For the Attention of:
The Clerk, National Assembly
The Speaker, National Assembly
The Honourable Minister of Green Economy and Environment, Member of Parliament (MP)
Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture, Lands and Natural Resources
Parliamentary Caucus on the Environment and Climate Change
Submitted on Friday 30 June 2023
We Must Save The Zambezi River Ecosystem
1.0 Ladies and Gentlemen, countrymen and women, lend me your ears!!
2.0 On behalf of the CSO organisers, Transparency International Zambia and all the members of the Save Zambezi Safe Zambezi coalition, I sincerely thank you for braving the cold weather and joining us to march for a good cause.
3.0 Ladies and Gentlemen, the Zambezi River is the backbone and lifeline of our beloved country Zambia. In fact, our nation’s very name is derived from the name Zambezi. Needless to say, the Zambezi River is an integral part of our national identity and is our crown jewel which we should treasure and guard jealously.
4.0 The Zambezi River supports not only Zambia but the neighbouring countries of Angola, Zimbabwe and Mozambique by supplying them with water for the Kariba and Cabora Bassa Dams which are critical for electricity generation and supply in the SADC region.
5.0 Furthermore, the Zambezi River supports a wide range of tourist facilities and boasts of Africa’s only natural wonder the Mosi-oa-Tunya (Victoria) falls ranked as one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World. In addition, the mighty Zambezi supports countless agricultural activities which are the bedrock of the livelihood of thousands if not millions of households within its watershed and beyond.
6.0 Ladies and Gentlemen, this precious water resource and its surrounding ecosystem, has sadly, increasingly come under threat from various developmental activities. In fact, it is not only the Zambezi River System that is under threat, but a great number of our protected areas are under threat from land use activities inconsistent with the objectives of a protected area.
7.0 Proposed mining and large scale commercial agricultural activities continue to threaten the ecological integrity of the Lower Zambezi National Park, the Kafue National Park, and Kasanka National Parks.
8.0 As a developing country, we understand the need for and significance of economic development for our people and the nation. However, we cannot ignore the fact that we live in dire times where climate change and environmental degradation are a reality that threaten not only our surroundings, but our very existence as a human species.
9.0 As we speak, we are in the midst of the sixth mass extinction which unlike the previous five which were as a result of natural causes, is occasioned by unsustainable land use, depletion of water resources and climate change which are all driven by humanity’s quest for development!
10. Amidst all these global environmental and climatic challenges, we face, the Zambian Government, also known as the New Dawn Government, chose to take the path that leads to sustainability. We know this because, the Republican President took the unprecedented step of establishing a Ministry of Green Economy and Environment, signifying the direction that the country ought to take on its developmental trajectory and for that historic step this government deserves a round of applause.
11. The setting up of the Ministry of Green Economy, demonstrates our government’s endeavour to attain genuinely sustainable path that promotes development within acceptable environmental considerations. However, in living up to these aspirations we have set for ourselves as a country, through our elected representatives, we must be selective of the type of land use and developments we permit, especially in our protected areas.
12. It is important that we monitor and continuously regulate developmental activities to ensure that nature does not suffer. Unsustainable developmental activities in protected areas such as our National Parks, Forests, Wetlands, and water bodies must be effectively controlled if not prohibited entirely.
13. It is our clarion call that both the Zambia Wildlife Act No. 14 of 2015 and the Mines and Minerals Development Act No. 11 of 2015 be amended such that mining and large-scale commercial farming are not permitted in National Parks, Community Forests and in protected areas as a whole!
14. We also call for any industrial activities that are detrimental to our natural ecosystems and polluting all our rivers to be halted and polluters held accountable in line with our Constitution and Environmental Laws.
15. With specific regard to the proposed open pit mine in the Lower Zambezi National Park, we commend ZEMA for suspending the Decision Letter permitting the project to proceed, this was long overdue, given the non- compliance with the conditions of approval by the Developer.
16. We further commend the Minister of Green Economy and Environment, Honourable Engineer Collins Nzovu, for taking a high-level delegation to inspect the happenings in the Lower Zambezi National Park and highlighting all the violations of the law being perpetrated by the promoters of the mine. In light of these and other violations of the law, it is our position that Government should take the next step and cancel all the approvals relating to this project.
17 It is our hope that this action will send a clear message to both local and international investors on the need to comply with our laws and also buttress Government’s seriousness with its vision of embracing the Green Economy and green-based development.
18. Our founding President, Dr Kenneth Kaunda always talked about mindset change, and today his words resonate more than ever. He was passionate about how our National parks must be protected and this is something g all of us in Zambia should strive to achieve, to protect what is ours not only for ourselves but for future generations.
19. We have some of the best game parks on the planet, and we as Zambians, should be proud to show the rest of the world the natural beauty that our country holds. The time to show that wildlife, the environment, and nature matters as we develop our country is now!
20. With this we call for a stop of mining in ecologically sensitive areas, specifically the Lower Zambezi national Park.
Respectfully submitted by the organisations below:
Caritas Zambia
Conservation Advocates Zambia
Joint Country Programme of the Norwegian Church Aid and Dan Church Aid
Namfumu Conversation Trust
Mizu Eco-Care
Publish What You Pay
Save Zambezi, Safe Zambezi Coalition
Transparency International Zambia
Southern Africa Resource Watch
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