Zambia

Donors can help Zambia develop a more dynamic, productive, and sustainable economy by providing assistance in the following areas:

Despite a decade of economic growth, 30 percent of Zambia’s population lives on less than $1.90 per day and 60 percent live below the poverty line. Agricultural productivity is low Zambia for a wide range of reasons including drought and flooding, poor access to farming inputs, credit markets, transportation and communication infrastructure, land tenure and larger policy constraints. There has been has a high rate of migration from rural to urban areas and urbanization is on the rise: 40 percent of the population now lives in urban areas and the cities are overcrowded. Most of the country’s urban population lives in unplanned settlements with substandard housing and limited service (World Bank 2017 2011 statistics; GRZ 2013 and CIA 2015; KPMG 2016).

In the mid-1990’s Zambia enacted legislation intended to encourage investment in rural land and improve agricultural productivity through the introduction of state leasehold on customary land. The 1995 Lands Act permitted conversion of customary land into long term leases managed through the Ministry of Lands. In the decade following the adoption of the Lands Act, foreign investors, politicians, and local elites obtained leaseholds. Some large agribusiness, industrial, and tourism investments provided local communities with benefits including employment, outgrower schemes, small-business opportunities, and infrastructure development. In other cases, the conversion of customary land rendered whole communities landless, eroded rights to common pool resources, and enclosed communal land. The Land Tribunal, which was intended to protect and enforce land rights, was underfunded and inaccessible to most of the population, leaving limited options for addressing land grievances.

In 2006, Zambia’s National Constitutional Convention began in drafting a new Constitution, which continues to support and encourage investment in rural areas while also recognizing weaknesses in the operation of the current legal framework for land, including imbalances in the alienation of land and the need for security of customary land tenure. The 2016 Constitution calls for new and revised legislation governing land rights and supporting principles of land tenure security and equitable access to land and resources (GRZ 2016).

LAND USE

The most recent official population statistic show Zambia has a 2008 population of slightly over 16 million with 59 percent living in rural areas. Zambia’s 2015 GDP is 21 billion, with agriculture comprising 8.6 percent of GDP, industry at 31.3 percent and services at 60 percent. Sixty-five percent of the population is poor and 42 percent is considered extremely poor. As of 2015 the prevalence of HIV/AIDS among adults is 14.3 percent. The number of HIV (AIDS) orphans is estimated at 1.5 million, which means that one in five children in the country is an orphan. In both rural and urban households, poverty levels are highest among female-headed households with extreme poverty levels of more than 60 percent in rural areas and 15 percent in urban areas (World Food Program 2015; World Bank2017).

Most Zambians are subsistence farmers. However, Zambian agriculture has three broad categories of farmers: small-scale, medium and large-scale. Small-scale farmers are generally subsistence producers of staple foods with occasional marketable surplus including, including maize, sorghum, rice, millet and cassava. Medium-scale farmers produce maize and a few other cash crops for the market. Large-scale farmers produce various crops for the local and export markets including tobacco (98 percent of which is exported), cotton, tea and coffee. Thirty-two percent of Zambia’s total land is agricultural. Arable land (hectares) in Zambia was last measured at 3,400,000 in 2011 and about 4 percent of this area as of 2012 (156,000 ha) was under irrigation (The New Agriculturalist, 2013; GRZ 2012; World Bank 2013; CIA 2016; Trading Economics 2016).

Zambia is one of the most forested countries in Africa. About 59 percent of total land is classified as forest area. Deforestation rates vary, however the most commonly quoted figure is 250,000–300,000 ha per year (or approx. 0.50–0.60 percent of total forest cover). Although rich in carbon stocks (above- and below-ground carbon stored in biomass is estimated to be 2.5 billion tones and a further 204 million tons stored in dead wood), Zambia has been identified as one of the top 10 greenhouse gas (GHG) emitting countries as a result of deforestation and degradation. Forest land has degenerated as a result of encroachment from agriculture, tree harvesting for fuel wood and sale, and uncontrolled burning. Overgrazing has resulted in bush encroachment and severe soil degradation. In areas dominated by commercial agriculture, the use of heavy machinery and large amounts of fertilizer and chemicals has degraded the soil (The Redd Desk 2013; FAO 2011; The New Agriculturalist 2013).

Zambia is in possession of some of the world’s highest-grade copper deposits. In 2017, Zambia was the world’s seventh largest copper producer with 74,000 million tons equating. Zambia also produces nearly 20 percent of the world’s emeralds and is among world’s top three emerald producers. Land use issues relating to mining relate to contested ownership of tracts of land for mining development, inadequacy of compensation for villagers, illegal displacement and overall threats to customary land rights (Investing News Network 2017;CoKPMG 2013; Think Africa Press 2013).

Zambia is one of the most urbanized countries in Africa south of the Sahara. It is estimated that 40–48 percent of the population of over 16 million live in urban areas. The population of the Lusaka, for example, Zambia’s capital city, has grown from about 250,000 people in 1964 to about 2.2 million in 2013, representing about 15 percent of the national population. Much of its urban expansion is unplanned and poses challenges in terms of basic urban infrastructure and service provision. The fact that these settlements were not planned has led to them not being considered for local authority services. It is estimated that more than 70 percent of the urban population of the cities live in informal settlements (Tembo 2014; UN Habitat 2014).

LAND DISTRIBUTION

Many statistics and land policy documents assert that approximately 94 percent of Zambia’s land is customary land. The definition of customary areas and state land come from the Lands Act of 1995, which in turn is based on the status of land at the time of independence. In practice, however, land that has been converted to state leasehold tenure within customary areas often loses its relationship to the traditional authorities. Other exclusive state uses are present on customary land, for example National Parks. Game management areas also often have restriction on use by smallholders. Thus, the amount of land that is available to smallholder farmers under customary tenure, and is likely closer to 54 percent of the country, or approximately 40 million hectares of land (Sitko et al. 2015; Sitko and Jayne 2014).

Areas with high population densities, districts that follow the major road infrastructure north from the capital Lusaka, including the Copperbelt Province, and near urban areas have been subjected to increasing land fragmentation. More that 95 percent of farming households cultivate on five hectares of land or less. Farm households cultivating between 10 and 20 hectares have increased by 103.1 percent between 2001 and 2011. These “emergent farmers” are overwhelmingly concentrated in districts that are in close proximity to the “line of rail” and the urban mining areas of the Copperbelt. Farms controlling between 5 and 100 hectares now account for more land than the entire small-scale farm sector. Eighty-eight percent of the most productive agricultural land (most of which is located in the fertile eastern-central region of the country) is devoted to cash crops, including cotton, tobacco, and flowers (Government of Zambia 2002; Zambian Development Agency 2014; Zambian House of Chiefs 2009; Central Statistical Office, 2011; Sitko and Jayne 2014).

Since enactment of the 1995 Land Act, which allowed for conversion of customary tenure to state leasehold tenure, based on data collected by the Ministry of Lands, a total of 5,098 land conversions have been recorded between 1995 and 2012. This amounts to approximately 280,000 hectares of customary land that is now administered through leasehold title by individuals for agricultural purposes or an average of 54 ha per transaction. The scale of customary land conversion for agricultural purposes amounts to 12 percent of the total area cultivated in 2012 by smallholder farmers. These conversions are heavily concentrated in the areas close to urban areas with relatively good access to markets. For example, 73 percent of registered new land acquisitions have been occurring in the relatively urbanized provinces of Lusaka, Central, and Copperbelt. These figures may be somewhat underestimated given costs and inconvenience of fully registering leasehold applications in Lusaka. In some cases, the conversion of customary land to large leaseholds has eroded local rights to common-pool resources, and enclosed communal land. As land is acquired for commercial farming, industry, and tourism, local people in some areas have lost access to water sources, grazing land, and forest products. In other cases, protected areas have been identified for development (Chapoto et al. 2013; Brown 2005; Black Lechwe 2006).

