Zambia: Improving stakeholder engagement for ESIA in mining

10 November 2024

How to improve the review process and stakeholder participation in ESIA for mining? The NCEA contributed to an energetic workshop in Kitwe, Zambia, about these subjects.

Review process 
The workshop was facilitated by WWF Zambia and the Zambia Environmental Management Agency (ZEMA). It gave regulators who have a formal role in ESIA review a unique opportunity to sit down around the same table and exchange experiences and ideas. 
 
Stakeholder engagement
The second and third day, more participants from CSOs stepped in. The central goal in these two days was to gain a better understanding of how to read and ESIA when published and what to look for. Another goal was to collect inputs for ZEMA for improving their review process & formulate a guideline for Stakeholder Engagement. The participants brought in many valuable and practical ideas, from engaging youth and women in separate groups to devising a mechanism to verify independent stakeholder engagement. And from translating information in local languages to early submission of documents for comments.
 
Follow-up 
With the inputs from the workshop (and with additional NCEA support) a team in ZEMA will formulate ESIA review checklists & guidelines for stakeholder participation in mining projects.