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Mining companies should give EIA reports to communities: ZELA

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Local communities should have access to Environmental Impact Assessment reports from mining companies in order for them to make informed decisions.

Local communities should have access to Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) reports from mining companies in order for them to make informed decisions on the potential environmental, social and health impacts of mining activities in their areas, an environment expert has said.

by Stephen Chadenga

Zimbabwe Environmental Law Association (Zela) head of programmes, Shamiso Mtisi, said EIA reports should be availed to communities so that they could assess if they complied with their environmental plans.

Mtisi said Zela had engaged with the Environmental Management Agency (EMA) to give people information on EIA reports. “We have emphasised to EMA to give people information on EIA reports,” Mtisi said at a Zela provincial mining indaba in Shurugwi last week.

“Local communities should be able to go to mining companies and ask for EIAs and even tell them ‘this is what you have outlined in your environmental impact assessment’. An EIA is a public document which should always be readily available.”

Mtisi said in the next few days, Zela would be implementing a project on independent EIA compliance to ensure that the effects of a mining activity on the environment in a particular area were detected at an early stage.

He said Zela would be working with selected groups and individuals in the communities on the project.

Mtisi also pointed out that his organisation was in the process of instituting a training programme for small-scale miners on safety, rights on health, environment, and water, among others, as well as the licensing of artisanal miners.