Zambia is rapidly urbanizing. The country’s urban population is unevenly distributed: Two provinces, Copperbelt and Lusaka, account for 69 percent of the total urban population. The country has eight major cities—Lusaka, Kitwe, Ndola, Mufulira, Chingola, Kabwe, Livingstone and Kapiri Mposhi, Chipata and Solwezi with populations in excess of 150,000; most of these are in the Copperbelt province. Provincial headquarters, such as Kasama, Mongu, Chipata and Mansa are large urban centers that are growing, particularly alongside decentralization (UN Habitat 2013).

LEGAL FRAMEWORK

In 1924, control of all land in present day Zambia was transferred from the British South African Company to the Governor of Northern Rhodesia, under the Northern Rhodesia Order in Council of 1924, with the exception of Barotseland (present-day Western Province, which still operates under its own unique customary land management system). Two subsequent Orders in Council, the Northern Rhodesia (Crown Land & Native Reserve) Order in Council 1928, and the Northern Rhodesia (Native Trust Land) Order in Council 1947, became the Zambia State Land and Reserve Order 1963 and the Zambia Trust Land Order 1964. These orders established state and customary land types, converting Crown Land to State Land and Native Reserve Land and Native Trust Land to Reserve Land and Trust Land under customary management. The first law that allowed for compulsory acquisition of land in the public interest was passed in 1969, and in 1970 Barotse Land (Western Province) was integrated into Zambia as Reserve Land. In 1975, Zambia dramatically reformed land ownership with the Land (Conversion of Titles) Act, which abolished freehold tenure in Zambia and converted freehold property into 100-year leaseholds. The Act also abolished leaseholds of greater than 100 years. This act banned the sale of undeveloped (bare) land. This prohibition is still in force and makes sale of customary land as illegal.

Current land administration procedures were established in the Land Circular of 1985, which established a principal/agent relationship, with the Commissioner of Lands as the Principal and local and provincial councils as local agents for decentralization. This circular also defines how to apply for leases, and the administrative processes for land converstion. Since 1985, and based on the Land (Conversion of Titles) (Amendment) Act, land may be allocated to non-Zambians though there are conditions for foreigners to own land.

The 1995 Act vests all land in the President for and on behalf of all the Zambian people. It articulates land administration under two tenure systems: statutory and customary tenure. The Act recognizes and allows for the continuation of customary tenure. However, customary tenure can be converted into private leasehold tenure, but once converted, customary land rights are extinguished and the land cannot be converted back to customary tenure. Statutory land is administered in accordance with written laws and by government officials. Customary land is administered by traditional authorities based on localized customary laws, which are often unwritten. The effects of the implementation of the Land Act have been debated, but observers assert that the primary impacts include that 1. Any entity (local or foreign) can acquire land, by negotiating with a chief and with local government endorsement; 2. Domestic and foreign investors can acquire land for commercial farming, superseding the land rights of the local population; 3. Land is being increasingly commoditized; and 4. Traditional leaders are tasked with administering land on behalf of their people, often to pecuniary ends (GRZ 1995a; Mushinge and Mwnado, 2016; Mushini and Mulenga 2016). It is important to note that although the above criticisms are often leveled at the institution of the chief, however, it is important to note that Chiefs have little or no guidance or training on appropriate procedures for customary or state land allocation; 2. The law requires that consultation with affected communities occurs; and 3. It is the responsibility of both the Chiefs and Local Councils in signing off on applications to convert customary to leasehold tenure to ensure that the conversion does not infringe on any other rights (including those of local communities).

Zambia’s new Constitution of 2016, which amends the Constitution of Zambia Act 1991, dedicates a section to Land, Environment and Natural Resources. It specifies the principles of land policy, environmental and natural resources management, provides the protection of natural resources and restricts their utilization and establishment of a Land Commission: “to administer, manage and alienate land, on behalf of the President” The Constitution provides for: (1) equitable access to land and associated resources; (2) security of tenure for lawful land holders (3) recognition of indigenous cultural rites; (4) sustainable use of land; (5) transparent and cost-effective management of land; (6) conservation and protection of ecologically sensitive areas; and (7) cost-effective and efficient settlement of land disputes; and (8) river frontages, islands, lakeshores and ecologically and culturally sensitive areas be accessible to the public; not to be leased, fenced or sold; and maintained and used for conservation and preservation activities; (9) investments in land must also benefit local communities and their economy; and plans for land use to be done in a consultative and participatory manner. The constitution confirms the equal worth of women and their rights (Preamble). In addition, Article 118 specifies that traditional dispute resolution mechanisms shall not contravene the Bill of Rights or be inconsistent with the constitution or other written law (GRZ 2016; Zambia Weekly, 2017; GRZ 1995a). The Constitution development process was a controversial period, particularly as traditional leaders had concerns with the vestment of land in the Office of the President.

Urban land related legislation includes the Urban and Regional Planning (URP) Act of 2015. This Act provides a framework for administering and managing urban and regional planning in Zambia by providing for development, planning and administration principles, standards and requirements for urban and regional planning processes and systems. The Law establishes a democratic, accountable, transparent, participatory and inclusive process for urban and regional planning that allows broad based participation of; communities, private sector, interest groups and other stakeholders in the planning, implementation and operation of human settlement development. This Act also guarantees sustainable urban and rural development by promoting environmental, social and economic sustainability in development initiatives and controls at all levels of urban and regional planning (GRZ 2015b). In planned areas, the URP enables local authorities to issue “Occupancy Licenses” for 30 years. While these licenses allow the holder to apply for a Certificate of Title, common experience has been that households have been satisfied with the security of tenure offered by Occupancy. The act allows for planning to occur within customary areas, preferably with the agreement of traditional leaders. It allows for traditional leaders to be overridden however by the Minister of Lands or the President. The act also envisions a decentralized planning system that places powers in the District Planning offices. The enactment of the URP repealed the Town and Country Planning Act of 1962 and the Housing (Statutory Improvement Areas) Act of 1974. While the goals of the URP include expanding planning, simplifying procedures and rules and encouraging public participation, as of 2017 the associated regulations for implementing the Act have not been approved, nor have District Planning offices gained capacity to take on the added responsibilities associated with implementation.

TENURE TYPES

Under the 1995 Land Act and Constitution, all land in Zambia vests in the President. Land tenure types are:

Customary tenure. The majority of land in Zambia is held under customary tenure. Under customary law, individuals, families, clans, or communities hold land from generation to generation, without temporal limitation. Customary tenure applies to individual plots, forest land, common land within a village, and communal grazing land. Most smallholder subsistence farmers cultivate customary land that may or may not be held in common ownership with the community/family, although the rights of farmers are individualized. The land often does not have formal documentation (e.g., certificates, titles) and the landholders do not pay land tax. A caveat to this can be found in the Western Province, where the traditional land administration system of Western Province is well organized and decentralized. It has a clearly defined process with responsible officials accountable at each level and issues land ownership certificates (LOCs) that are locally binding, and have been used in the courts, but are not formally recognized or registered with the central government. Nonetheless those who have LOC’s, according to research, perceive that they have security of tenure and that traditional land administration practices collectively provide a de facto security of tenure (Mushinge and Mulenga 2016; Jayne et al. 2016). Recent evidence suggests that customary documentation is more prevalent than previously understood. Data from the Rural Agricultural Livelihoods Survey indicate that 6 percent of households in over 30 percent of chiefdoms indicated having some form of documentation to their right to land. Some of these represent farm permits or village land registers and none are known to be spatially explicit.

