National Policy on Environment.

This National Policy on Environment is a nationwide cross-sectoral document aiming at creating a comprehensive framework for effective natural resource utilization and environmental conservation supporting the Government's development priority to eradicate poverty and improve the quality of life of the people of Zambia. To achieve the overall goal of the Policy, a number of specific objectives have been set out as follows (i) promote protection and management of environment and natural resources, balancing the needs for social and economic development and environmental integrity, while keeping adverse activities to the minimum; (ii) manage the environment by linking activities, interests and perspectives of all groups, including people, non-governmental organizations and government at both the central and decentralized local levels; (iii) accelerate environmentally and economically sustainable growth in order to improve the health, sustainable livelihoods, income and living conditions of the poor majority with greater equity and self-reliance; (iv) ensure environmental awareness and commitment to enforce environmental laws and to the promotion of environmental accountability; (v) build individual and institutional capacity to sustain the environment; (vi) regulate and enforce environmental laws; and (vii) promote the development of sustainable industrial and commercial processes having full regard for environmental integrity.
The document uses an integrated approach that links intervention measures (institutions, legislation, environmental planning, EIA and monitoring, awareness, private sector and community participation, human resource development and research, gender, youth and children, demographic planning, human settlements and health, air quality and climate change, biodiversity and bio-safety, land tenure and use, trans-boundary and regional conservation) to the various economic sectors (agriculture, tourism, fisheries, forest, wildlife, mining, water, industry and trade, energy, and heritage) for which it is important to consider the environmental factor.
To make agriculture, forestry and fisheries more productive and sustainable, the Policy proposes measures regarding (i) strengthening security of tenure over land resources; (ii) production on suitable lands to avoid expansion into marginal or fragile areas; (iii) research into appropriate soil and water conservation techniques; (iv) animal husbandry practices to avoid overgrazing, spread of disease, soil erosion, loss of soil fertility, air, land and water pollution, loss of biodiversity; (v) conservation-oriented farming practices; (vi) fish resources management for sustainable utilization, having regard for resources shared across international boundaries; (vii) aquaculture development; (viii) ecological impact studies before introducing exotic species into aquatic ecosystems; (ix) use of non-sustainable and destructive fish harvesting methods; (x) control on charcoal production and rehabilitation of degraded woodland; (xi) agro-forestry practices; (xii) incentives for industrial fuel wood users for investment in tree planting and woodland management; (xiii) soil conservation and reforestation measures in the catchment areas for the sustainable development of irrigation; and (xiv) methods of harvesting rain water using low cost structures that can be managed and maintained by the smallholder farmers and villagers.
Rural poverty can be reduced through (i) incentives to promote forest resources and on-farm trees; (ii) incentives and the legal framework and technology to encourage rural communities to introduce alternative sources of energy to reduce reliance upon fuel wood and charcoal; (iii) hydro-power electrification of all urban and rural areas as a primary social service that is able to make a significant contribution to the arrest of deforestation and inevitably improves the quality of rural life; and (iv) preservation of natural and cultural heritage in order to contribute to the improvement of the quality of life of rural communities.
To enable more inclusive and efficient agricultural and food systems, main interventions are (i) inclusion of gender considerations in the sustainable utilization of renewable natural resources and other development programs; (ii) promotion of eco-tourism also as a means of earning income for local communities; (iii) empowerment of local communities to manage common property resources in an environmentally sustainable manner; (iv) promotion of community participation in soil conservation measures and integrated land use systems; (v) give local communities adequate responsibility for the management of fisheries resources to control access to resources and to the means of harvesting; (vi) promote the participation of local communities, NGOs and the private sector in forest conservation; (vii) promote dissemination of indigenous knowledge about the medicinal and other properties of indigenous forest resources and assist in marketing such knowledge; (viii) involve local communities in afforestation and rehabilitation of bare, fragile or erosion-prone areas; (ix) promote the development of small-scale beneficiary managed irrigation schemes; and (x) train and empower local communities to assist in the maintenance of water points and water sources.
The resilience of livelihoods to disasters can be increased through (i) minimizing the adverse impact of climate change and reduction of air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions through the establishment of an air quality monitoring system, promotion of alternative energy sources to fuel-wood, strengthening of the national climate and meteorological database and monitoring networks, assessment and monitoring of the potential impact of climate change on ecosystems, vegetation and net carbon sinks, use of climate data to help guide land-use and economic development decisions, regional and international cooperation for the exchanges of climate information and control of trans-boundary atmospheric air pollution, reduction of gas emissions from the transport sector and the manufacturing industry, and use of ozone friendly technologies; and (ii) contributing to all trans-boundary conservation initiatives directed to maintaining the integrity of ecosystems, biodiversity conservation, and protected area network.