Below, please find the non-technical summary of the ESDD carried out in North Luangwa and an update of the progress and impacts achieved in safeguards implementation.
Background
From April to December 2021, SCDS Consultoria em Desenvolvimento Social Lda carried out environmental and social due diligence (ESDD) for Legacy Landscapes Fund (LLF) in the North Luangwa landscape, Republic of Zambia. The assessment was conducted on behalf of Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW), German Development Bank. The North Luangwa Conservation Program (NLCP) is a partnership between the Zambian Department of National Parks and Wildlife (DNPW) and Frankfurt Zoological Society in Zambia (FZS-ZM), covering protected area management in the North Luangwa National Park (+/-4.600 km²) and integrated livelihood and natural resource landscape activities in five adjoining Game Management Areas (+/-18.000 km²). For further details on North Luangwa legacy landscape (LL), please consult the program page.
Methodology
The ESDD included desk-based reviews, virtual interviews, and fieldwork with a multi-disciplinary all-male team led by national and international consultants. The team engaged with some key national and local stakeholders, including park management, local authorities and community stakeholders around North Luangwa National Park (NLNP), and the adjacent Game Management Areas (GMA) of Mukungule and Munyamadzi. A workshop on risk assessment followed the field visit, to discuss the main site visit findings with the program‘s management.
Main Environmental and Social Risks and Impacts
The ESDD assessed activities as well as the contextual risk and impacts. The most significant risks identified were related to human-wildlife conflicts resulting from increasing wildlife populations and contextual risks in the area, such as land use change. The ESDD further identified some weaknesses in the stakeholder engagement strategy and foremost insufficiencies in its documentation.
ESDD Categorization
At the time of the study, the North Luangwa landscape was categorized as B+ (substantial risk) based on the criteria of the ESDD. Many of the risks identified are not within the direct responsibility of NLCP. The identified gaps were judged to be best tackled through the development of an overarching Environmental and Social Management System (ESMS).
Foreseen Mitigation Measures as per ESAP
North Luangwa’s environmental and social action plan (ESAP) was designed to tackle the recommendations of the ESDD: the development and implementation of a stakeholder engagement plan, an improved grievance mechanism, a human-wildlife conflict strategy and action plan, and the establishment of an ESMS, including improvements in the organization’s internal occupational health and safety standards, the development of a waste management plan, and emergency response procedures. Several ESAP items to support the governance, management, and policies specifically related to the Game Management Areas were recommended.
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