RESOURCE QUANTITY, QUALITY, USE AND DISTRIBUTION

Zambia lies within the Zambezi and Congo River Basins and has three main rivers, four large lakes, and roughly 1700 dams. Wetlands and dambos (shallow grassy wetlands in plateau areas) cover approximately 5 percent of Zambia’s total land area. The country is rich in water resources, such as the transboundary Zambezi and lakes Tanganyika, Mweru and Kariba, with 40 percent of the water in Central and Southern Africa passing through the country. The country has over 7580m3 per capita of annual internal renewable water resources. Agriculture accounts for 73 percent of water use; domestic use accounts for another 18 percent, and industry the final 8 percent. Annual freshwater withdrawals total 1.6 billion cubic meters. It is estimated that only 1.5 percent of the annual renewable water resources are being used at present. Water quantity and availability varies regionally, with some areas of the country like Western Province frequently experiencing severe drought. The annual rainfall averages between 1400 mm in the north and gradually declines to 700 mm in the south and groundwater availability is unevenly distributed (WHO/UNICEF 2015; W orld Bank 2014; F AO 2009).

Two million and seven hundred and fifty thousand hectares of land in Zambia are suitable for irrigation but only about 200 000 hectares are under active irrigation representing 7.3 percent of irrigable land utilization. Of this only 1500 hectares of land are irrigated within the lands over one million small-scale farmers, despite the presence of the Zambezi River. Emergent and large-scale farmers irrigate the remaining 198, 500 hectares. Most of the irrigated land lies along railway lines, above karstic areas for groundwater, adjacent to water bodies, and in dambos and wetlands (Hamukale 2015). The World Bank’s Irrigation Development Support Program has been piloting the provision of group titles to communities. This would allow them to gain access to large areas of land that can be irrigated and then sub-leased to agribusiness investors.

Fifty-one percent of rural Zambians have access to improved water sources, compared to 81 percent of the urban population. Water and sanitation are especially problematic in urban informal settlements. For example, the majority of informal settlements in Lusaka do not have sewers, and residents use alternatives such as pit latrines and septic tanks, which flows into groundwater, contaminating the environment and nearby water supplies. More than half of the people living in these settlements rely on boreholes for accessing water. Because the boreholes are often contaminated by raw sewage, disease is rife in these communities. In mining areas, the unrestricted discharge of effluents has polluted some local water resources. ( W orld Bank 2014; Y ubaNet 2008; Global W ater Partnership 2015).

Zambia has faced a number of challenges in managing their water resources, resulting in supply shortages, pollution, inadequate information for decision making, inefficient use, lack of financing and limited stakeholder awareness and participation (Global Water Partnership 2015). A particular concern over recent years has been the management of Kariba dam, which has not been able to meet annual electricity demand.

LEGAL FRAMEWORK

The 2011 Water Resources Management Act establishes the Water Resources Management Authority and defines its functions and powers. These include management, development, conservation, protection and preservation of Zambia’s water resources and its ecosystems for reasonable and sustainable utilization domestically and internationally as regards shared water resources specified in treaties. The Act provides for the right to draw or take water for domestic and noncommercial purposes, and that the poor and vulnerable members of the society have an adequate and sustainable source of water free from any charges. Provisions call for the creation of an enabling environment for improved adaptation to climate change and establish catchment councils, sub-catchment councils, and water users’ associations (GRZ 2011).

The 1997 Water Supply and Sanitation Act establishes the National Water Supply And Sanitation Council, with a mandate to provide for the establishment, by local authorities, of water supply and sanitation utilities and for the efficient and sustainable supply of water and sanitation services under the general regulation of the National Water Supply and Sanitation Council (GRZ 1997).

In 2013 Zambia co-sponsored General Assembly resolution 68/157, the first resolution where all UN Member States affirmed that the human right to safe drinking water and sanitation as legally binding in international law.

TENURE ISSUES

The 2011 Water Resources Management Act provides guidelines for water abstraction; bore holing and well-sinking, and international cooperation on shared water resources. The Minister is also enabled to establish national mechanisms for dispute resolution regarding shared water resources. The law affirms the human right to water and that all people should have equitable access to water. There is no private ownership of water and landowners have rights to the private and public water on their land, whether for primary, secondary (irrigation and aquaculture), or tertiary (industry and mechanical) use. However, these rights are subject to any provisions relating to conservation, restrictions in water shortage areas, protection of water resources, or any adverse impacts relating to shared transboundary waters (GRZ 2011). City councils have been challenged to manage the unauthorized drilling of boreholes in Zambia’s urban centers and there are numerous complaints of boreholes drying up or being contaminated.

The 1997 Water Supply and Sanitation Act stipulates the conditions for acquisition of land for water supply or sanitation purposes. It also establishes the rules by which an entity may apply to be a water service provider and terms of obtaining and maintaining a license. The maximum period for a license is 10 years. The providers pay a monthly license fee of 2 percent of their billing. The license fees are the major source of the National Water Supply and Sanitation Council funding, contributing over 75 percent to the overall budget (GRZ 2011b).

In most of rural Zambia, residents access water from surface sources such as rivers and lakes, through bore wells, and from hand-dug surface wells. Under customary law, water resources are managed at a community level with local traditional leaders responsible for creating and administering rules regarding allotment and use. In some cases, local residents have lost rights of access to rivers and lakes through the conversion of customary land to leasehold land, for example along the area of the Lower Zambezi that tourists favor (Kennedy Walker et al. 2015).

GOVERNMENT ADMINISTRATION AND INSTITUTIONS

The Ministry of Water Development, Sanitation and Environmental Protection (MWDSEP) is responsible for the development and management of Energy and Water resources in a sustainable manner for the benefit of the people of Zambia. Water management in Zambia is comprised of two sub-sectors: 1) Water Resources Management and Development (WRMD) and 2) Water Supply and Sanitation (WSS). Because the water sector interacts with other sectors including environment, agriculture, mining, industry, housing and energy, a Water Sector Advisory Group (WSAG) provides coordination.

Under Water Resources Management, the Department of Water Resources Development (DWRD) is mandated to develop hydraulic infrastructure such as dams, levees, canals for harnessing water resources, carry out exploratory drilling for well fields and boreholes, manage water resources development; carry out functions related to the management and development of international waters; facilitate cooperation over shared water resources at the regional and international levels; and provide technical support for all of the above in terms of planning, budgeting and mobilization of resources (GRZ 2015c).

The Ministry of Housing and Infrastructure Development (MHID) has the national mandate to provide adequate and safe water supply and sanitation, as distinguished from MWDSEP mandate to develop and manage water resources. The Department of Housing and Infrastructure Development within MHID fulfills this role. In 2007 the former Ministry of Local Government and Housing established the national urban water supply programme (NUWSSP), which provides a plan to provide urban water supply through institutions such as National Water Supply and Sanitation Council (NWASCO). The mission of the NWASCO is to provide sustainable service delivery; increase, access to affordable safe water and acceptable sanitation; to license providers; advise the Government on water supply and sanitation matters; establish and enforce sector standards and guidelines; advise providers on procedures for handling complaints from consumers; and to disseminate information to consumers on water supply and sanitation issues. Commercial service providers such as Lusaka Water & Sewerage Company (LWSC), established in 1988, is the commercial utility company responsible for facilitating the provision of potable water and adequate sanitation to the urban and informal areas of Lusaka. LWSC is overseen by NWASCO, and manages the current water supply and sanitation infrastructure, and planning and financing.

