Journal of Social Development in Africa (1996). 11.2.57-72 Environmental Protection and Economic Development in Zambia

The 19805 saw a revitalised global realisation of the crucial interrelationship between environmental protection and sustainable development. Such global awareness helped some African governments to take action towards the control of environmental degradation. It is acknowledged that Africa faces two types of crises: the crisis of development and the crisis of environment. The two crises mutually cause and reinforce each other. However, in spite of the need for environmental protection, African govern-ments are unable to commit adequate financial and human resources to control damage to the environment. The economic crisis in Africa, arising from declining export revenues and leading to structural adjustment programmes, has made both governments and the mass of population to concentrate more on economic survival than protection of the environment. This is the situation Zambia is faced with. Despite the government's efforts to control environmental degradation through enactment of a comprehensive environmental law and structures for that purpose, financial constraints and low priority accorded to this area in the face of an economic crisis makes it difficult to realise the goal of environmental protection