Notes on Legacy Holdings EIA of their tourism concession area in Mosi oa Tunya NP

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This Environment Impact Statement Report on the proposed Mosi-Oa-Tunya Hotel and Country Club Estate Project has been prepared to comply with the requirements of the Environmental Council of Zambia (ECZ). Baseline data was collected through field appraisal, discussion with relevant agencies and institutions in the concerned areas and consultation with local communities and individuals in
the project area.

COMMENT:
Their requirements are narrow in scope and do not incorporate a strategic environmental impact assessment which requires them to consult with all stakeholders – not just local ones: UNESCO, Zimbabwe, KAZA and so on, clearly not complied with.

EXEC SUMMARY cont.
The Mosi-Oa-Tunya Hotel and Country Club Estate will be an environmentally sensitive tourism development along the banks of the Zambezi River as well as the Maramba River. (Then they state the impacts):
• Clearance of the existing natural vegetation and trees;
• Irreversible environmental destruction from construction activities such as deforestation, borrow pit digging and camping site for construction workers
• Disruption to Elephant/animal corridors

COMMENT:
So, they agree that 220 hectares of a 66 km2 National Park and WHS will be completely altered from a natural state to a totally man made environment, not only cutting off elephant movements, but other animal life as well; and the river/land interface will be completely overrun with infrastructure (450 houses) and the requirements for considerable boating and other use of the river

EXEC SUMMARY cont.
A summary of the public consultation meetings and the discussions with the government agencies indicates that the socio-economic benefits of the project to the communities in the project area of influence outweigh the “no-development” scenario. The project is therefore being recommended for implementation assuming the incorporation of the recommended mitigating measures and implementation of the Impact Mitigation Plan and Environmental Monitoring Plan.

COMMENT:
The results of the stakeholder meeting in Linvingstone do not support this statement; even were they to do so, to conclude that socio-economic considerations are paramount when considering "irreversible" perturbations in a World Heritage Site and National Park - which happens to be one of the seven wonders of this world, will cause amazement and concern for all those who cherish the Victoria Falls and who strive to bring sustainable development to Zambia.

CHAPTER 1 1.1
It is from this background that ZAWA identified a portion of the Mosi-Oa-Tunya National Park, which is also a northern part of the World Heritage site, and tendered it for development. The proposed site has been earmarked for tourism development as reflected in the Mosi-Oa-Tunya Management Plan.

COMMENT:
Was the full 220 ha - having been expanded from the Tourism Investment Ltd 2 ha. apportionment, ever part of the Management Plan ?

CHAPTER 1 cont.
Legacy Holdings Zambia Limited is a joint venture between a local tourism company called Tourism Investments Zambia Ltd and the Legacy Group of South Africa. The local shareholders are Zambians.

COMMENT:
Legacy Holdings got permission from ZAWA and its Board to expand from the Tourism Investments concession of 2 ha to an area a hundredfold larger. Did they tender for it?involved.

1.2
Over a period of ten years they have successfully completed the development of seventeen world-class properties

COMMENT
Legacy Resorts & Hotels has made many investments, not always successfully. Of Tourism Investments Ltd we are told nothing, so presumably the venture is totally dependent on Legacy Resorts as the financing and management partners. Presumably what Tourism Investments had to 'deliver', was the 220 ha. of the Park, symbolized by the laying of a foundation stone there.

1.2
The overall objective of this EIA is to examine impacts on ecological units and ecological processes of the project area including impacts on physical, biological, socio-economic and cultural environment and to provide mitigation measures for identified impacts for the construction of the proposed Mosi-Oa-Tunya Hotel and Country Club Estate in Mosi-Oa-Tunya National Park in Livingstone

COMMENT
Given that Legacy Holdings state that the area will have all its natural vegetation removed and that ‘irreversible environmental destruction will occur’ the EIA is intellectually, morally and scientifically absurd

1.6
The scope of the study is outlined in the Scoping Report and Terms of Reference (August 2006) as reviewed, commented upon and approved by Environmental Council of Zambia in the letter dated September 4th, 2006. The output from the EIA process is this Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) comprising of an Environmental Management and Monitoring Plan (EMP).

