Zambia instituted the Environmental Protection and Pollution Control Act in 1990. The Environmental Council of Zambia (ECZ) was then established in June 1992 in the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources. The ECZ is an institution charged with responsibility of implementing the environmental protection and pollution control Act of 1990. Since its inception the ECZ has collected data on the environmental degradation and baseline data on pollution.
The raising of public, awareness is an important element in the promotion of environmental management, unless people are aware of the problems affecting them and consequent results, they would not be encouraged to take action in redressing the situation. The levels of awareness on the environment as well as environmental quality rights among Zambians is low. This is manifested in the widespread negative attitude that prevails among Zambians towards environment.
Although Zambia has no clear-cut environmental education policy, it is guided by education and environmental policies under the Ministry of Education, Environment and Natural Resources. Non-governmental Institutions are also involved in environmental education. Some of these include WildlifeConservation Society (WCS), Zambia Environmental Education Programme (ZEEP), National Centre for Environmental Education (NCEE) and many others like Child to Child Programme for UNICEF; World Wildlife Fund (WWF)..
The ECZ has enacted a series of statutes aimed at protecting land, water, air and wildlife.
- The ECZ has formulations of standards and regulations on water pollution and effluent discharge, wastes management and waste water discharge and, pesticides and toxic substances unit.
- Noise abatement and air pollution control are in place, but regulations to back them are not yet finalised due to lack of expertise in the field. Environmental Impact Statements (EIS) have also been formulated, and wetlands policy documents on natural resources have been drafted
- Under the waste management the ECZ has designated certain areas as dumping grounds.
- Strict rules have been set for companies and institutions to follow in waste disposal, failure to which they will be prosecuted. A governing licence to operate waste disposal site, the licence to transport waste shall be subject to conditions that will avoid spillage during transportation.
- Vehicles transporting the waste should be such that they do not scatter, pour or emit bad smells from the waste and should follow approved routes to licensed disposal sites or plant. One such disposal site has been designated in Kitwe at Uchi near the agricultural show grounds.
- A number of industries are taking measures to address the pollution problem. Many are attempting to change the technologies they are using to make them more environmental friendly with the regulation and standards set up by the ECZ.
This change can be encouraged in Zambia if the law concerning environmental pollution was made stronger. At the moment the penalty of those companies and institutions polluting the environment is as low as K20.00.
