ZAMBIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Harriet Mdala, Natasha Lungu, Samuel Muleya and Chanda Musonda-Chiluba, MAY & Company
ZEMA faces serious challenges that affect its effi - ciency. Among the most critical challenges are inad - equate funding and low staffing levels. During its interactions with stakeholders, the Committee was informed that, due to a lack of funds and inadequate human resources, ZEMA failed to discharge most of its functions, including, but not limited to, environmen - tal audits and monitoring of other activities of licensed facilities. ZEMA’s failure to undertake these activities means that facilities may be wantonly polluting the environment and, thereby, impinging on human health and the wellbeing of the environment. 2.2 Impact of Environmentally Protected Areas on Mining Zambia has about 640 environmentally protected are - as. These include national parks, game management areas, forests, fisheries management areas, private wildlife estates such as game ranches which are man - aged by the private sector and wetlands and wildlife reserves. The Lower Zambezi National Park and the Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area are two of these environmentally protected areas. Fur - thermore, the Protected Places and Areas Act of 1960 allows the President to declare an area a protected area by statutory order. Section 35 of the Minerals Act requires the consent of the appropriate authority for a holder of a mining right or mineral processing licence to exercise any of its rights with regards to any land declared to be a forest nursery and due compliance with the relevant provisions of the Forests Act, 2015 on land declared to be a National Forest, Local For - est, botanical reserve, private forest, a National Park, Community Partnership Park, a Game Management Area or a bird sanctuary. Protected areas create additional regulatory con - siderations and stakeholder concerns about mining impacts, affecting exploration, development and min - ing activities. If a mineral deposit is found within a protected area, the regulatory process requires an EIA to evaluate potential environmental risks before mining can pro - ceed. An environmental permit for mining in a pro - tected area may include more stringent conditions. Additionally, Section 40 of the Minerals Act requires compensation for any indigenous wood or timber tak -
en on land that is declared a National Forest, Local Forest, botanical reserve or private forest under the provisions of the Forests Act, 2015. It is important to acknowledge that the current regulatory framework may not possess all-encompassing mechanisms required to comprehensively analyse and sufficiently address the possible environmental consequences in sensitive and highly valuable ecosystems. 2.3 Impact of Community Relations on Mining Projects Zambian laws lack robust provisions and guidelines on mining and its contribution to the sustainable development of the communities in which mining companies operate. However, Zambia mainly addresses the issue of com - munity relations in mining projects through corpo - rate social responsibility (CSR) frameworks. This is done through mining community development pro - grammes. Section 4 of the Minerals Commission Act states that the development of local communities in areas surrounding the mining area, based on prior - itisation of community needs, health and safety, is one of the general principles for mining and minerals development. Furthermore, Section 21 of the Minerals Act provides that the Commission will issue a min - ing licence to the applicant where the standards of good mining practice and the applicant’s proposed programme of development, and mining operations comply with each other and the undertaking for the promotion of local content, in respect of large-scale mining. 2.4 Prior and Informed Consultation on Mining Projects Prior and informed consultation on mining projects is mandatory. Stakeholder engagement is required as part of the EIS process under the EIA Regulations. The developer is required to seek community’s perspec - tive, which is likely to be affected by the project. The views sought are considered in the development of mitigation measures. Regulation 10 (1) of the EIA Reg - ulations is categorical and requires that the developer will, prior to submitting the EIS to the Council, take all measures necessary to seek the views of the people in communities that will be affected by the project.
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