Zambia’s 0.6% Green Economy Ministry allocation worries ZCCN

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By Derrick Sinjela

In as much as we appreciate efforts made by the Zambian government to uplift the welfare of its people and the protection of the environment, Zambia Climate Change Network (ZCCN) National Coordinator Steven Brown Nyirenda is worried following a meagre 0.6% allocation to Environmental Protection in the 2022 national budget.

In a submission signed by ZCCN National Coordinator Steven Brown Nyirenda, leading an eight-person team of activists comprised of Mr. Muketoi Wamunyima (Delegation Lead), Mr Siatwinda M Siatwinda, Mutinta Nketani, Mr. Wesley Litaba, Mr. Patrick Kabanda, Miga Wilfred and Ali Kaunda expressed reservations on Zambia’s capacity to effectively mitigate the burden climate change.

In a Wednesday 10th November 2021 ZCCN Submission to the Expanded Budget and Planning Committee on the 2022 Budget, Nyirenda and Mr. Wamunyima viewed the 0.6% allocation to Environmental Protection in the 2022 national budget as not adequate and thus increasing the risk of Zambia not achieving climate change intervention strategies as stipulated in the National Policy on Climate Change, Environment Management, Forestry, Water, Agriculture, Energy, Wetlands, Tourism and Wildlife.

ZCCN, is a membership – based organization that exists as a civil society national platform, whose strategic thrust is on climate justice and sustainable development in Zambia, established on the Monday 28th February, 2011 with a secretariat at Mulungushi International Conference Center, 1st floor, New Wing.

Upon being invited by the National assembly of Zambia (NAZ), Zambia Climate Change Network undertook an analysis of the estimates of revenue and expenditure for the financial year ending Saturday 31st December, 2022, which begins on Saturday 1st January, 2022.

ZCCN partners that drafted of this memorandum include; FIAN international, CUTS international, Action Aid Zambia, Participatory Ecological Land Use Management (PELUM Zambia), Zambia

Alliance for Agroecology and Biodiversity (ZAAB), Caritas Zambia, Sustainable Innovations Africa (SIA) and Mr. Siatwinda M. Siatwinda of Mulungushi University, Kabwe District of the Central Province, Zambia.

While noting that Climate Change issues have increasingly been gaining prominence in the national development agenda, Zambia Climate Change Network applauded a decision by President Hakainde Hichilema to create the Ministry of Green economy and Environment.

As highlighted in Dr. Situmbeko Musokotwane’s K173 billion 2022 Budget themed: ‘Growth, Jobs and Taking Development Closer to the People’, ZCCN laments that the current budget allocation is not in sync with the pronounced expectations.

Government is seeking Cooperating Partners to secure both the technical and financial support for the development of the Nansanga farm block, with ZCCN imploring the New Dawn Administration to move beyond up scaling development of the farm blocks in the agriculture sector through climate smart extension services and packages.

And to reduce dependence on rain-fed agriculture, ZCCN implored Government through Agriculture Minister, Rueben Mtolo Phiri to complete and operationalize the ongoing irrigation infrastructure projects.

The Ministry of Agriculture must strengthen dissemination of information through community radio stations, extend construction of communication towers to Zambia’s ten provinces; Central, Copperbelt, Eastern, Luapula, Lusaka, Muchinga, Northern, North=Western, Southern and Western and include the youth, women and the people with special needs in climate change dialogue.

ZCCN urged government to engage the public in the review of the Zambia Environmental Management Agency (ZEMA) regulations and establishment of an Environmental Tribunal, to safeguard wetlands, water recharge zones, land, forests and water bodies from being degraded and drying up.

In 2003, Zambia signed the Maputo Declaration on Agriculture and Food Security and in 2014, Zambia reaffirmed its commitment to the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) by adopting the Malabo Declaration on Accelerated Agricultural Growth and Transformation for Shared Prosperity and Improved Livelihoods.