Govt admits inadequacy of anti-pollution law

Govt admits inadequacy of anti-pollution law
By Agness Changala
Tue 01 Feb. 2011, 04:01 CAT

TOURISM minister Catherine Namugala has cautioned mining investors to find lawful and acceptable ways of disposing of waste. Namugala said as much as investors were creating wealth for the Zambians, they also needed to protect the lives of people.

“When investors pollute the environment, they will face the law or pay fines to deter them from polluting the environment,” she said. Namugala said a lot needed to be done to protect Zambians from the effects of pollution, adding that environmental management was not cheap.

She admitted that the current Environmental Protection and Pollution Act was not sufficient to address environmental challenges.

Namugala said the government was very much aware of the inadequacies of the current law and it was for this reason that it was in the process of coming up with a new law which would provide for more punitive measures.

She said as a responsible government, it will not sit and watch people lose lives because of environmental pollution.

Namugala said there was need for more resources to be sourced for the country to be able to mitigate the effects of pollution.

“We need resources and more needs to be done in advocacy; one of the challenges in this sector is that we do not have vocal civil society organisations to speak on issues of the environment. We are not doing enough and I call on civil society to help us do so,” Namugala said.

She also urged the media and other stakeholders to help sensitise people on issues of the environment.

Namugala said issues of the environment and climate change required global commitment to be tackled.

She also asked donors to provide grants as opposed to loans.

Namugala said receiving loans may not be wise because the country already had challenges in meeting Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).