Members of the Council

Chairperson: Ms Gloria Simubali

Ms. Gloria Simubali’s appointment as the Chairperson of the Council was announced by the Hon. Minister at the inauguration of the new Council on 12th December 2020. Ms. Simubali is the Deputy Executive Director at the helm of the Geological Survey of Namibia, a department within the Ministry of Mines and Energy and has been in the employment of the Geological Survey at different levels since 2003. Her experience in geosciences spans over 19 years, working primarily in the public sector. She is registered as professional senior geoscientist with the Geoscience Council of Namibia and her expertise and experience covers geochemistry, economic and exploration geology. Ms Simubali is an alumna of the University of Namibia (UNAM) and the University of the Witwatersrand (WITS) South Africa. She serves in various capacities on a number of local and international scientific and non-scientific organisations and committees where she either represents the Ministry, Government, Country or the African Continent

Deputy Chairperson: Dr. Peter Tarr

Appointed Deputy Chairperson of the Council at its first meeting, Dr. Peter Tarr is the founder and the Executive Director of the Southern African Institute for Environmental Assessment (SAIEA), a consulting NGO operating throughout Africa. After an initial career in conservation (10 years) he became involved in impact assessment (20 years so far). As head of SAIEA, he is currently involved in leading capacity building and networking initiatives, promoting improved quality assurance in impact assessment, producing best practice environmental assessment tools and guidelines, and undertaking large and complex Strategic Environmental Assessments. He has worked mostly in Africa but also in South America and Asia. He has considerable experience with both public and private sectors, lending agencies, donors, SMEs, NGOs and community-based organisations. Dr. Tarr has a PhD in Environmental Management and Planning from Aberdeen University, Scotland.

Environmental Commissioner: Mr Timoteus Mufeti

Mr. Timoteus Mufeti was appointed as the Environmental Commissioner in 2020 and holds a Master Degree in Science and Business Administration. With over 25 years of experience in the fields of environmental and natural resources management and conservation, he is an Environment / Natural Resources Scientist with educational knowledge, skills and professional experience in environmental systems and natural resources planning and management; Sustainable Development; Environmental Assessments (EAs) and Projects Management. He also possesses expertise and professional experience in fields of land use planning and management; coastal zones management; Environmental Management Systems (EMS); Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Remote Sensing.

Council Member: Ms. Hallo Angala

Ms. Hallo Angala is a creative and driven youth leader and is an alumna of the Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI). Ms. Angala holds a Master’s degree in Biotechnology from the Rhodes University in South Africa and has expertise in areas such as bioenergy, environmental health biotechnology, agricultural biotechnology and water management amongst others. Ms. Angala is a strong advocate for sustainable development and is the author of three children’s books as part of a series called Vivi and Oye on climate change mitigation to create awareness on environmental challenges facing our planet today. She serves as the president of the National Young Women Association of Namibia and is currently enrolled as an MBA candidate at the University of Namibia majoring in Natural Resource Management.

Council Member: Mr. Joseph Hailwa

Mr. Joseph Hailwa served as the Director of Forestry since 2004 until retiring at the end of June in 2021. Mr Hailwa possesses a BSC (Hon) in Forestry from the University of Wales and also possesses a Master’s in Business Administration from the University of Maastricht. With extensive experience on all aspects of forestry management, Mr. Hailwa served as an Agricultural Technician and Assistant Lecturer at Ogongo College between 1984 to 1987. At Namibia’s independence, Mr. Hailwa was appointed as the Head of Forestry activities in the Northern Region at the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Rural Development. He participated in awareness creation and law enforcement of the forestry activities and a proper forestry administration was introduced and thoroughly developed under his leadership in that region.

Council Member: Ms. Aina Maria Itela

Ms. Aina Maria Iteta has served as the Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist for the Environmental Investment Fund of Namibia since 2014. She has extensive expertise and experience in the areas of monitoring and evaluation policy frameworks, institutional planning, project development, ensuring compliance of projects with environmental and social safeguards, corporate governance and institutional performance review, agricultural management, international business, research as well as gender mainstreaming. Ms. Iteta possesses a Bachelor of Science in Agricultural Economics and Masters in International Business.

Council Member: Mr. Sylvester Mbangu

Mr. Sylvester Mbangu is the Chief: National Development Advice in the Department of Macroeconomic Planning at the National Planning Commission. He holds a Bachelor of Economics from the University of Namibia and Masters in Financial Economics from the University of London School of Economics. He has worked in various capacities in three different directorates of Development Planning, Sectoral Planning and the Central Bureau of Statistics. He has been involved in the formulation and implementation of the National Development Plans (NDPs) from NDP1 to NDP5. He was the principal author and coordinator for NDP5. His areas of specialisation include macroeconomic analysis and modelling, poverty reduction, inequality and entire socio-economic development include the impact of climate change on the economy. He also represents Namibia on developmental issues at the Southern Africa Customs Union (SACU), Southern Africa Development Community (SADC), African Union (AU) and United Nations (UN) in particular about Finance, Regional Integrated Strategic Plans and Macroeconomic convergence, Agenda 2063 and 2030.

Council Member: Mr. Petrus Nangolo

Mr. Petrus Nangolo has served as the Director of Land Reform and Resettlement in the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Land Reform since 2015. Mr. Nangolo possesses Masters Degrees in both Disaster Management and Geo-Information Management and a National Diploma in Agricultural Science. Mr. Nangolo has a wide range of expertise and experience in the areas of agriculture; land administration, reform and resettlement; land use planning; and consultation and engagement with local communities, Regional Councils and Traditional Authorities.

Council Member: Mr. Jonas Nghishidi

Mr. Jonas Nghishidi has 15 years of environmental compliance experience including developing and implementing environmental management systems, project management, policy development, community-based natural resource management and environmental economics. He is currently the head of the Namibia Integrated Landscape Approach for enhancing Livelihoods and Environmental Governance to eradicate poverty (NILALEG) Project, a partnership between the MEFT, University of Namibia and the Environmental Investment Fund of Namibia. Mr Nghishidi co-authored the Sustainable Financing Strategies for Namibia’s National Parks, Biodiversity Resource Mobilisation Strategy for Namibia, Access and Benefit Sharing Country Report to the Convention on Biological Diversity, Namibia's Sixth National Report to the Convention on Biological Diversity (2014-2018) and Namibia’s Second National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan 2013-2022. Mr. Nghishidi has a Masters of Development Studies from the University of the Free State.