CENTRE for Environment Justice (CEJ) Zambia is concerned that protected areas in developing countries are now being over-exploited for financial gains while ignoring the true essence of nature conservancy.
CEJ Head of Research Freeman Mubanga discloses that Climate Change impacts are already proving it difficult for nature conservancy agencies to facilitate the restoration of functional ecosystems.
He has since called on the Zambian government to fulfill conservation commitments to Non-Extraction in protected areas.
Mr. Mubanga states that CEJ is, therefore, calling on stakeholders not to forget that nature conservation remains the primary aim of protected areas.
He adds that the ethical basis of biodiversity conservation is recognized by signatories of the Convention on Biological Diversity, nationally through wildlife protection and protected area legislation, by senior members of all the world’s major religions (Palmer and Finlay 2003), and by much of the general public.
Mr. Mubanga says scientific understanding has in recent decades significantly progressed about the critical role of both terrestrial protected areas and marine protected areas (MPAs) for biodiversity conservation and the maintenance of life-support systems on the planet.
“The 1994 International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) guidelines define a protected area as follows: An area of land and/or sea especially dedicated to the protection and maintenance of biological diversity, and of natural and associated cultural resources, and managed through legal or other effective means. (IUCN, 1994, p. 7). Nonetheless, in 2008 the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA) revised the definition in response to a request from the 2004 World Conservation Congress. The 2008 IUCN-WCPA definition provides: A Protected Area (PA) is a clearly defined geographical space recognized, dedicated and managed, through legal and other effective means, to achieve the long-term conservation of nature with associated ecosystem services and cultural values (Dudley, 2008),” he said.
The CEJ Head of Research observed that given the current impacts of climate change on the environment, protected areas are scientifically proven to be significant to preserve not only wild species but also the ecosystems in which species live.
“It has been observed that over the past 25year that it is becoming increasingly challenging for forests, wildlife and nature at large to remain ecologically resilient (i.e., the capacity of an ecosystem to respond to a perturbation or disturbance by resisting damage and recovering quickly). This means that any disturbance to our environment including fires, flooding, windstorms, insect population explosions, and human activities such as deforestation, fracking of the ground for oil extraction, pesticide sprayed in soil, and the introduction of exotic plant or animal species, has an inordinate impact on the restoration of the damage caused and this ultimately robs governments huge financial tolls to facilitate recovery,” Mr. Mubanga said.
NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT..NO MINING IN THE LOWER ZAMBEZI…..ZAMBIANS HAVE REFUSED AND ZAMBIANS ARE THE CUSTODIANS OF ZAMBIA……THE PRESIDENT IS BELOW ZAMBIANS..THEY’RE THE ONES WHO OFFERED HIM EMPLOYMENT…SO IF ZAMBIANS SAY NO ITS NO…PERIOD
How about some factual proof of these arguments….. where did the head of research obtain all these facts? I can’t find anything like that even after ten minutes of Googling……. Sounds a bit like absolute bullsh!t but I stand corrected
@ 2 – you need proof at this late hour…where have you been? Mining destroys nature; that much is common sense. The land will be blown apart and with it, the whole ecosystem since formation. Fact is, once the blasting begins, various species of trees & creatures will perish for good – all for our greed. A few wealthy people will take their profits & leave. Zambians will still be in the same state as they are now, but with a damaged environment to grapple with. Be wise.
#plant a tree please!
No mining in lower zambezi. Period.
@No Corruption in Zambia
You do not need scientific proof on this which may not be readily obtainable given how rigorous the methods of science are and how long it may sometimes take to have results of scientific investigation available. It is merely a matter of precaution that has been used in international environmental law and underpins many international conventions and treaties on matters of the natural environment. Where there is reasonable suspicion that mining may damage the ecosystem in the Lower Zambezi, you do not have to wait to see the catastrophic consequences of this. Better safe than sorry. We were told many years ago by tobacco manufacturing companies and scientists working for them that there was no causal link between cigarette smoking and lung cancer. Those who took…
Lusaka Times, for goodness sake fix your site. It is full of garbage SLOWING UP EVERYTHING. Just trying to read articles on your site these days has become a pain in the @$$. Things popping up everywhere bring the site to a crawl. Your site is leaky and loaded with malware….fix it!
@No Corruption in Zambia
… precaution were saved from getting lung cancer whilst some of those who did not ended up suffering from lung cancer. Later it came to be proved there was a link between cigarette smoking and lung cancer. There are so many conditions of ill-health in humans and animals whose cause we do not know about to-date. Hence the need to take precaution with how we relate with the natural environment, because the cause of these conditions of ill-health in most cases turn out to be more about how we treat the natural environment. A case in point is that of Covid-19, a disease whose virus is said to have originated in bats and jumped to human species because of deforestation and the increasing demand for wild animals that brings humans closer to wild animals and…
@No Corruption in Zambia
…depletes animal species that feed on bats that is seen to be one natural way of controlling Covid-19 causing pathogens.
No mining in the lower Zambezi plz
It must be stopped by all cost, you can’t fight nature, nature is good for us let us preserve our national parks!!!
Weather this agreement was signed in PF or not it must stop no matter what explanations they give us, youths let us stand together and fight this!!!!!!!!!
And people still wonder why fish production and species in the Kafue River have continued to dwindle if not results for years of mining activities upstream and agriculture while the unsustainable fishing practices arise out of need for a living. When will anybody ever learn that protecting nature begins with protecting ones’ surroundings!
Who among you pf cadres bwetukering above there owns even a door handle to lodge in all these national parks and so called heritage sites? Who? Only foreign whites who also employ other foreigners. But with mining, yes it’s foreign whites or whatever but employs 90% Zambians. You cadres even get arrested by these foreign whites pfor poaching when u want to catch your own kalulu for super. Even just going to another village u must take the longest route – no short cut, cos these foreign Muzinguz ve put a long wire & if caught inside, they call to own ZP to arrest you.