Presentation short abstract

This paper offers a critical historical review of hydropower extractivism in Namibia — from early colonial-era infrastructure plans, through the country’s postcolonial development ambitions, to the contested resurgence of the Popa Falls Hydropower Project.

Presentation long abstract

This paper offers a critical historical review of hydropower extractivism in Namibia — from early colonial-era infrastructure plans, through the country’s postcolonial development ambitions, to the contested resurgence of the Popa Falls Hydropower Project. By situating Namibian hydropower schemes within a broader political-ecological and extractivist lens, the study interrogates how colonial and external forces have shaped energy politics, resource control, and environmental imaginaries in Namibia.

The analysis begins with mid-20th century water and dam proposals under colonial or apartheid-era administrations, when water management and hydropower were framed in terms of state control, settler agriculture, and extractive modernization — often with little consideration for Indigenous livelihoods or regional ecologies.

The review then turns to more recent hydropower plans. In particular, it traces how external actors — including international consultancies, transnational water commissions, foreign investors — continue to influence the trajectory of hydropower and extractivism in Namibia. Against this background, the Popa Falls Hydropower Project emerges as more than a technical scheme: it becomes a flashpoint for competing visions of development, conservation, and sovereignty (Dentlinger 2004).

The history of hydropower extractivism in Namibia has also been unruly. The Popa Falls scheme provoked strong cross-border opposition from environmental NGOs, tourism stakeholders, and communities in both Namibia and Botswana who feared long-term damage to the Okavango wetlands (Dentlinger 2004).

By reconstructing this layered history, the paper argues that Namibia’s hydropower ambitions cannot be disentangled from colonial legacies, transnational political-economy, and contested socio-material relations.