ZAMBIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Harriet Mdala, Natasha Lungu, Samuel Muleya and Chanda Musonda-Chiluba, MAY and Company
(Smelterco) Limited and Mopani Copper Mines Plc from the provisions of Statutory Instrument No 102 of 1998. • The Mines Act which provides for environ - mental protection and pollution control, envi - ronmental information, public participation in environmental decision-making and the Environmental Protection Fund. Environmental Licensing The main features of the environmental licensing process for an exploration and mining project in Zambia are as follows. ZEMA issues an approval authorising a person to conduct exploration or mining activities. A decision letter is granted by ZEMA after an EIA is conducted. The EIA evaluates the potential environmental and social impacts of the mining operations and suggests appropriate mitigation measures and the Act prohibits exploration, min - ing or mineral processing without an EIA. The EIA is conducted by the Ministry of Mines and Minerals Development together with ZEMA. The application procedure for ZEMA approval is governed by the EIA Regulations. EIAs in Zambia fall into two classes depending on the nature of the project. The first category is a project brief while the second is the EIS. Projects likely to have an adverse impact on the environment tend to fall under the EIS category. There are serious challenges that ZEMA faces that affect its efficiency. Among the most critical challenges are inadequate funding and low staff - ing levels. During its interactions with stakehold - ers, the Committee was informed that because of a lack of funds and inadequate human resources, ZEMA failed to discharge most of its functions, which included, but were not limited
to, environmental 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 protect - ed areas. These include national parks, game management areas, forests, fisheries man - agement areas, private wildlife estate such as game ranches which are managed by the private sector and wetlands and wildlife reserves. The Lower Zambezi National Park and the Kavan - go-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area are two of these environmentally protected areas. Furthermore, the Protected Places and Areas Act of 1960 allows the President to declare, by statutory order, an area to be a protected area. Section 52 of the Mines Act requires the consent of the appropriate authority for use of any land declared to be a forest or botanical reserve, a National Community Partnership Park, a Game Management Area or a bird sanctuary. Protected areas affect exploration, development and mining in the sense that there are more considerations and oppositions regarding the impact the mining has. If a mineral deposit is found within a protected area, the regulatory process mandates an EIA to evaluate potential environmental risks for mining to proceed. An environmental permit for mining in a protected area may have conditions attached that are more stringent. It is impor - tant to acknowledge that the current regulatory framework may not possess all-encompassing mechanisms required to comprehensively ana - lyse and sufficiently address the possible envi -
517 CHAMBERS.COM
Powered by FlippingBook