Other institutions include Water Resources Management Authority (WARMA), which is responsible for managing and regulating the use of Zambia’s water resources in an integrated, participatory and sustainable manner based on human, land, environmental and socio-economic considerations. Observers have noted that in informal settlement institutions and peri-urban areas service providers and regulatory bodies from the city level have a minimal direct presence or continuous involvement at the community/household level as regards water and sanitation (NWASCO 2014; GRZ 2011; FRACTAL 2016).

Despite strong institutional development in the water sector, both rural and urban water resource management continues to face inadequate human and institutional capacity, inadequate financing, and low infrastructure development. The expertise for irrigation water management at the field level is poor, especially among smallholder farmers. The reasons for this situation are due to, among others, an absence of water management regulations and the lack of capacity to enforce existing water rights regulations. WARMA has requested international assistance in developing water quality guidance and regulations though these have been slow to emerge (UN Water 2014; FRACTAL 2016).

GOVERNMENT REFORMS, INTERVENTIONS AND INVESTMENTS

The Government of Zambia has been committed to the water sector for the past decades. There is a clear upward trend in water sector budget allocation—an increase of 44 percent, from 2013 to 2016, including significant increases of the water/climate change and IWRM components of the budget within the Revised 6th National Development Plan of Zambia. The National Urban Water Supply and Sanitation Programme (NUWSSP 2011–2030) in Zambia was developed as the long-term national program targeted at achieving Zambia’s vision that “every household have access to adequate, clean and safe drinking water and sanitation services by 2030.” Other government reforms include the 2010 National Water Policy, development of a national Integrated Water Resources Management/Water Efficiency (IWRM/WE) Plan, and the Irrigation Development Support Project (IDSP), whose goal is to put 17 500 hectares of land under small scale irrigation (much of this under community title arrangements). Together these plans have established frameworks for intervention to advance policy development, increase capacity, especially of the local authorities and communities to operate and manage facilities on a sustainable basis, improve data collection and management, and improve overall water resource management commitments (Global Partnership for Water 2015; GRZ 2010b; GRZ 2013; Hamukale 2015).

Additionally, they have led to increased commitments to improve water resources, particularly in terms of financial commitments and donor assistance. For example, the framework provided by the IWRM/WE plan has been used to embed overseas development funding into national planning frameworks: in 2012 a grant of EUR 950,000 was awarded by African Development Bank to the Zambian Government for a project on the development of multi-purpose small dams identified as a priority area within the IWRM/WE plan (Hamukale 2015; UN Water 2014).

DONOR INTERVENTIONS AND INVESTMENTS

The World Bank Water Resources Development Project 2013–2018 supports the implementation of an integrated framework for development and management of water resources in Zambia. The project beneficiaries are targeted rural communities who will benefit from improved small-scale water resources infrastructure. The first component of the project will enhance capacity at the national and regional level to address the challenges of water resources management. The second component will address the infrastructure deficits and the third component provides institutional support in order to strengthen the institutional capacity for water resources management and development (Global Water Partnership 2015; World Bank 2013).

The Millennium Challenge Corporation is in the process (2012–2018) of completing a $495 million upgrade of Lusaka’s water and sewage system through funding of the Lusaka Water Supply, Sanitation and Drainage Project. The project entails two activities: 1. Infrastructure Activity to support the water supply and sanitation networks managed by the Lusaka Water and Sewerage Company (LWSC) in expanding the city’s water supply network, rehabilitating and expanding sewer networks, and improving drainage infrastructure, engineering and resettlement professional support services. 2. Institutional Strengthening Activity to provide technical assistance to help LWSC and LCC pursue new and ongoing government sector reform efforts and institutional governance for improved sector management and sustainability. The activity also includes support for better asset and environmental management by LWSC, and it provides technical assistance so that LCC can improve strategic planning, maintenance and environmental management.

USAID has been providing assistance to Zambia since 1977 and within the water and sanitation sector. USAID through the WASH plus activity known as SPLASH (Schools Promoting Learning Achievement through Sanitation and Hygiene) is supporting the Ministry of Education to bring clean drinking water, sanitation and hygiene education to primary schools in Eastern Province.

The German Development Agency, GIZ has been active in supporting water sector improvements including its Water Sector Reform Programme (2013–2015), which advises the Zambian Government on the implementation of two national programs for the urban and rural water supply and sanitation services, and for the establishment of climate-sensitive water resources management. Its 2012–2017 Integrating Climate Change in Water Resources Monitoring Programme assists the Water Resources Management Authority (WARMA) in their process of dividing the country into water catchment areas and sub-catchment areas and developing a water resources information system (IWRMIS) for improved integrated water resources management (GIZ 2014).

RESOURCE QUANTITY, QUALITY, USE AND DISTRIBUTION

Forests are a significant resource in Zambia comprising around 44 million hectares, or over 58 percent of total land area. Dry woodlands and forests form the majority of forest types in Zambia, which are defined as vegetation types dominated by wooded plants that cover more than 10 percent of the ground surface. Dry woodland and forests can be separated into miombo, Kalahari, mopane and munga or mixed woodlands. A significant area of dry evergreen forests is also found in the country. Miombo woodland covers approximately 45 percent of the total land area and is of considerable economic importance in Zambia for the supply of firewood, charcoal, timber and non-timber forest products. Kalahari or Baikiaea-Terminalia woodland is found on Kalahari sands of the upper-Zambezi basin in the Western and North-Western provinces. Covering approximately nine percent of the country’s land area, it is the main source of commercial timber for Zambia. Mopane woodlands are distributed in a band stretching from southern to eastern Zambia. Mopane woodland covers approximately 3.5 percent of the country’s land area and is important economically for timber and edible caterpillars, as well as charcoal and fuel wood (Kindt et al. 2011; Stringer et al. 2012; USAID 2003).

A network of Zambia’s statutory protected areas is composed of: 480 Forest Reserves (FRs) comprising 175 National Forests (NFs) and 305 Local Forests (LFs) with an estimated combined total area of 74,361 km; 20 National Parks (NPs) covering 63,630 km and 36 Game Management Areas (GMAs) covering about 167,557 km (GRZ 2015e).

Zambia’s forest ecosystems contribute $1.3 billion, roughly 6.3 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP), to the national economy. Forests provide timber, raw materials, fuel, food, and medicine that contribute to the livelihoods and income of rural communities. Zambia’s forests also provide environmental regulating services, such as carbon storage and sequestration, the regulation of water flows and water quality, erosion control, sediment retention, pollination and disease regulation. They also provide supporting services for tourism, recreational activities and other cultural pursuits. There is a gender dimension to men and women’s access to and use of forest resources: men derive forest income was largely from the three highest value products: charcoal, timber, and honey, while women are reliant upon and derive income from primarily from low value perishable products like wild fruits, tubers, mushrooms, and edible insects (UNEP 2015; Eckman 2007; USAID 2012).

