Lusaka, 01 February 2022: A large coalition of CSOs, traditional leaders, artists, safari operators and other stakeholders has called on President Hakainde Hichilema to honour the promise he made to protect the Lower Zambezi National Park, and halt a controversial open-pit copper mine planned in the heart of the area.
This comes against the backdrop of President Hichilema having opposed the mine when he was in the opposition. “#lowerZambezi stays untouched,” said President Hichilema in a Twitter post in 2014. The President said this week on Twitter that he remained consistent in this view, and has been for years. Green Economy and Environment Minister Collins Nzovu indicated this week that the mine, which is called Kangaluwi and is owned by Mwembeshi Resources Limited, would go ahead. “The legal status of the project is that Minister Kalaba of the PF government allowed the new project to go ahead,” he said.
The Coalition says: “We are disappointed by the decision by government to allow the mine to go ahead as we know
the consequences will be grave. The mine will have a potentially devastating impact on people, water, the land and
the environment in the entire Southern African region”.
“We call on President Hichilema to honour his undertaking to keep the Lower Zambezi National Park untouched. We believe mining activities should be restricted to happening in mining areas of the country and should not be allowed in high profile tourism and wildlife conservation areas that have their own ecological and economic value to the country,” says the Coalition.
The Lower Zambezi National Park is an integral part of the wider Zambezi basin, which is the most significant shared resource that contributes to the economic, environmental and social development of southern Africa. Sustainable management of this resource is crucial in securing the futures of over 250 million people in the broader region that depend on it.
The Coalition last year launched a hard-hitting social media campaign called #SaveZambeziSafeZambezi to raise awareness of the issue. The campaign reached over 1.2-million people around the world in a short period of six months.
In addition, a dynamic and captivating song was created by some of Zambia’s best-known artists, as part of the Save Zambezi, Safe Zambezi campaign to raise awareness around the need to halt a controversial open-pit copper mine in the Lower Zambezi National Park. Called Zambezi Niyatu which means “Zambezi is ours”, it is the official song of the Save Zambezi, Safe Zambezi campaign. The song was launched late last year at a landmark event in Lusaka, and became a hit within a few days of being launched. Herewith link to the song:
The Zambian Environmental Management Agency (ZEMA) last year approved a highly controversial Environmental Impact Study, opening the way for the mine to go ahead. The NGO Coalition has expressed deep concern that if the mine goes ahead, it will not only risk contaminating water for communities in Zambia and Zimbabwe but for the whole Zambezi delta, potentially destroying farming and fishing livelihoods and one of the largest tourism destinations for Zambia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique. River pollution caused by the mine could threaten the Zambezi rivers 2 000-ton subsistence fishery, which directly provides food and protein security to 20 000 people along the river’s banks. Eco-tourism in the area depends largely on the renewable wildlife and habitat resources and contributes significantly to the local and national economies around the Lower Zambezi National Park.
Tourism establishments in the park and surrounding areas employ more than 1 000 local people, generating a local wage bill of $4 million annually that indirectly supports thousands more people at a local community level.
“The Coalition renews its call on all Zambians, and everyone who cares about the future of this region, to sign a petition to halt the Kangaluwi mine. You will find the petition on the website change.org, and you will find the petition under the name SaveZambeziSafeZambezi.”
Sign the petition https://www.change.org/SaveZambeziSafeZambezi
Join the movement https://www.facebook.com/savezambezi
For further information, please contact:
World Wide Fund (WWF) for Nature
Mweene Chaambwa
Tel: +260762439368
Email: mchaambwa@wwfzam.org
Conservation Lower Zambezi
Tel: +260 973 529 094 (Estella)
Email: info@conservationlowerzambezi.org