Skip to main content
Group picture showing the NamTip project members and stakeholders
Rainout shelters installed above plots of rangeland on a commercial farm (left), and group picture of NamTip ecologists under the roof of a rainout shelter (right)
Three people collecting a soil core in a dry savanna rangeland
Researcher looking into a tree identification book while standing in front of a savanna tree species; researchers measuring the height of a shrub in a dry savanna environment
A Phd student collecting a soil seed bank sample and another PhD student holding a drone in her hand with a savanna rangeland in the background
Cows in savanna rangeland (left) and Researchers hammering on iron poles to fix a metal cage protecting grass from being grazed in a savanna rangeland (right)
A group of communal farmers in the process of playing a boardgame on the strategic use of natural resources
Figure 1 (left to right): A school learner recording water infiltration using the double ring method; A school learner presenting her group's findings to the rest of the research camp's participants; A mixed group of scientists and learners sitting around a table with an open laptop showing slides on water infiltration, notebooks and pencils on the table
A group of cows on a sandy soil in a dry environment
NamTip consortium

NamTip project members and stakeholders at the Kick-Off Meeting in March 2024 | Photo: Lisa-Maricia Schwarz

TipEx experimental platform

Savanna grassland is pushed over a DTP by applying simulated grazing and drought treatments | Photo: Anja Linstädter

Soil scientists at work

NamTip researchers collecting soil samples to assess rangeland health | Photo: Thomas Bringhenti

Plant functional traits

NamTip researchers identifying and assessing the functional traits of woody species | Photo: Anja Linstädter

Soil seedbank and remote sensing

PhD students collecting soil seedbank samples and flying drones to estimate forage quantity | Photo: Vistorina Amputu

Restoration experiment

Grazing exclosure cages were installed to assess the response of degraded rangelands to resting | Photo: Anja Linstädter

NamSed serious game

Communal farmers show their decision-making in game sessions simulating socio-ecological shocks | Photo: Hleni Heita

Educational activities

Knowledge transfer to school learners is an integrating component of the project | Photo: EduVentures; Lisa-Maricia Schwarz

Livestock farming

Climate change strongly affects livestock farming in dryland areas | Photo: Gunnar Dreßler

Cooperative Project in GlobalTip: NamTip - A Namibian Perspective on Desertification Tipping Points in the Face of Climate Change

Logo of NamTip project
Picture: NamTip

In the NamTip project, scientists and stakeholders collaborate closely to gain a better knowledge on the development of social-ecological tipping points (TPs), including their ecological and social drivers, and to explore management options for preventing TPs or restoring ecosystems that have passed a desertification tipping point (DTP) or the alternative TP of woody plant encroachment. Special emphasis is laid on understanding the role of climate change for TP behavior. Finally, gained knowledge is integrated using modelling for scenario development, as well as stakeholder-specific capacity development and knowledge transfer.

The Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) is funding the NamTip project within the framework of the Strategy "Research for Sustainability" (FONA) under the funding code 01LC2321A-F.

Logos of BMBF and FONA
Source: www.fona.de