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TOURISM in Zambia is positioned by government as the second most important economic segment after agriculture.

In a bid to exploit the county’s tourism potential and expand it to other regions, the government through Ministry of Tourism, Environment and Natural Resources (MTENR), is working on development projects that shall attract tourism investments. The specific regions include the Greater Kafue National Park, the Northern Circuit (Northern and Luapula provinces), the Greater Livingstone in Southern province and the Lower Zambezi (Siavonga-Luangwa Districts) Lusaka North and South Luangwa National parks.

Most of these areas have poor road networks. Kafue National park needs infrastructure development such as roads. Should Kafue National Park have necessary funding for projects, it is expected to increase the Gross Domestic Product by one percent.

The park is also envisioned to among other things, attract tourists from Chobe (Botswana) and other Zambian tourists destinations. Furthermore other direct benefits of Greater Kafue National park will be Zambians from communities or nearby towns, who will be employed in the Tourism industry or in linkage    businesses such as the park or Game Management Area and Small Scale Medium Enterprises (SSME) that would supply services and goods to the lodges. Therefore, rural communities will greatly benefit from the development project.

Among other sites of tourism development is Kasaba Bay area, which is part of the Northern circuit located in the Northern Province of Zambia. The main goal of the Kasaba Bay Tourism Resort Project is to develop a fully fledged resort with all necessary public amenities.
The infrastructure development activities being undertaken include upgrading of Lusangwa power station, construction of the road and bridge, construction of power line, hotels, shopping malls, houses, airport runway, passenger terminal, control tower, airstrips and other public utilities such as water, electricity, telecommunication, information and communication technology, in order to facilitate accelerated economic activity in the area and improved standards of living of the people living in the area and the nation at large through the provision of favorable conditions for the development of the area.
 
Government through Zambia Wildlife Authority (ZAWA)   will consider any proposal that may come forth from interested investors and subject such proposals to a technical evaluation as per set procedures under ZAWA.

What Government is promoting is commercialisation of tourism sites in order to improve ZAWA’s revenue base.

Government is already working on a programme in Livingstone called Tourism Area Action Plan (TAAP) which is part of the development plan of greater Livingstone.

Under this programme government has identified land and investment sites to allow for public and private development in Kazungula and Livingstone districts thereby meeting the needs of tourism development in Greater Livingstone.
 

In’utu Mushambatwa
Public Relations Officer
Ministry of Tourism, Environment Natural Resources

Five Zambian Scientists and Researchers have been nominated by government through the Ministry of Tourism, Environment and Natural Resources (MTENR) to serve on the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to produce the Fifth Assessment Report (AR5).

The renowned Zambian scientists include:Dr. Joseph Kanyama, Chief Meteorological Officer, Meteorological Department, Dr. Kapungwe Hansingo, University of Zambia, Physics Department, Mrs. Suman Jain, University of Zambia, Mathematics Department, Professor Francis Yamba, University of Zambia, Mechanical Engineering Department, and Mr. Alick Muvundika from National Institute for Scientific and Industrial Research (NISIR)  

Professor Lloyd Chingambo of Lloyds Financial Services and African Carbon Credit Exchange has also been selected to be among the team of experts.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is the leading body for the assessment of climate change, established in 1988 by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) to provide the world with a clear scientific view on the current state of climate change and its potential environmental and socio-economic consequences. The IPCC reviews and assesses the most recent scientific, technical and socio-economic information produced worldwide relevant to the understanding of climate change, through its assessment reports. These reports are adopted by governments and are considered as the best available scientific basis for addressing the challenge of climate change. In the Fourth Assessment report (AR4) released in 2007, the IPCC concluded that climate change was unequivocal and that it was largely caused by human activities.

Out of a total of about 3000 thousand nominations received from experts all over the world, the IPCC selected 831 highly qualified experts. The five Zambian scientists are expected to collaborate with other scientists all over the World for the Fifth Assessment report due to be released in 2014.

Press Statement
Issued by:
In’utu Mushambatwa
Public Relations Officer
MINISTRY OF TOURISM ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES

TOURISM minister Catherine Namugala has said climate change will adversely affect the country’s economic growth and overall development.

And permanent secretary Lillian Kapulu has said climate change is a defining issue of the time and any country’s development will depend on how effectively it responds to the challenge.

Namugala, who was represented by deputy minister Vera Tembo at the opening of the national inception workshop yesterday, said key sectors such as agriculture and food security, wildlife, forestry, water, energy and human health which were critical to the economic growth and development of the country were threatened by climate change.

“The workshop is for the development of a comprehensive national climate change response strategy for Zambia which has come at a time when there has been unprecedented public interest in matters of climate change, an interest generated by activities leading to the world climate change talks in Copenhagen, Denmark last December which made climate change a defining issue of this era,” she said.

Namugala said the tourism ministry with the support of the Norwegian government and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) had embarked on developing a national climate change response strategy whose purpose was to enhance the country’s coordinated approach in addressing all aspects of present and future challenges of climate change.

She said the strategy would spell out how to deal with all aspects of climate change including adaptation, mitigation, technology, research, awareness, financing as well as an effective institutional arrangement.

She said the strategy would have a clear resource mobilisation framework for climate change activities and would also enable the ministry to assess whether the country needed to put a scientific policy and legislative framework to address climate change or not.

She explained that the alternative would be to review existing policies and legislation in a manner prescribed by the strategy.

