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Zambia’s law association has joined the fight against climate change by establishing a task force which will spearhead the legal profession’s response to the vice.
The Law Association of Zambia has today December 14th, 2022 announced the establishment of a Special Task Force on Climate Change which will also support Government’s green economy agenda.
LAZ president Lungisani Zulu said its Council had approved the formation of a Special Task Force in a deliberate effort to building capacity of lawyers to effectively contribute to the climate change agenda and sustainability.
Zulu said this during a live Stanbic Bank-LAZ Webinar series programme Zambia’s capital, Lusaka.
He said the legal fraternity had recognised the urgency and threats climate change had posed on the country, hence the unprecedented move to create the mechanism that would empower lawyers on climate-change-related legal issues, and assist Government to accelerate the transition to a green economy.
“Just last week, the LAZ Council passed a resolution to create a special Task Force on Climate Change. This Task Force’s mandate is to galvanise our collective experiences as a legal profession to see how we can support better all members of the legal profession in the specific area of climate change.
“Secondly, the Task Force is supposed to also help as an interface between Governments that is interested in bringing about the green economy by looking for specific initiatives. So, yes, we are very specific and we are in motion to support the sustainability agenda,” Zulu said.
During the same webinar, Zambia’s Ministry of Green Economy and Environment Permanent Secretary, John Msimuko, said that the Green Growth Strategy, which was being driven by the Ministry, would guide how the country transitioned into a green economy.
“As a Ministry we are driving the process of developing the Green Growth Strategy, which is going to guide how we transition this economy into a green economy. So, in a nutshell, that provides the legal and policy framework,” Msimuko said.
He however bemoaned the lack of awareness among some citizens on the effects of climate change as one key challenge faced by Government.
Meanwhile, World Wide Foundation (WWF) Country Director, Nachilala Nkombo, urged all stakeholders to rely less on fossil fuels, but increase uptake of renewable energy sources to arrest environmental deprivation.
“From our side, as WWF, we believe that we should be looking for alternatives as a country because those are not sustainable means of energy because in the next few years, we may not have enough forests.
“They are not sustainable means of energy because they are also destroying the environment and contribute to driving climate change,” Nkombo said.
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