Deforestation rates are significant in Zambia, with 250,000–300,000 ha of forest cover lost per year. Wood extraction, agricultural expansion, infrastructure development and fires are the main drivers of deforestation and forest degradation. Charcoal production is considered one of the primary causes of forest degradation in Zambia and the main cause of carbon stock loss from forests in the country. Lack of adequate forest management strategies that integrate customary institutions into the forest management plans has been cited as one of the main contributors to deforestation resulting from charcoal production. Land clearance for agriculture is another primary cause of forest cover loss. Zambia is a partner country in the United Nations Collaborative Programme on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries (UN-REDD) and is currently at the first stage of under the UN-REDD Quick Start initiative (UNEP 2015; CIFOR 2014).

LEGAL FRAMEWORK

In Zambia, contemporary forest legislation is largely a continuation of the first forestry law, the Forest Ordinance from 1949, followed by the Forests Act of 1973. The fifth and sixth national development plans, from 2006 and 2011 respectively recognized deforestation as a central environmental issue. The Forests Act of 1999 provided the legislative framework for the establishment, management, and conservation of national and local forests and trees, though it never came into force. The Act’s objective was to ensure rational and sustainable protection, management, production, and utilization of forest resources (GRZ, 2006 and GRZ, 2010c).

In 2014, the National Forestry Policy was developed to reduce deforestation and forest degradation through participatory forest management, improved law enforcement and private sector investment, as wells as to regulate the production of charcoal and the export of timber. The policy was approved by government on October 2014, but has now been backed legally by the Forest Act 2015. The Forest Act provides for the establishment and declaration of national forests, local forests, joint forest management areas, botanical reserves, private forests and community forests; the participation of local communities, local authorities, traditional institutions, non-governmental organizations and other stakeholders in sustainable forest management; the conservation and use of forests and trees for the sustainable management of forests ecosystems and biological diversity; and establishes the Forest Development Fund. The Act also endorses its participation in a number of international conventions including United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna, the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance, especially as Water Fowl Habitat, the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Convention to Combat Desertification in those Countries experiencing Serious Drought and/or Desertification. It also repeals and replaces the Forests Act, 1999 (GRZ 2015d; Zambia Weekly 2017). The 2015 Act provides major changes to the legal framework through the recognition of community forestry, which devolves management rights of forests to local institutions. It also creates a framework for the consideration of carbon rights as a forest product.

Unfortunately, Zambia lacks a harmonized framework for customary land and resource management. Traditional authorities have an established role in allocating and administering customary land within chiefdom boundaries. This includes approving conversion of forest and bush to smallholder agricultural land, as well as management of communal grazing and wetland areas. Chiefs provide customary permission for charcoal production, brick making, and timber collection. State authorities do, however, have overlapping responsibilities for permitting many of these same activities. There is a widespread lack of capacity or structures for the state to communicate with traditional authorities, and in adequate state representatives to allocate permits, monitor or enforce land use activities on customary lands. This contributes to insecure resource rights. Insecurity arises from: lack of information and awareness at the household or traditional authority level; lack of access to government services to register rights; inconsistent or arbitrary enforcement of rights. In some cases, parties may take advantage of these ambiguities, for example in the case of the illicit charcoal and timber trades.

The Zambian National Joint Programme document on REDD + provides the primary policy framework for designing and implementing REDD + in the country. This document includes seven provincial forestry sector analysis reports and a synthesizing national sector analysis (Kamelarczyk and Hall 2014).

TENURE ISSUES

Tenure issues relating to forests are complex. Some forests are owned by individuals, firms or industries and other private entities such as non-governmental organizations, and considered under private ownership. Other tracts of forests are under the oversight of traditional leaders or customary authorities, while others are owned directly by the State. At the same time, all land under private leasehold tenure is classified as State Land as are all privately owned forests (individual, industry and other private). Both trust and reserve lands are regarded as customary land and administered by traditional chiefs and their headmen who control land allocation However, paragraph 3 of the Forests Act of 2015 states “For the avoidance of doubt, it is hereby declared that the ownership of all trees standing on and all forest produce derived from the State Lands, Reserves, Trust Lands (Customary Lands), National Forests and Local Forests is vested in the President on behalf of the Republic until lawfully transferred or assigned under this Act or any other written law.” (GRZ & FAO, 2008; Kamelarczyk and Hall 2014).

Forest reserves are included in the state land category with the caveat that some are legally on customary land. However, for the duration of the time that a forest is gazetted (officially designated) as such, it is managed by the state administration for the purposes of conservation and timber and citizens living in such forest are “squatters” (GRZ 1999). This notion is reinforced by the draft constitution’s definition of state land as “through which, any natural resource passes including gazetted or declared national forests” (GRZ 2014, art. 353). While Local Forests have some resource sharing through a Forest Management Committee that features a representative of the chief, ownership of all trees and forest produce on any land in the country is vested in the President (Honig and Mulenga 2015).

The Forests Act provides that individuals and entities may acquire rights to collect forest products under various contractual terms and licenses. Licenses are required to enter National Forests. The Forests Act prohibits access to and use of products from National and Local Forests without licenses or other contractual arrangements. Those who violate the Forests Act are subject to criminal and civil penalties. There are three classes of licenses in forestry: operational licenses, production licenses and conveyance licenses. An Operational license entitles an individual, group or company to engage in forest exploitation. There are three types of operational licenses: Casual (or subsistence), Pit-sawing (small-scale commercial) and Commercial Sawmilling (or concession) licenses. A Casual license is a permit issued for domestic use of forest produce such as poles, firewood and production of charcoal, but also for timber for a few days for a maximum of 10 trees. Although intended for use by rural households, some sawmills and manufacturers get their timber by sponsoring local people to obtain such licenses. A Pitsaw license is issued for small-scale commercial timber exploitation. It is a one-year (previously three-year) renewable license and open only to Zambian nationals, either individually or as groups. The maximum area for a pitsaw license is 1,500 ha (previously 5,000 ha). A Commercial or Concession license is issued for large- scale exploitation of timber and is a three-year renewable license (previously five-year). The maximum area for a commercial license is 5,000 ha (previously 10,000 ha) (FLEGT 2014; GRZ 2015e).

The Forest Act allows for the conversion of forest to agricultural land, and does not require any permitting for this activity as long as it is done for the benefit of the local community. However, production of charcoal and any use/sale of timber beyond subsistence does require a permit and Forest Department approval. As a result, the Forest Department has little ability to contain deforestation associated with agriculture on leasehold lands or on customary lands, unless the land is being used for timber sales or charcoal production.

The vast majority of the country’s total forest area is found on land managed by customary authorities, yet District and Provincial Forest Departments are primarily occupied with the management of Forest Reserves. The Forest Department does issue concession licenses on customary land but has limited interaction with traditional leaders. Similarly, permits may be issued by the Forest Department for forest products such as charcoal, though the siting and enforcement of these permits is minimal. Though the Forest Department should be involved in permitting subsistence use of trees for building and non-timber uses, it is rare for the department to be involved in management of subsistence uses of the forests on customary areas. Traditional authorities should have a significant role to play in the forest sector, but in practice there is little coordination among the Forest Department and traditional leaders. Forested areas in customary lands have diverse stakeholder interests with overlapping procedural and resource rights, based both on overlapping and ambiguous statutory and customary legal frameworks. Many of the actors who are the direct agents of deforestation have little to no statutory rights within the landscape, though customarily, deforestation for charcoal or agriculture is a mechanism to establish rights to agricultural fields.

