Where are you: Home News June 2003

June 2003 Newsletter

First Working Draft of National Environmental Policy to be launched at a National Stakeholder Workshop in Bulawayo 23 - 24 July 2003

The National Environmental Policy Process Project has reached an advanced stage with the production of the first working Draft of The National Environmental Policy (NEP) for Zimbabwe in June 2003. The Process of developing a National Environmental Policy for Zimbabwe is being facilitated by the Institute of Environmental Studies on behalf of the Ministry of Environment and Tourism. The first working draft was compiled by a drafting team drawn from experts from within the country. The following is the list of Drafting Team Members:
Prof. Peter Frost
Prof. S. Feresu
Dr. L. Zanamwe
Mr. J. Nyoni
Mr. P. Gondo
Mr. C. Dube
Mr. G. Mudimu
Ms. D. Mushayavanhu
Ms. D. Vhevha (Process Manager)

The first working draft of the policy will be presented to a National Stakeholder Consultative Workshop to be held in Bulawayo at the Holiday Inn on the 23 and 24th of July 2003. A wide range of stakeholders have been invited to the workshop, which includes representatives from all government departments, the NEP Process Steering Committee, non-governmental organisations, civic groups, industry, universities, parastatals and local governments. Comments from the national workshop will be incorporated into the draft to produce the official first draft of the National Environmental Policy.

The first draft will undergo an extensive series of stakeholder consultation. The document will be widely circulated for written comments. A process of consultation at Provincial, District and Local Level will be conducted parallel to that process.

All those interested in receiving a copy of the 1st Draft of the National Environmental Policy should contact the Process Manager, Ms. Doreen Tsitsi Vhevha on email doreen@ies.uz.ac.zw or tel:263-4-302603. The draft policy will also be available on the Institute's Website www.ies.ac.zw with effect from 30 September 2003.

1st Announcement for International Training Workshop for Field Staff and Subject Matter Specialists on Conservation Tillage, Concepts, Principles and Practices in Smallholder farming systems. Polokwane (formerly Pietersburg), South Africa, 21 to 31 October 2003

The African Conservation Tillage Network (ACT) in conjunction with the Broadening Agricultural Services and Extension Delivery (BASED) Project and in collaboration with the Land Care Project (South Africa), SNRD, FAO, GTZ and other partners are organizing a special Training Workshop targeting agricultural field staff and subject matter specialists. The Training aims to:

contribute to the building of desired capacity and ability among agricultural extension and technical staff in identification, development and dissemination of appropriate conservation agriculture practices, thereby enhancing their ability to respond to farmers' related needs and aspirations.

Conventional-tillage based practices have increasingly fallen short in dealing with current challenges of soil degradation, declining soil fertility resulting in poor yields. To ensure that farmers and their organizations access the necessary information and are involved in the development and dissemination of appropriate technologies, experiential-based re-training of extension staff and technicians becomes an urgent and imperative task. It is with this background that this International Training Workshop is being organized.

Who are to be trained?
The training is specially designed for agricultural extension staff involved in the provision of extension and training services to farmers and to agricultural technicians and researchers involved in on-farm research and adaptive trial programmes. Representative of smallholder farmer organizations are also suitable candidates for attending this training course.

A maximum of thirty (30) participants from countries in the region are expected and training will be conducted in English by an international team of resource persons.

The course will be held in Polokwane (formerly Pietersburg) South Africa. It is planned to run from Tuesday, 21st to Friday, 31st October 2003. Participants will be expected to arrive in Polokwane by Monday, 20th October and departure will be from 1st November 2003.

Course Fees
Each participant will be expected to pay a fee of US $ 1,000 (One thousand US Dollars). This will cater for full board and lodging for the duration of the course and all course related costs. Travel to and from South Africa and pocket money is a responsibility of your sponsors.

Course content

The main content modules are:

• Introduction: Definitions and status
• Conventional Agriculture: what has gone wrong?
• Conservation Agriculture: The Concept and Principles
• Conservation Agriculture: Practices and farm level application
• Natural challenges to the application of conservation agriculture
• Enhancing adoption of conservation farming among smallholder farmers
• Special sessions
  

Contact ACT Secretariat at: actsecre@africaonline.co.zw or actsecre@ies.uz.ac.zw

Report on the Mine Closure Planning Workshop held 5-7 May 2003

All over the world, the current debate on the environment is centred around sustainable development. Unfortunately the uniqueness of mining is such that it fails to snugly fit into the definition of sustainable development. However, if sustainable development is defined as the integration of social, economic and environmental considerations, then a mining project that is developed, operated and closed in an environmentally and socially acceptable manner could be seen as contributing to sustainable development.

"Mine closure should not be taken in isolation as something that comes into life when the last tonne of ore has been hoisted. Instead, it should be viewed as a process that commences immediately after exploration and is progressively taken on board as mining proceeds".

A workshop on Mine Closure Planning was held 5 - 7 May 2003 in Harare. It was coordinated jointly by Environtech Consultancy Services and the Institute of Environmental Studies. The workshop was attended by 14 participants from both the government and mining companies.

The objectives of the workshop were to equip the participants with a working knowledge of:

• the planning, implementation and management of mine closures
• the intricate relationships between mine closures
• the identification of the closure elements
• the technology and skills requirements
• an appreciation of the accounting and financial provisions for environmental liabilities
• the legislative framework and best practices
• the importance of updating and reviewing a mine closure plan
• the need to manage transformations associated with mine closure
• an appreciation of the need to set relevant criteria against which the closure process can be audited.

A number of issues that were raised during the workshop include:

• The workshop should be spread to include other stakeholders outside the mining industry
• A shorter version of the course should be developed for the Association of Mine Managers Zimbabwe (AMMZ) since the managers hold the keys to whether a mine closure plan is adopted and implemented.
• Currently the mine closure-planning concept is not supported by legislation. Rather it is an initiative by the mining industry as a way of achieving best practice in their operations.

Despite this gap between industry and legislation, the Ministry of Mines has submitted to the Cabinet Committee on Legislation, principles for amending the Mines and Minerals Act (MMA) to incorporate among other things a broader concept of environmental management within the industry. This initiative was mooted some four years ago in a programme called Zimbabwe Mining Titles and Environment Project (ZIMTEP).

The envisaged environmental programme within ZIMTEP was that environmental management had to be incorporated right from exploration to mine closure. Progressive rehabilitation of mine sites is taken as a cornerstone to the mining environmental legislation. The initiative further realized the need for financial guarantees to ensure that rehabilitation will indeed take place thereby doing away with the "shall be guilty of an offence" as is in the Mines and Minerals Act. The programme does not refer to mine closure per se but comes up with comprehensive guidelines for preparation of mine site rehabilitation plans and general mine site rehabilitation requirements with the ultimate aim being to restore mine sites to a satisfactory condition. This should be achieved by:

• Eliminating unacceptable health hazards and ensuring public safety;
• Limiting the production and circulation of substances that could damage the receiving environment and in the long term, trying to eliminate maintenance and monitoring;
• Restoring the site to a condition in which it is visually acceptable to the community; and
• Reclaiming the area where infrastructure is located.

However, missing within the vision of ZIMTEP is the social dimension of mine closure. Legislation should address the need for a strategic intent on mine closure. Such intent should cover infrastructure and land use and must be arrived at after consultation with the local leadership and relevant government offices. The socio-economic aspects of mine closure should take into consideration the workforce, the community that has become established because of the mine and the local community that was there before the mine commenced.