ZAMBIA: ZEC Secretary General asks FBOs and CSOs to fully engage on Advocacy for Better Management of Natural Resources
Rev. Fr. Cleophas Lungu, Secretary General ZEC
Zambia Episcopal Conference (ZEC) Secretary General Rev Fr Cleophas Lungu asked Faith based organizations (FBOs) and civil society organizations (CSOs) to take the noble duty of advocating for better management of natural resources for sustainable development as a matter of priority.
Fr Lungu was speaking during the opening of the 5th Zambia Alternative Mining Indaba (ZAMI) under the theme of “Our Natural Resources, Our Future! Extraction for Sustainable Development” on Tuesday 21st June, 2016, the event which was hosted by ZEC, the Council of Churches in Zambia and other civil society organizations.
He also urged participants to always remember the message of Pope Francis obtained in his Encyclical Laudato Si – on the Care of our Common Home – the earth’, that in spite of the enormous hurdles and injustices committed in the past, “Humanity still has the ability to work together in building our common home… Men and women are still capable of intervening positively… All is not lost. Human beings, while capable of the worst, are also capable of rising above themselves, choosing again what is good, and making a new start.”
Fr Lungu has wondered why Zambia which is internationally recognized as a country with great mineral potential, holding 6% of world known copper reserves and other rich endowment of cobalt, gold, manganese, gemstones, emeralds and uranium and yet it is among the poorest in the world.
“62.8% of our population lives in multi-dimensional poverty. Recent reports highlight the fact that seven out of ten people in Zambia live on less than two dollars a day. As of 2014, the average life expectancy in Zambia is 51.85 years,” he said.
The Secretary General also noted that communities that host mineral extraction activities remain amongst the poorest in Zambia.
“Just imagine that illicit financial flows in the country predominantly from the extractive sector amount to $3billion dollars annually,” he said adding that “With such we cannot but say that the management and governance of the God given natural re-sources which are essentially the bedrock for our future, remain extremely weak.”
The 2016 Zambia Alternative Mining Indaba (ZAMI) seeks to strengthen advocacy work on ex-tractive industries and ecological debt, provide an alternative space for a number of stakeholders, especially the victims of environmental pollution and degradation, and to bring forward an alternative message through some testimonies from communities affected by mining among others.
By Mwenya Mukuka, ZEC Communications officer
