Renewal application for an environmental clearance certificate for the ongoing bush control and charcoal production activities carried out by members of the Jumbo Charcoal group scheme, headquartered in Okahandja. Important to note As the environmental clearance certificate application is for a group scheme, whose members are constantly changing, the environmental management plan (EMP) presents a strategic document, providing the environmental framework for units to follow and comply with. As such, the EMP does not set out specific details for each FMU, such as a site description or the receiving environment surrounding each FMU registered at the time of writing/application submission. Certified FMU registered to the group scheme varies frequently for various reasons including FMU utilising resources, operations being suspended due to production breaks or other reasons such as economics, farms closing and/or being sold. The current Foret Stewardship Council (FSC) registered group scheme members can be seen in Figure 1. Listed activities triggered by the project include: LISTED ACTIVITY EIA SCREENING FINDING FORESTRY ACTIVITIES (4) The clearance of forest areas, deforestation, aforestation, timber harvesting, or any other related activity that requires authorisation in terms of the Forest Act, 2001 (Act No. 12 of 2001) or any other law. – Cutting (harvesting) of encroacher tree and shrub species. Bush control activities will stay within the boundaries of the respective farm, which will be divided into smaller camps. - The following harvesting methods will be implemented on the farm management unit (FMU): manual by means of axe and semi-mechanised by means of chainsaw. WASTE MANAGEMENT, TREATMENT, HANDLING AND DISPOSAL ACTIVITIES (2.2) Any activity entailing a scheduled process referred to in the Atmospheric Pollution Prevention Ordinance, 1976. – Generation of smoke and dust from bush thinning and charcoal production activities. 2. Details of the activity(s) covered by the environmental clearance certificate: Title of activity: Ongoing bush control and charcoal production activities carried out by members of the Jumbo Charcoal group scheme, headquartered in Okahandja. Nature of activity: Bush thinning activities on each respective farm includes the removal of encroacher tree and shrub species, followed by the production of charcoal using the collected biomass. The bush thinning and charcoal production activities take place on various farm units. Scale and scope of activity: - Bush thinning and charcoal production activities on various FSC-registered farm units within the Erongo, Khomas, Omaheke and Otjozondjupa Regions in Namibia. (Figure 1) - Farm unit sizes vary between 2500 - 20 000 hectares. A separate application has also been submitted for the majority of the farm management units to obtain an environmental clearance certificate. This was done through the submission of a forest and environmental management plan (FEMP) using the generic template introduced by the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism (MEFT) in 2023. The template, endorsed by the Directorate of Forestry (presently Department of Environmental Affairs and Forestry), was specifically developed to streamline environmental clearance certificate applications for low-impact bush thinning projects in Namibia, particularly those covering areas up to 5000 hectares and involving manual harvesting.