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—This year’s two-day Global Environment Facility (GEF) Small Grants Programme (SGP) Best Practice and Knowledge Exhibition has kicked off in Lusaka today.
The GEF SGP fair and exhibition is implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) as an opportunity for stakeholders in the environmental sector to network and showcase best practices initiatives.
Speaking at the exhibition, GEF SGP National Focal Point in the Ministry of Lands, Natural Resources and Environmental Protection, Ackim Mwape, said there is need to focus on providing alternative livelihoods as the country seeks to address environmental issues.
Mr Mwape said people need to be given substitute ways of living for them to stop such vices as charcoal burning which destroys the environment.
Mr Mwape stated that once people are able to feed themselves they will not look at cutting trees, killing animals or torching the environment for them to survive.
He said government has, therefore, put in place several policies, among them the Environment Management Act, which places Zambia in the forefront in terms of environmental policy in Africa.
Mr Mwape, however, stated that despite the many pieces of legislation put forward by government, a lot of challenges remain especially at community level.
He has since urged Church Based Organisations (CBOs) and Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs) to partner and implement environment-worthy projects that benefit the country.
And UNDP Deputy Country Representative, Georgina Fekete, said Zambia can reach the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) on environmental sustainability by recognizing the importance of biodiversity.
Ms Fekete said development cannot be scored in rural communities unless the country engages in conservation of biodiversity.
Ms Fekete commended government and cooperating partners for implementing a successful small grants programme in Zambia.
The Deputy Country Director disclosed that the GEF small grants programme currently supports 38 community-led environmental projects in several provinces of Zambia, among them North Western, Luapula, Central, Southern, and Lusaka, at a total budget cost of about $1.5 million (about KR 7.95 million)
She affirmed that the exhibition will enhance and strengthen the capacities of NGOs and CBOs to understand and implement convention guidelines.
Ms Fekete also said the fair will allow NGOs and CBOs to engage in consultative processes, apply knowledge management and monitor and evaluate environmental impacts.
Among the exhibitors at the fair are Kasanka National Park, Chongwe Agroforestry Project, the Save Environemtn and People Agency (SEPA), Zambikes, and the Luapula families in Distress (LUFIAD)
