Gilbert Makore of ZELA making a presentation on the right to access environmental information

The Zimbabwe Environmental Law Association (ZELA) in partnership with the Community Based Natural Resources (CBNRM) Forum held a meeting for civil society organisations to promote the inclusion of environmental rights in the new Constitution for Zimbabwe. The meeting was held on the 23rd of March 2010. Zimbabwe is involved in a highly delicate, but necessary process to come up with a new Constitution. Although the constitutional reform process faced many delays related to political differences and lack of funds, it is an important step in trying to promote democracy and good governance in the country. The political Agreement that was signed by political parties to establish a Government of National Unity in 2008 made provision for constitutional reforms. In that respect, the land, environment and natural resources civil society cluster meeting was aimed at developing common positions and strategies for engaging in the constitutional reform process. The meeting was attended by over fifty civil society organisations. The discussions revolved around; the background to the constitutional reform process; discussions on the key land, environment and natural resources rights that civil society wants to be included in the new constitution; the importance of the right to access environmental information in the new constitution and discussions on the strategies that civil society can use to engage in the process. The meeting was also important as it paid particular focus on the ‘right to access environmental information and public participation in environmental decision and policy making processes’. Access rights are important as they allow for enhanced transparency and accountability in the natural resources and environment sector, particularly the extractive sector. The background to this meeting is that the current constitution of Zimbabwe does not recognise environmental rights. Further, civil society organisations have not been united in calling for the inclusion of environmental rights in the constitution. The inclusion of environmental rights in the constitution is expected to put pressure on the government and trigger more action and measures aimed at fulfilling these rights.

The major outcome of the meeting was that civil society organisations agreed to continue working together as a coalition on land, environment and natural resources to lobby for the inclusion of environmental rights in the constitution. Civil society organisations also agreed to go out into the rural and urban areas to disseminate the position paper that outlines the key demands on constitutionalising environmental and land rights (including access rights). It was also agreed that the civil society organisations should forward their position to the Constitutional Select Committee (COPAC) which is driving the constitutional reform process. The position paper will also be presented to the outreach teams that will visit rural and urban areas to consult the public. Further, it was agreed that there is need to continue engaging the community to ensure the people are sensitised on environmental rights and how to claim and demand them to be included in the constitution. On access to information, most participants felt that while having access to information guaranteed in the new constitution is an important first step there is need for civil society organisations to uplift their awareness campaigns on this so that the right is fulfilled and people get to appreciate its importance.