She said recent scientific findings indicated that global warming would affect human and natural systems with potentially disastrous effects on local, regional and global economies.

“For this reason it is no longer a matter of debate that national sustainable development will depend on how effectively each country responds to the challenge of climate change,” she said.

Namugala said the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) for Africa observed that warming was very likely to be higher than the global annual mean warming throughout the continent and in all seasons.
She said IPCC further said Africa was one of the most vulnerable continents to climate change and variability.

She said the adverse effects of climate change were already affecting many of the African countries and Zambia was no exception as could be seen from the increased incidences of floods.
She said the quantification of the economic impact of climate change to Zambia were still under investigation but explained that some studies had been commissioned for the investigation.

She said the national adaptation plan of action (NAPA) remained government’s strategic document for addressing climate change and it identified key adaptation needs of the nation in various sectors of the economy.

She said NAPA was complemented by the national policy on environment (NPE), which provided a comprehensive framework for sustainable development through effective natural resource utilisation and environmental conservation.

She said NAPA and NPE had formulated programmes and projects being implemented which included adaptation projects in agriculture, a clean development mechanism project in the energy sector, a United Nations programme aimed at reducing emissions from the forestry sector and a World Bank funded pilot programme on climate resilience (PPCR).

Namugala commended the civil society and the media for the roles they played in complementing government efforts in environmental awareness raising.

“Despite these efforts, it has become increasingly clear to government that we need to address the challenge of climate change in a more comprehensive way, therefore emphasising the need for a national response strategy,” Namugala said.

And Kapulu said Zambia had been reacting to climate sensitive issues through ad hoc initiatives due to lack of a framework to coordinate climate change response among other things.

She said in order to enhance a coordinated national response to climate change, the ministry had initiated the development of a comprehensive national climate change response strategy.

“The national climate change response will build in on existing policies and priorities in Zambia as well as identify the main gaps and opportunities for addressing climate change and develop a framework which will oversee implementation of activities through a more prioritised coordinated approach across the sectors,” Kapulu said.

Kapulu said a zero draft of the national climate change response strategy was expected by the end of July 2010 and the final draft would be available by the end of September 2010.

By Kasapo Chibwe

The Post

Zambia has a valuable and rich diversity of biological resources. There is a variety of ecosystems with over 3,000 different types of species of fauna and flora. The country is endowed with productive forest ecosystems such as the teak forests of the south-west region and the extensive Miombo woodlands, which are important wildlife habitats. Our wildlife resources are impressive in there diversity as we have  about 733 bird species, 150 species of reptiles, 224 mammal species and 404 species of fish swimming in the rivers and lakes of Zambia. In terms of natural habitats, wildlife protected areas, comprising of national parks, forest reserves and game management areas occupy over 40 percent of the country’s land surface area. Zambia also hosts over 3,000 sites of natural and cultural heritage with great diversity of attractions such as the Mosi-oa-Tunya / Victoria Falls, which annually attract thousands of people from all over the world. 2010 being the International Year of Biodiversity and this year’s World Environment Day focusing on ‘many species, one planet, one future’, we come together on 5th June to celebrate this astounding biological diversity that we are fortunate to have in the country.

Effective protection and management of vast protected areas comprising the many national parks, forest reserves and game management areas, would pose a challenge for any country and is not without its challenges in Zambia. Zambia as a signatory to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, and is committed to its objective of “conservation of biological diversity, the sustainable use of its components and the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of the utilization of genetic resources”. Furthermore, the developed countries under Convention commit to “provide new and additional financial resources to enable developing country Parties to meet the agreed full incremental costs to them of implementing measures, which fulfil the obligations of this Convention”.

The Ministry of Tourism, Environment and Natural Resources has the overall responsibility for policy development in the natural resources sector and the departments within the ministry, including quasi government institutions such as Zambia Wildlife Authority (ZAWA), have direct responsibility over the management of the country’s forest, wildlife and heritage resources.  The Ministry has formulated several programmes that enhance the different aspects of the management of the natural resources. This publication highlights one of the key programmes in biodiversity protection, the Reclassification of the Protected Area system, in which the Ministry has partnered with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Global Environment Facility (GEF).

Protected area management is a labour intensive industry and returns on investments are slow to be realized. The South Luangwa area that has received long-term financing from the Norwegian Government is already a success and now financially sustainable with revenues exceeding costs. The Ministry will endeavour to work towards creating similar success stories in all major protected areas. Seeking new innovative partnerships is necessary as the Government will only succeed with the support from all stakeholders, including the local communities living adjacent to the areas.

New financing channels for biodiversity protection and combating climate change are also emerging, such as the international mechanism that could in the future provide financial incentives for Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation, sustainable management of forests, forest conservation and the enhancement of forest carbon stocks (REDD+). Through active participation in the international talks on climate change, Zambia is keeping abreast with the developments and on its part influencing the outcome towards a fair and equitable climate deal that will protect the people, animals and ecosystems alike.

I wish you all an enjoyable “2010 World Environment Day” and urge you all to join in the commemorations of the International Year of Biodiversity. There are many things all of us can do for the environment. Plant a tree in your neighbourhood or in a garden. Visit our national parks. Tell about the environment and biodiversity in your work place or school. Join the celebrations in Munda wanga this Saturday.

Hon. Catherine Namugala
Minister of Tourism, Environment and Natural Resources, MP.