Zambia

With just 6 years 91 days before the deadline to meet the Millennium Development Goals [MDGs], the Zambian government with support from the United Nations System in Zambia, reaffirmed its commitment to meeting the goals by 2015. The 6th Annual National MDG Race in Lusaka and the 1st Provincial MDGs Race in Kitwe were held in September. This year’s Race was held under the theme Speed up the pace-Meet the Goals! To raise awareness on what the various sectors are doing towards attainment of the goals, an information market took place for members of the public to find out more about the MDGs, the status towards their attainment and also make personal commitments towards helping the country achieve them. Each goal had a lead UN Agency working with a particular line government ministry and other partners.

As UNDP is the lead in the Environment sector in Zambia, the agency with some of its partners; the Ministry of Tourism, Environment and Natural Resources, the Environmental Council of Zambia, and the Meteorological Department shared information with the public on MDG 7 [Ensure Environmental Sustainability]. These were in the form of brochures, pamphlets, books and posters. In addition, the Met Department established a mini-weather station for the general public to learn about climate change, to be able to measure local weather conditions and the fact that the climate has changed over the last decades.

The 2008 Zambia MDGs Progress Report states that of all the eight goals, the most unlikely one to be met by 2015 is goal number 7. As a result, UNDP has called for broader doubled participation in changing the status of this goal and help the country attain all the goals. In the same vein, member of the public who visited the information market, were requested make personal promises aimed and helping Zambia achieve MDG 7. Different members of the community including law enforcement officers, senior government officials and pupils made ‘green’ promises- In order to help Zambia meet MDG7, I promise to: …plant trees, stop open air burning, use energy efficient bulbs, enforce the environment law and carry a shopping bag and avoid using plastic carrier bags, among others. It is hoped that once people make their personal promises, they would start thinking of how, as an individual, they can contribute to attainment of all the MDGs and specifically MDG7.

Zambia’s attainment of MDG 7 has remained a big challenge as most people in rural areas  depend directly on natural resources (such   as land, water, forests and forest products) for their livelihoods, whose management has been less than adequate at all levels from the central government to the community level. This has resulted in degradation and depletion of the natural resource base, compromising these rural dwellers’ livelihoods. Further, this forces communities to using less sustainable practices of production and harvesting from the already declining natural biomass thereby contributing to its further degradation. This creates a vicious spiral where both poverty and resource degradation and depletion increase as they mutually re-enforce each other. It’s this   connection between poverty and natural resources management that is contributing to Zambia being unlikely to achieve MDG7:  Ensure environment sustainability and its Target 9:  Integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programmes and reverse the loss of environmental resources.