The revised National Forestry Policy of 2014 which prioritizes the establishment of a framework that supports traditional leadership and communities to develop local level rules and regulations to facilitate effective management of forest resources. Chiefs and headmen allocate land, including forest land, to community members. If the landholder believes his rights are secure, he may clear a portion of the land for cultivation of crops and leave the remainder as forest to use for non-timber forest products, collection of fuel wood, and grazing. Very little progress has been made towards achieving these objectives, mainly because of lack of implementation. Of Zambia’s 480 Forest Reserves, 64 percent are considered Local Forests, which allow for local use and involvement in management, for example through Joint Forest Management. However, in practice many of these are not actively managed at all. Furthermore, most of the forests on customary land are managed based on limited knowledge and management capabilities (Mulenga et al. 2015; Kalinda et al. 2013; GRZ 2014c).

With respect to other drivers of deforestation and forest degradation, such as grazing and bush fires, there are limited monitoring and enforcement tools available to government. Grazing practices are largely permitted and there are few regulations around grazing within forests. Fires are used purposefully for clearing land and underbrush in forests and agricultural fields, as well as used by poachers as part of hunting practices. While bush fires are not permitted by law and there are strict penalties, enforcement is extremely difficult. As a result, the US Forest Service has, in recent, years supported fire management training with the Forest Department.

Under the Forest Act of 2015, forest carbon is a newly defined major forest product. The terms s for generation, ownership and trade of carbon are expected to be clarified in forthcoming carbon rights regulations. Zambia is still clarifying its legal framework for accounting for carbon credits. Clarity on rights to benefit for various stakeholders associated with the non-consumptive use of carbon may also be addressed.

GOVERNMENT ADMINISTRATION AND INSTITUTIONS

The Ministry of Lands, and Natural Resources (MLNR) has overall responsibility for forest resources in Zambia. The Department of National Parks and Wildlife under the Ministry of Tourism and the Arts undertakes management of national parks in Zambia. Other ministries impacting the forest sector include the Ministry of Agriculture which has responsibility for agro-biodiversity, and sustainable land management; the Zambian Environmental Management Agency, which is responsible for environmental impact assessments, alien invasive species, water and air pollution; and the National Heritage Conservation Commission, which is mandated to protect and preserve natural and cultural heritage sites (GRZ 2015e; UN-REDD 2010a). The Ministry of Energy has responsibility for wood fuels and household-based energy resources (including those harvested from forests) (Eckman 2007).

The Forestry Department, under the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, is the government agency charged with administering and monitoring of forest resources. The Forestry Department has a presence in all nine provinces and in every district. The REDD+ Coordination Unit will be based in the Forestry Department, and monitoring, reporting and verification (MR V) of REDD+ will be carried out by the Forestry Department with technical assistance from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) (Mulenga et al. 2015).

GOVERNMENT REFORMS, INTERVENTIONS AND INVESTMENTS

Given the importance of forests to the economy, employment, and livelihoods, the environment and its culture, Zambia has made significant efforts to develop these resources sustainably. The Zambia Forestry Action Programme (ZFAP) (2000–2020) is the government’s major forestry initiative and includes programs for indigenous Forest Management and Biodiversity Conservation, Trees and Forest Development, Forest Industry Development, Wood fuel Energy Development, Forestry Education and Training, and Forestry Research.

Joint Forest Management. The 1999 Forest Act creates provisions for the establishment of Joint Forest Management (JFM) areas in Local Forests, forest plantations or open areas, as well as associated Forest Management Committees. The establishment of National Forests and Local Forests requires consultation with local authorities (implied to be the District Councils), but does not imply that engagement is required with traditional authorities. The 1999 Forest Act requires management plans be developed for each forest reserve, though this has not been instituted to date. JFM provides a structure for benefit sharing of revenues derived by local forests with a 60 percent share anticipated to go to government and 40 percent remaining with communities. A limited number of pilots were established between 2000–2010, however these are now largely defunct and have not met the original purposes of JFM.

Community Forest Management. The 2015 Forest Act provides for the option of establishing community forests through a Community Forest Management Agreement. The concept seeks to devolve control over a demarcated forest to a community as long as that community maintains, protects, develops and uses the forest in a sustainable way that promotes subsistence rights and sustainable sale of forest products. The creation of a Community Forest follows a process of boundary negotiation, establishment and recognition of a management group, management planning and development of rules, creation of a Community Forest Agreement and approval by the Forest Department, followed by implementation. As of June 2017, the regulations have been drafted but are awaiting approval from the Ministry of Justice. In the meantime, the Finnish-funded Decentralized Forest and Other Natural Resources Management Program has worked through the Department of Forests and Ministry of Chiefs and Traditional Affairs with district government to create the conditions for 16 community forests to be established in the coming years. With the rights more fully devolved than under JFM and the ease of establishing groups and rules, it is expected to be more accessible and successful than JFM.

Natural resources (including forests) sector development is one of the five key “support sectors” prioritized in the Sixth National Development Plan (SNDP) 2011–2015. The natural resource focus in the SNDP was to move towards reversing deforestation, wildlife depletion, heritage sites degradation, and land degradation. Further, the intention is to enhance collaboration among players in natural resources management in order to ensure sustainable exploitation of natural resources. This is further reinforced in the Seventh National Development Plan, whose preparation is ongoing, from the lens of an integrated landscape approach (GRZ 2013; Mulenga et al. 2015).

Finally, the Government’s REDD+ National Strategy was completed in April 2015. Supported by the World Bank and UN REDD, the strategy demonstrates the country’s global and national commitments to promote REDD+. Its vision is to realize a prosperous climate change-resilient economy by 2030, anchored upon sustainable management and utilization of Zambia’s natural resources for improved livelihoods. The goal of the REDD + National Strategy is to contribute to reductions in national greenhouse gas emissions by improving forest and land management, and to ensure equitable sharing of both carbon and non-carbon benefits among stakeholders. Implementation of the national REDD+ strategy also focuses on tackling different drivers of deforestation in both forestry and other identified key sectors such as agriculture, energy, mining and land use. The strategy will be implemented through a set of national-level policy reforms combined with a landscape approach (World Bank 2016b).

While government interventions have supported community involvement in the forest sector and an increase in management structures at the community level, enhancements in participatory resource and management planning, implementation, and monitoring, conflict resolution, capacity building for local leaders, especially in integrating technical and local knowledge, and strengthening local forest institutions will help to better advance laws and policies (USAID 2010; FLEGT 2014; Kamelarczyk and Hall 2014).

DONOR INTERVENTIONS AND INVESTMENTS

The BioCarbon Fund Initiative for Sustainable Forest Landscapes (ISFL) is a multilateral fund, supported by donor governments and managed by the World Bank. Supporting the Zambia Integrated Forest Landscape Program (2015–2024), the goal of the program is to promote reduced greenhouse gas emissions from the land sector in Zambia’s Eastern Province, while simultaneously improving rural livelihoods and wildlife conservation. In total, the program is expected to cover 6 million hectares. Of this, improved sustainable land management practices will be targeted in approximately 5 million hectares of land, and 1.1 million hectares of threatened intact forest will be targeted for protection through the implementation of verifiable REDD+ activities (BioCarbon Fund 2017). It is expected that the program will support customary land documentation and subsequent land-use planning activities in Chipata District.

The USAID-funded Community Forest Program, implemented by BioCarbon Partners is focused on forest protection within Game Management Areas of Eastern and Lusaka Provinces with a focus on establishing REDD+ project areas across at least 700,000 hectares of the Zambezi and Luangwa ecosystems through community livelihood and deforestation mitigation activities.

