Climate change and soil protection in Zambia's law and policy

Abstract

Climate change has been a topical subject for decades. This has led to concerted efforts, at a global level, channelled towards combating its adverse effects. This has resulted in the consequential adoption of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the setting of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 13 which obliges States Parties to incorporate climate change measures into national policies. The government of Zambia has adopted, amongst others, the National Policy on Climate Change (NPCC) 2016 which has led to ongoing discussions and consultations on the drafting of the Climate Change Bill. The measures on climate change mitigation, though laudable, are bereft of provisions that are specifically aimed at soil protection. Soil protection thrives, in part, on proper soil use which can help to mitigate climate change. Unfortunately, Zambia's legal and policy frameworks have not adequately protected the soil which omission potentially exacerbates the effects of climate change. Of grave concern is the failure to recognise the inter-relatedness of soil protection and climate change which necessitates ingraining provisions on soil protection provisions in climate change mitigation measures.

In this article, the author argues that the absence of specific provisions on soil protection in Zambia's climate change law and policy militates against the protection of the soil thereby exacerbating climate change effects.