Govt reviews EMA Act
TENDAI BHEBE IN BULAWAYO
The government is reviewing the Environmental Management Agency (EMA) Act as it moves to align it with the Constitution of Zimbabwe as well as the modern environmental management trends, Business Times can report.
Environment, Climate, Tourism and Hospitality Industry minister, Nqobizitha Ndlovu, who spoke at a workshop for environment management in Bulawayo last week said the review of the Act comes at a time when Zimbabwe has witnessed devastating effects of climate change.
“The review of the Environmental Management Act has been necessitated by two key developments namely, the need to align it to the Constitution of Zimbabwe, and secondly to update it in line with modern trends in environmental management, bearing in mind that the EMA Act was enacted almost two decades ago,” Ndlovu said.
He said the need for a well-resourced regulator becomes paramount given the critical importance of prudent environmental stewardship.
“Poor waste management had gotten so bad that the Government instituted the national clean-up campaign. “Perhaps it is the time to set a legal framework that ensures sustainability of the programme, and importantly addresses to ensure effective enforcement and deterrent sentences.”
He said there is also a need to bring to the attention of the house, the rampant land degradation and pollution.
Ndlovu said there is need to critically review the environmental impact assessment processes and evaluate whether they were still in sync with the best practices, including cost-effectiveness.
He also pointed out that there was rampant land degradation and pollution in most of the eight rural provinces due to illegal mining.
“We review the Environmental Management Act to ensure that rehabilitation and environmental restoration is done and done effectively. Failure to do that now would mean that the country is accumulating an environmental debt for future generations,” Ndlovu said.
Last year, the government was forced to intervene and stop panning activities at Matopos Research Institute Farm that were threatening international research work aimed at improving agriculture in Southern Africa and beyond.
The massive land degradation in the country has become a cause for concern. Precious lives of both humans and animals are being lost to accidents caused by numerous open pits dug and left uncovered by sand poachers.