USAID’s Tenure and Global Climate Change (TGCC) program (2013–2018), is identifying and testing models that strengthen resource tenure governance and increase the effectiveness of climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts through the documentation of customary land rights and the clarification of overlapping land and resource rights in five chiefdoms of Chipata and Petauke Districts. One element of the program is examining whether households with land documentation will invest in sustainable land-use practices, agroforestry in particular, to a greater degree than households without land documentation. In another more rural area, TGCC is using a systematic community resource and household land documentation process to promote land-use planning and communication between government and traditional leaders. (USAID 2017).

Zambia is one of the Finland’s long-term partner countries in development cooperation and forestry has been one of the key cooperation sectors since the 1980’s. Its most current programs are 1) Support to Civil Society Organizations in the Field of the Environment, 2015–2017 and 2) Forest and Natural Resources Programme, 2015–2017. The overall goal of the Forest and Natural Resources Programme is to contribute to the reduction of poverty and inequality and improvement of environmental conditions through devolved integrated sustainable forest and other natural resources management in the districts of Chinsali, Shiwang’andu and Nakonde in Muchinga Province and Kasempa, Ikelenge and Mwinilunga of North-Western Province. The program targets forest dependent individuals and households including women, vulnerable groups and households living in extreme poverty. The beneficiaries also include traditional authorities, district government administration, locally active NGOs and private sector enterprises. In particular this program has made important advances in the legal framework around community forest management (Government of Finland 2017).

RESOURCE QUANTITY, QUALITY, USE AND DISTRIBUTION

Zambia’s Copperbelt, located in the north-central part of the country on the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo, is one of the world’s greatest metallogenic areas. It is the world’s eighth largest copper producer (USGS), producing 730,000 tons of copper and accounting for 85 percent of national mining revenue; is the world’s eighth largest producer of cobalt; and produces about 20 percent of the world’s emeralds. Uranium deposits have also been found. Mining accounts for 12 percent of Zambia’s GDP, 70 percent of total export value and constitutes 62 percent of foreign direct investment. Mining tax revenues contribute a significant portion to total government revenue and are also a significant source of formal employment (World Bank 2016; KPMG 2013).

Privatization of Zambia’s mining industry began in the mid-1990’s in an effort to shore up a failing industry and attract investment. The fresh capital helped revive and develop the sector and the liberalization of the economy and privatization of mining companies, including Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines (ZCCM), started to draw much needed foreign direct investment. Leading investors in the mining sector include ZCCM Holdings, Hetro Mining and Ore Dealers, Barrick Gold Vale, Vedanta Resources, China Beijing Soly Technology, Konlola Copper Mines in Chililabombwe, and Aupie Mining in Lusaka, among others. In April 2012, the Zambian government increased the rate of mineral royalties from 3 percent to 6 percent and in 2017 increased to 9 percent for open cast mining in an attempt to attain a more equitable distribution of wealth derived from mineral resources. This puts Zambia’s mineral royalties on par with other mining regions such as Australia and much of Latin America (USDOS 2009b; Jamasmie 2014; Kruger 2013).

Informal mining is practiced around the country. The Black Mountain in Kitwe possesses old slag heaps left over from copper extraction. Youth, women and unemployed mine without mining rights or in third- party lands, and without the appropriate authorization at considerable threat to health, risk of injury and danger of loss of life (Lusaka Voice 2015; Opongo 2016). Kabwe has experienced significant negative effects from the exposure to lead poisoning, which has been addressed by a series of remediation projects funded by the World Bank.

A key criticism of the sector, despite its promise, is that the distribution of the sector’s benefits does not “trickle down” to the majority of the population. For example, mineral revenues are not shared with the local governments or communities where minerals are extracted, so undermine their social and physical development (World Bank 2016b).

LEGAL FRAMEWORK

The Zambian Constitution protects the right to property but permits acquisition of minerals, natural gas, or any right accruing from a license issued for prospecting or mining minerals on customary or leasehold land. Failure of a landholder to allow for mineral exploration and extraction justifies the acquisition of the land (GRZ 1991).

The Ministry of Mines and Minerals Development is responsible for developing legislation for the mining sector in Zambia. The Mines and Minerals Act (1995) enacted by the Zambian government significantly simplified licensing procedures placed minimum reasonable constraints on prospecting and mining activities. The act allowed international arbitration to be written into development agreements. However, the 1995 act was repealed in 2008 following widespread criticism of what was perceived to be excessive scope for the grant of tax concessions. The act was replaced by the Mines and Minerals Development Act 2008, which rules that no special agreements should be entered into by the government for the development of large-scale mining licenses and annulled the development agreements concluded under the previous act.

Amendments to the Act were made in 2011, 2012 and 2014 and 2015 and 2016. The most recent amendments revised the law relating to the exploration for, mining and processing of, minerals; provide for safety, health and environmental protection in mining operations; provide for the establishment of the Mining Appeals Tribunal (GRZ 2015). The 2016 to amendment of the Mines and Minerals Development Act 2015, if enacted, would lower the royalty rates on production of minerals for the third time in two years (GRZ 2016b).

Other legislation affecting the mining sector include the Environmental Management Act No. 12 of 2011, the Zambia Development Agency Act 2006, the Citizenship Empowerment Act 2006, the Zambia Revenue Authority Act, the Zambia Wild Life Act 2015, the Cooperative Societies Act 1998, the Business Regulatory Act 2014, the Lands Act, the Land and Deeds Act (ICLG 2017).

TENURE ISSUES

Rights for mineral exploration and extraction are granted by license. Reconnaissance permits are available for non-renewable periods of 3 months. Prospecting licenses are granted for 2-year renewable terms, over any size of area. Three-year retention licenses allow an individual or entity to retain rights to an area where a feasibility study has been done, but the conditions at the time of the study are not favorable for development. Large-scale mining licenses grant exclusive rights to an area for mineral extraction for periods up to 25 years and are conditioned on preparing an environmental protection plan and plan for the employment and training of Zambian citizens (GRZ 1995b; KPMG 2013).

Licenses are also available for small-scale miners. The Ministry of Mines and Minerals Development grants non-renewable 2-year prospecting permits for areas up to 10 square kilometers. Small-scale mining licenses are issued for renewable 10-year terms. Local people can obtain artisanal mining rights for non-renewable 2-year periods for areas of 5 hectares or less. Gemstone licenses are granted for terms of up 10 years for areas of 400 hectares or less (GRZ MMD n.d.).

Under section 69 of The Lands (Compulsory Acquisition) Act, the Director of Mines may consider expropriation for mining operations if it is in the best interests of the Republic or that the holders of artisanal or small scale mining operations covering will be improved by the coordination of the mining operations. This is only with respect to artisanal and small-scale mining operations (ICLG 2017).

GOVERNMENT ADMINISTRATION AND INSTITUTIONS

The Ministry of Mines and Mineral Development (MMD) has authority over the mining industry and enforces the terms of the Mines and Minerals Act and is administered by the office of the Director of Mines. The MMD gives primary power to the Director of Mines, Director of Mines Safety, Director of Mining Cadastre and Director of Geological Survey. The Minister provides a supervisory role over the respective Director’s. During the early years of privatization, the GRZ instituted a policy of non-participation in the mining industry under which the government limited itself to a regulatory role. In recent years, the government has increased its involvement, including engaging as a shareholder in mining enterprises (Zambian Watchdog 2009; Mobbs 2008). Zambia’s mining cadastre is hosted on a web portal that allows users to identify applications for mining licenses as well as active licenses. (portals.flexicadastre.com/zambia/).

