The benefits of the project extend well beyond electricity generation. Back on Farm Buffelhoek, the effects of bush thinning are already visible. Before the bush was thinned, Koos’ cattle could not move freely across the farm. Dense thickets blocked their path, forcing them to take long detours around heavily encroached areas. Now, grass has returned, and the landscape is beginning to resemble the open savannah Koos remembers from his childhood. For him, the transformation is a game changer. Healthy grasslands provide better grazing for livestock, improve soil health, retain moisture, increase groundwater recharge, and create habitat for wildlife. As a result, bush thinning has almost doubled the productivity of his farm. 

Restoring Namibia’s savannahs, however, is not simply about removing trees. The bush plays an important ecological role, providing habitat and food for many plant and animal species. The challenge is therefore to remove enough encroaching vegetation to restore healthy grasslands while maintaining the ecological functions that make these landscapes so valuable. 

To ensure this balance is achieved, once a year, Prof. Morgan Hauptfleisch and his team return to the same sites carrying binoculars, insect and mammal traps, and notebooks. Before a single hectare is harvested, they record the plants, birds, mammals, and insects that already live there. These assessments continue throughout the project to understand how species respond to restoration and whether ecosystem health improves over time. Their work helps ensure that restoring grazing land does not come at the expense of biodiversity. 

The findings help guide harvesting practices, ensuring that biomass production supports landscape restoration without compromising biodiversity. By combining ecological research with commercial biomass utilisation, the project aims to demonstrate that restoring productive rangelands and conserving nature can go hand in hand. 

Namibia’s biomass industry is becoming the foundation of a new rural economy, creating opportunities in areas where employment has traditionally been limited. It is generating jobs across the entire value chain, from bush harvesting and chipping to transport, processing, manufacturing, and energy production.

Anton Gambiseb has witnessed just how dramatically the landscape has changed. As San Traditional Authority representative on the Otjituuo Conservancy and Community Forest Management Committee, he carries generations of knowledge about the land hin people have called home for centuries. Traditionally hunter-gatherers, the San have passed down stories of the landscape from one generation to the next, perserving knowledge of a time before dense encroacher bush transformed much of the rangeland.

Located in the Otjozondjupa Region of North-Central Namibia, the Otjituuo Conservancy and Community Forest lies within a 100-kilometre radius of the project implementation area and forms part of one of the country’s most bush-encroached landscapes. Pointing to the forest in the background, Anton comments: “For my community, these trees are very important. If everything is managed properly, they provide benefits that can improve our people’s livelihood”. As a representative of the San Traditional Authority, Anton helps community members understand the opportunities associated with sustainable natural resource management and encourages participation in conservancy and community forest activities. Today, Anton hopes that the Otjikoto Biomass Power Station will help restore the land that has sustained his ancestors for centuries while creating new opportunities for his community.

While many benefits are still emerging, positive signs are already visible. Improved rainfall and vegetation growth have created optimism about future opportunities.

The Otjikoto Biomass Power Station is expected to amplify these community benefits in Otjituuo and beyond. During construction, the project is creating hundreds of jobs, while its long-term operation will support an extensive biomass supply chain reaching farms and rural communities across the region. Demand for sustainably harvested wood chips is expected to sustain hundreds of contractors and harvesting teams, with the potential to create up to 1,000 jobs in biomass harvesting, transport, and fuel supply. Importantly, much of the economic value generated by the project will remain within Namibia, supporting local businesses, farmers, and service providers.

By creating a commercial value for encroaching bush, the project also provides farmers with a financial incentive to restore degraded rangelands while improving agricultural productivity. At the same time, healthier landscapes support more resilient livestock farming, strengthen rural livelihoods and contribute to Namibia’s long-term food security. Communities that have long depended on fragile natural resources now have new opportunities to participate in a growing economy. 

On Farm Buffelhoek, Koos no longer sees only thorn bush stretching towards the horizon. Each rainy season brings a little more grass, healthier soils and renewed confidence that the land can recover. The transformation is gradual, measured not in months but in growing seasons, as the open savannah slowly begins to reclaim its place and his cattle roam more freely. Anton hopes that, alongside healthier rangelands, his people can make a living from the land like their ancestors did.  

The country’s national anthem celebrates the “beloved land of savannahs.” For Koos, Anton, and thousands of other Namibians, this is a vision that defines the country’s identity. By turning an environmental burden into a source of opportunity, Namibia is taking steady steps towards restoring the savannahs that have shaped generations.