Overview
This policy provides a coordinated national framework for the conservation and sustainable use of Zambia’s wetlands, which cover roughly 14–19% of the country and deliver vital ecological, socio‑economic, and cultural services. It assesses current conditions and key threats—including invasive species, unplanned settlements, pollution, mining, damming and drainage, climate change, and potential GMO impacts—and highlights management challenges such as fragmented sectoral approaches, limited community incentives, gender considerations, and inadequate financing. The vision emphasizes a functional, productive, and climate‑resilient wetland system. Guiding principles include ecosystem and holistic approaches, participation, polluter-pays and precautionary principles, no-net-loss, and payment for ecosystem services. Objectives focus on conservation and protection, research and monitoring, sustainable livelihoods, stakeholder participation and equitable benefit-sharing, and regulating investments. Measures include strengthening the legal framework, wetland classification and management planning, environmental assessments, restoration and resilience infrastructure, research and centralized information systems, education and awareness, support for eco‑tourism and MSMEs, and investment standards with corporate social responsibility and restrictions on drainage. The implementation framework assigns roles to relevant ministries and agencies (e.g., lands, water, environment, wildlife, heritage, WARMA, ZEMA), references enabling legislation, and outlines resource mobilization from the national budget, partners, and private sector, alongside a national M&E framework.