COMMENT
ECZ stated that they had been handed a draft EIA, but that a scoping report was supposed to have been done. Legacy only began the scoping exercise (woefully incomplete) after this

1.7
Tourism Investments Zambia Ltd and the Legacy group tendered and got this portion of land in response to the favourable policies in the tourism sector in the country.

COMMENT
They only won the 2 ha area on tender, the 220 ha. being given out at the behest of the ZAWA Board. ZAWA should now provide for scrutiny - as should the National Heritage and Conservation Commission, of the legal instruments used to excise 220 ha from a National Park for 75 years – there being no difference from a leasehold tenure having been awarded. Thus effectively precedent is set for all national parks and forest areas in Zambia to be alienated on long lease should 'socio-economic' interests require it.

1.8
ALTERNATIVE OPTIONS FOR THE PROJECT DEVELOPMENT
Option A: Doing Nothing
Option B: Develop Mosi-Oa-Tunya Hotel and Country Club Estate

COMMENT
No mention is made of alternative sites and their availability. Why not? This tends to negate all Legacy’s socio-economic justifications put forward for a development in Livingstone. If they were good for Mosi, why not an alternative site outside of the Park. Legacy are being disingenuous, one cannot do an EIA on something which is totally destroyed i.e. 220 ha of a World Heritage Site and a National Park. No amount of ameliorative flannel, even 360 pages of it, will persuade otherwise.

1.8.3
A summary of the public consultation meetings and the discussions with the government agencies indicates that the socio-economic benefits of the project to the communities in the project area of influence outweigh the “no-development” scenario. The project is therefore being recommended for implementation assuming the incorporation of the recommended mitigating measures and implementation of the Impact Mitigation Plan and Environmental Monitoring Plan.

COMMENT
This is an extraordinary assertion of developmental arrogance having no regard for conservation or international standards of environmental care. No amount of mitigation can alter the fact that the 220 ha area will be irrevocably changed, and that the damage to the park as a whole, and to regional conservation development, devastating.

1.10.3
Scoping
The scoping exercise included consultative meetings and discussions with relevant government institutions at national, provincial and district level, local communities, Headmen, representatives from NGOs and community based organisations and residents from communities along the project area. Letters stating the objectives of the project and requesting local participation and consultation in the process were als distributed. Responses from the consultations and discussions provided the relevant background information and helped identify major environmental concerns of the communities along the road for the detailed EIA process.

COMMENT
A bit of hyperbole. ECZ sent Legacy back to do the scoping properly. From a perusal of the list of those interviewed, this aspect is incomplete, barely begun.

1.10.7
EIA Team
R. MUSHINGE Civil Engineer and Team Leader
J. CHISHIBA Ecology/Environmental Management Specialist
N. KIMANI Environmental/Economics Specialist
L. TUMBAMA Socio-economist/Cultural Environment Consultant
A. SIMUNKANZYE Water and Sanitation Engineer

COMMENT
As this team was led by a Director and shareholder of Legacy Holdings, clearly it is biased in favour of a development from which he and his fellow shareholders and directors would benefit. The team leader is also the brother of the ZAWA official who issued the tourism lease. ECZ has admitted that they do not follow the EIA professional certification process as required in SADC countries; guidelines set by the Southern African Institute of Strategic Environmental Assessment. Thus the EIA is totally compromised by not having been conducted by an independent EIA team duly registered and certified within SADC

2.8
APPLICABLE INTERNATIONAL CONVENTIONS

COMMENTS
The consultants appear not to realize that this development flouts all the Conventions to which Zambia is signatory. It also flies in the face of agreements made - and the resulting recommendations, by the Commission for Africa, a commission to which Zambia was a full participant and which led directly to its debt write-off. In addition, this development and its obvious strong support under current legislation - the Citizens' Economic Empowerment Act of 2006 (not mentioned in the EIA), is causing considerable discomfort among donor agencies, investors and NGOs already investing in the National Park. Some of these investors applied for the same site but were turned down - for very good reason.

CONCLUSION
As Legacy itself admits that the development will cause "Irreversible environmental destruction", what makes them insist on doing this to Mosi oa Tunya National Park when alternative sites are available?

I.P.A. Manning
Steering Committee Member: Natural Resources Consultative Forum of Zambia (MTENR)

Corporate Member: Business Action for Africa (BAA)
Programme: Business Action Against Corruption (BAAC)