Environmental Legislation Update

The year 2007 saw several laws being passed which have a bearing on the environment. Most of the laws came in the form of statutory instruments which were passed in the first half of the year. This paper traces these laws and discusses their utility. The paper has a bias towards laws which have impacted significantly on business organizations in Zimbabwe.

During the course of the year, several statutory instruments were passed in terms of the Environmental Management Act (Chapter 20; 27) (the Act). Section 140 of the Act empowers the Minister of Environment and Tourism to make regulations specifically regulating issues covered by the Act. This is necessary because the Act is a framework law which cannot be expected to cover all relevant details of all environmental issues in Zimbabwe.

Waste and Solid Waste Disposal Regulations, Statutory Instrument No. 6 of 2007,

The Waste and Solid Waste Disposal Regulations, Statutory Instrument No. 6 of 2007, regulates the disposal of effluent and solid waste. It prohibits any person from disposing waste into a public stream or ground water without a licence. The licence is issued by the Environmental Management Agency and it is renewable on an annual basis. The licence holder is obliged to pay inspection fees and environmental fees to the Agency. One does not require a licence for household/domestic waste disposal nor for application of inorganic fertilizers for agricultural production.

Furthermore, every generator of waste (except households) is now required to come up with a waste management plan by 31st December each year which deals with quantity of waste, components of the waste, goals for reduction of the quantity and pollutant discharges of the waste, transportation and disposal of the waste and adoption of environmentally sound management of the wastes. It is an offence for any waste generator to fail to produce the waste management plan.

These regulations are clearly meant to regulate and control the disposal of waste. They also enable the Agency to monitor waste disposal and pollution of water bodies in Zimbabwe. Another important aspect is the obligation imposed on waste generators to strive to reduce quantities of waste and pollutant discharges.

Environmental Management (Environmental Impact Assessments and Ecosystems Protection) Regulations, Statutory Instrument No. 7 of 2007

The Environmental Management (Environmental Impact Assessments and Ecosystems Protection) Regulations, Statutory Instrument no. 7 of 2007 deals with regulation of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process and protection of ecosystems. Part 11 of the Act provides that no industrial project shall be implemented without an EIA having been done. These regulations provide the method of doing the EIA. The developer has to submit a prospectus to the Agency which issues a licence if satisfied by the contents of the prospectus. The prospectus has to contain details of the environmental impacts of the project and the measures to be taken to contain or mitigate against such impacts. Local authorities can only issue licences to developers after having sight of the licence from the Agency confirming that an approved EIA has been done. In preparing an EIA, a developer is obliged to consult widely with all stakeholders. The Agency will not issue a licence if it is not satisfied that the developer consulted with all stakeholders in the preparation of the prospectus. It should also be noted that projects which began before the Act was promulgated are subject to periodic environmental audits by the Agency.

These regulations are significant in that they operationalize the EIA provisions in the Act by providing the method which has to be followed. Regrettably, the regulations do not provide specifically for the manner in which the consultation of stakeholders should be done nor who the stakeholders are. It is hoped that where a project affects poor communities, the Agency will ensure that such stakeholders are consulted and their concerns are addressed. It would have been useful as well if the regulations provided that the stakeholders could make representations to the Agency on whether a licence should be issued or not. There is also no measure to ensure that the concerns of the stakeholders are incorporated in the prospectus. The developer should be compelled to widely publish the prospectus to stakeholders so that the concept of public participation sought to be implemented by this provision can be made efficacious.

The regulations also regulate the aspect of fire prevention. Every land-owner is obliged to put in place fire prevention measures on his land. Between 31 July and 31 December of each year, no person shall light a fire outside residential or commercial premises. Every land owner is obliged to extinguish any fire on his premises. Any person within the vicinity of any fire is obliged to extinguish the fire and failure to do so results in a fine not exceeding level 14 (i.e., $50m) or imprisonment for one year with labour or both. The penalty for lighting a fire outside premises during the stipulated period is a fine not exceeding level 8 (i.e., $3m) or imprisonment for a period not exceeding one year or both.

The fire prevention regulations are clearly meant to contain veld fires which have become a scourge of the environment in Zimbabwe during the dry season, hence the stipulation that no fires should be lit between July and December. It is very difficult to detect the offenders who cause these veld fires and it is thus important that the law makes it obligatory on anyone in the vicinity of such fires to take measures to put out the fire. Veld fires can however be dangerous and people would need some training on how to handle such fires and equipment to use in the process. The Agency would be encouraged to work with groups like Environmental sub-committees set up at Ward level in terms of section 61 of the Rural District Councils Act (chapter 29;13) to disseminate information about control of veld fires having focal points for such activities on the ground. The containment of such veld fires requires the participation of all stakeholders in ensuring that such fires are not started as it is easier to avoid starting them rather than extinguishing them. Veld fires should be the concern of everyone because they not only destroy people’s property, but they also destroy wildlife and vegetation, and pastures for cattle and wildlife in the dry season.

Hazardous Substances, Pesticides and Toxic Substances Regulations, Statutory Instrument No. 12 of 2007

The Hazardous Substances, Pesticides and Toxic Substances Regulations, Statutory Instrument no. 12 of 2007 provides for the labeling, packaging, repackaging and sale of hazardous substances or articles containing hazardous substances in Zimbabwe. It provides conditions which have to be observed by employers over the handling of hazardous substances at the workplace, conditions for transporting hazardous substances and procedures to be followed when there is an accidental spillage of hazardous substances in Zimbabwe.

The Agency is empowered to issue spot fines to any person who violates the law. In addition, any person whose substances affect the environment is liable to pay for the cost of restoring the environment. The offender is also liable to pay compensation for any damage caused by the offence to any person.

The penal provisions in these regulations are very important in deterring would be offenders from violating the law. The law goes beyond merely imposing the traditional penalty of fines and imprisonment for offences. It incorporates the polluter pays principle by making the polluter liable for the cost of restoring the environment in line with the general principles in the Act and modern environmental law. The criminal court dealing with the matter now has power to order the offender to compensate any affected person and this ensures that the victims, who may be poor and therefore cannot afford to hire lawyers to take legal action, obtain immediate redress without having to take legal action on their own.

The above laws are significant in that they operationalize the Act in the sectors which they cover. They provide for the specific procedures to be followed in complying with the provisions of the Act. More importantly, they incorporate the modern principles of environmental management such as polluter pays, public participation, preventive principle, environmental rights and so on. For these laws to make an impact in positively improving our environment, they require not only diligent enforcement by the Environmental Management Agency and other law enforcement agents, but the participation of all Zimbabweans in observing and enforcing them.

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