Zambian villagers cleared to sue copper mine in London!

by Staff Writers
Lusaka (AFP) April 10, 2019

Some 2,000 villagers in Zambia were Wednesday granted permission by the British Supreme Court to sue in Britain over pollution by Konkola Copper Mines (KCM), a unit of London-listed Vedanta Resources, their representatives said.

The villagers filed a claim in London in 2015 against KCM, Zambia's largest mining company and its London-based parent company, for toxic pollution caused by water discharged from its unit Nchanga Copper Mines, situated in the central copperbelt region.

They claimed to have suffered health problems and loss of income through damage to the land KCM and Vedanta then challenged the decision by the Zambian villagers to sue in Britain and the jurisdiction of the English courts to hear their complaint.

The appeal was heard in January this year and on Wednesday the Supreme Court ruled that the claim by the villagers could be heard in London.

"It seems to me that the parent (company) may incur the relevant responsibility to third parties if, in published materials, it holds itself out as exercising that degree of supervision and control of its subsidiaries," read the judgement.

"In such circumstances its very omission may constitute the abdication of a responsibility which it has publicly undertaken."

With Wednesday's verdict, claimants from the village, near the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo, can now be heard in the London High Court.

"This is a very perfect judgement because multinational companies in Africa manipulate everyone starting from the government to the courts," said Robert Chimambo, a Zambian independent environment campaigner.

"They are very powerful here and we can only be assured of a fair judgement in their countries of origin. We need more of such judgements," Chimambo told AFP.

os/sn/ri

VEDANTA RESOURCES

Botswana’s Plan To Cull Elephants And Sell Them As PET FOOD Wins Ministerial Approval

Botswana is moving towards culling elephants by lifting its wildlife hunting ban after a group of the country’s ministers endorsed the idea, but the proposal has drawn heavy criticism. Botswana’ is planning to cull elephants and sell them as pet food wins ministerial approval.

The southern African country’s President Mokgweetsi Masisi had previously tasked a government subcommittee with reviewing the hunting ban – which had been put in place by his predecessor Ian Khama in 2014.

The committee decided to recommend lifting the ban last Thursday, and the country’s minister of local government and rural development Frans Solomon van der Westhuizen advocated ‘regular but limited elephant culling’, NPR reports.  Story by Door Webmaster / greenworldwarriors.com.

If you are as upset by this as we are, join Nsefu.org for the

Global March for Elephants and Rhinos.

We are participating in three separate marches, one in San Diego, Honolulu and Zambia.

Nsefu Wildlife Sewing Program is becoming a success!

The Nsefu Wildlife Conservation Foundation Sewing Project is progressing well, with the team producing more bags and other items for purchase.

Find out more about our Sewing Program.

Urge our CITES delegates to VOTE at CoP18 for maximum protections for Endangered Species

One of the key asks for GMFER2019 will be to urge our CITES delegates to vote at CoP18 for maximum protections for endangered species (vote for all uplist proposals), and to reject proposals to reopen ivory trade in southern African countries, trophy hunt elephants and down list endangered species. We suggest event organizers include these calls to primary CITES representatives as a key ask of their event this year, as well as calling for a ban on the import of hunting trophies of endangered species.

Kitty Block, president of Humane Society International, said:

"Every single day, human-induced habitat loss, poaching, commercial trade and climate change are pushing more of our planet's precious wild species towards extinction. We can no longer afford any complacency when it comes to saving wild animal species threatened by over-exploitation, and so as we welcome CITES proposals to establish new or increased protections, we urge nations to ensure that species conservation is approached as a necessity not a luxury, with pro-active trade restrictions imposed long before a species is at the extinction precipice.

With ivory traffickers exploiting the long-extinct mammoth so that they can further exploit imperilled elephants, the time is now for African and all other nations to unite in the fight to end the poaching epidemic and ensure all ivory markets are closed. Giraffes too need our urgent attention, having already disappeared from seven countries and now quietly slipping into extinction with the wild population at or just under 100,000. The time to act is now, before we lose them forever.”

Nsefu Wildlife's Anti-Poaching Patrol Boat "The Spirit of Demian" Launched!

Remembering Max Demian Wallace

On March 14th, the Nsefu Team launched our first dedicated Anti-Poaching Patrol boat, The Spirit of Demian. The boat is named after our Co-Founder’s son, Max Demian Wallace. Demian was an important part of the local community and helped run the Zikomo Lodge and helped to get Nsefu Wildlife Conservation Foundation off the ground.

We’d like to thank Parklane International School and friend of Nsefu Tammy Rimes for their generous donation that made the purchase of the boat possible.

A message from our Co-Founder, Coe Lewis…

“The name The Spirit of Demian captures the essence of the man himself. The loss of our Co-founder Victory Wallace's son was a loss to us all. Larger than life, the character you never forget, and a passionate human who lived life to the very fullest no matter how tough it got...Demian was a bright comet racing through our lives. It was Demian's compassion, commitment, and love for Zambia that embodies everything our foundation stands for. The NWCF patrol boat could ONLY be named "The Spirit of Demian" because he is our spiritual guide...protecting wildlife and protecting the team for the future. May she sail with success saving wildlife wherever she goes!”