ZAMBIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Harriet Mdala, Natasha Lungu, Samuel Muleya and Chanda Musonda-Chiluba, MAY and Company
A bad example of environmental and community relations/consultations around mining projects in Zambia is the lack of a clear path towards sustainability regarding the relationship between mining companies and their host communities. As stated in 2.3 Impact of Community Rela- tions on Mining Projects , the policy framework in Zambia is vague regarding various important issues related to mining and its contribution to the sustainable development of the communi - ties in which mining companies operate. For example, the case study of Kabwe Lead-Zinc Mine, Zambia conducted in 2021 highlighted the effects of the closure of the mine on the com - munity. It revealed that communities in Zambia often sink into a state of abject poverty once a mine closes as all socio-economic activity opportunities disappear with the mine closure and this has replicated itself in various communi - ties in mining towns in Zambia. This shows that the economic, social and environmental decline of the community in this context is mainly attrib - utable to the lack of a socio-economic closure plan at the time of mine closure.
climate system and to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change. In 2024, the Green Economy and Climate Change Act No 18 of 2024 (the “Climate Change Act”) was passed into law by the Zambian Parlia - ment. The Climate Change Act seeks to, among other things, transpose the UNFCCC and the Paris Agreement into domestic law. The Climate Change Act also seeks to regulate carbon mar - kets and provide environmental and social safe - guards for climate change actions and establish a Climate Change Fund. Additionally, the Climate Change Act establishes the Green Economy and Climate Change Council, specifies GHG emis - sion standards and establishes a greenhouse inventory management system. It also includes provisions on carbon stock management, regis - tration of verifiers and enforcement provisions. Furthermore, prior to the introduction of the Climate Change Act, the Zambian Cabinet approved the declaration of critical minerals such as copper, cobalt, lithium, amongst oth - ers as strategic minerals in 2023. Under this initiative, the government resolved to transition the country to a green economy. This led to an enhanced mobilisation of financial resources including in the public sector budget. 3.2 Climate Change Legislation and Proposals Related to Mining It is intended that the Climate Change Act will act as a mechanism for climate change adapta - tion and disaster risk reduction. Its main features are climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction; climate change mitigation; low emis - sion development; a green economy; and related actions. Some of the salient provisions of the Climate Change Act are as follows.
3. Climate Change, Energy Transition and Sustainable Development in Mining 3.1 Climate Change Effects
Zambia has undertaken several initiatives to address climate change and its impact on the mining industry. Zambia signed and ratified the Paris Agreement and the UN Framework Con - vention on Climate Change (the “UNFCCC”) on 21 September 2016 and 9 December 2016 respectively. The overall objective of the two agreements is to stabilise the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the
521 CHAMBERS.COM
Powered by FlippingBook