GOVERNMENT REFORMS, INTERVENTIONS AND INVESTMENTS

The government has been actively courting private investment in the mining sector since the completion of privatization in 2000. In the 2011–2016 National Development Plan, expectations for growth in mining are high: 40 percent of the country remains geologically unmapped. The 60 percent area geologically mapped so far has seen new mining developments taking place particularly in North Western Province. Although articulated in the National Development Plan and in other growth strategies there is no specific mining sector development plan or strategy (World Bank 2016b; GRZ 2013).

Government reforms and interventions seek to diversify the sector away from copper and cobalt to others such as nickel, gold, manganese, iron and uranium. Revisions to the policy framework including Mining Policy and various pieces of legislation which include the following: the 1995 Mining Policy; the Mines and Minerals Development Act of 2008; the Petroleum (Exploration and Production) Act, 2008 are planned to increase in exploration activities, ensure sustainable production and management of mineral resources, expand local and formal employment opportunities and contribute even more to GDP (GRZ 2013).

DONOR INTERVENTIONS AND INVESTMENTS

The World Bank’s Zambia—Mining and Environmental Remediation and Improvement Project 2017–2022 seeks to reduce environmental health risks to the local population in critically polluted mining areas in Chingola, Kabwe, Kitwe and Mufulira municipalities, including lead exposure in Kabwe municipality by remediating contaminated hotspots and improving environmental infrastructure enhancing institutional capacity for environmental governance and compliance and reducing environmental health risks through localized interventions (World Bank 2016c).

Australian Aid has been very active in the extractive industries sector in sub Saharan Africa through The International Mining for Development Centre (IM4DC). IM4DC supports developing nations to transform their extractive resource endowments into inclusive and sustainable economic and social development. It achieves this by building capacity in mining governance through education and training, fellowships, institutional partnerships, action research, advice to governments and its global community of practice. Its efforts in Zambia, as well as Malawi, Republic of Congo and DRC were focused on supporting the development of key technical skills in the mining sector. In Zambia, it has facilitated changes to mining industry tax regimes through stakeholder dialogue during its legislation efforts to reduce mining royalties (AusAid 2015).

RESOURCE QUANTITY, QUALITY, USE AND DISTRIBUTION

Zambia’s abundant wildlife resources are world recognized and provide an important contribution to national GDP through photographic tourism, hunting and game meat. Zambia’s 20 National Parks (65,000 km2), 36 Game Management Areas (GMAs) (167,000 km2) and other wildlife sanctuaries cover more than 30 percent of the country. The country also has over 100 private wildlife ranches that cover 112,769 hectares; these have grown dramatically in recent years. Yet the economic potential of Zambia’s wildlife has not yet been fully realized. While settlements are not permitted within Zambia’s National Parks, they are permitted within the GMAs, unless an approved Game Management Plan says otherwise. Although Zambia has a few renowned national parks (Lower Zambezi, Mosi-a-Tunya, South Luangwa) and world-class hunting areas, the larger system has been plagued by declining wildlife populations, increased pressure from poaching and encroachment and limited management resources.

LEGAL FRAMEWORK

Zambia’s legal framework for wildlife is grounded in its Wildlife Act of 2015, which is largely consistent with the Wildlife Act of 1998. Since 2015, wildlife has been managed by the Department of National Parks and Wildlife (DNPW), which is under the authority of the Ministry of Tourism and Culture. Previously, Zambia’s wildlife had been managed through a parastatal organization, the Zambia Wildlife Authority (ZAWA). During 2015 and 2016 a Wildlife Policy was developed and circulated, though not heavily consulted. Rights to wildlife may be transferred from the state to other actors through licenses and permits, however there are a series of different regulations and permits depending on, whether the animals in consideration are alive, to be killed, or transferred in pieces. Regardless of the status of the land on which wildlife is resident, the landholder has to apply for license to harvest wildlife.

The 2015 Wildlife Act provides authority for Forest Department Officers to enforce wildlife legislation, and provides Wildlife Officers with authority to enforce forest department legislation. This opens the door to more holistic management of resources, however, there remains challenges of insufficient funding and manpower for active management in these areas even with more officers.

TENURE ISSUES

Wildlife tenure presents an interesting management challenge, given that wildlife is mobile across landscapes, moving between National Parks, Game Management Areas, Open Areas and private leaseholds, each of which have different restrictions on use and management. Zambia establishes hunting quotas for GMAs, however these have been criticized at times for not having adequate information on the underlying populations at a national, let alone a local level to establish a sustainable offtake level. This lack of information about the underlying resource limits opportunities for sustainable management and allocation of hunting licenses effectively. Equally challenging is the framework around the allocation of hunting concessions, which are subject to re-bid every seven years. This relatively short term reduced incentives for a concessionaire to invest in infrastructure and local communities and incentivizes over use of the existing resources during the seven-year period.

While technically the authority of ZAWA extends across the whole country, their active management is largely restricted to National Parks and GMAs. As Zambia considers wildlife management through other options like community land trusts, easements, conservancies, there is a need for a more holistic approach that would promote community and private sector partnerships and sustainable use.

Ownership of wildlife on private game ranches requires annual ownership renewal and annual fee on every animal, raising costs for proviate ranchers and reducing incentives to increase wildlife numbers. With improved policies, private and community game ranches could help support rural development an increase benefits to Zambians.

For example, while safari hunting is the primary economic activity promoted by the DNPW in the GMA areas, communities have received limited benefits from these activities. Zambia’s most developed community governance institution, the community resource board (CRB) initially established under the Wildlife Act of 1998, provides for community participation in the management of wildlife resources and is the main interface with DNPW for local communities, but residents have limited, formal legal rights to benefit from resource management (DSI 2008). The CRB structure has been established by law, but relatively few of these function without significant external support. In particular, the CRB acts as a co-manager of the GMA, however, they have rights to income generated from the GMA management but no rights to the resource itself.

DONOR INTERVENTIONS AND INVESTMENTS

Since 1998 and the establishment of ZAWA, there have been a series of donor supported wildlife management activities, primarily around management of National Parks and support to improve the governance of CRBs. While many of these programs achieved significant success, their victories have not necessarily been sustained. Programs have included: Administrative Management Design for Game Management Areas (ADAME), Luangwa Integrated Resource Development Project (LIRDP), and Reclassification and Effective Management of the National Protected Area Systems Project (REMNPAS).

Some of Zambia’s most successful conservation efforts involve partnerships agreements between DNPW and international NGOs. In particular, the Frankfurt Zoological Society has supported the re- establishment of black rhino in North Luangwa National Park, while leading anti-poaching campaigns. African Parks has partnered with Liuwa Plains National Park and Bangwelu Wetlands, with success around community engagement in park management. Six of Zambia’s eight parks that meet minimum requirements for management effectiveness are managed through partnership agreements (Sichilongo et al. 2012).

An emerging, though largely untested, model in Zambia is the use of community trusts to secure rights to land and wildlife. In Kaindu Chiefdom surrounding Kafue National Park, The Nature Conservancy has been supporting the establishment of a community natural resource trust that allows the community to title areas within the GMA under the community’s name (the land had already been converted to leasehold prior to community engagement). This approach allows the community to control partnership agreements with safari operators and other investors through subleases and contracts, to a greater degree than would be possible under a hunting concession offered through the DNPW. These arrangements are new in Zambia and require further testing.