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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal – Vol. 9, No. 2
Publication Date: February 25, 2022
DOI:10.14738/assrj.92.11878. Zulu, K., & Simenti-Phiri, E. (2022). When Did Zambia Start Going Green? Assessing the Allusion to and Inclusion of Climate Change
and Incidental Phenomenon in Development Planning Policy From 1964 To 2021. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal,
9(2). 326-342.
Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom
When Did Zambia Start Going Green? Assessing the Allusion to
and Inclusion of Climate Change and Incidental Phenomenon in
Development Planning Policy From 1964 To 2021
Kangacepe Zulu
PhD Candidate, University of Bolton
Greater Manchester, United Kingdom
Dr Easton Simenti-Phiri
Senior Lecturer Off Campus Division
University of Bolton, Greater Manchester, United Kingdom
ABSTRACT
Combining a three-pronged document review approach with semi-structured and
in-depth interviews, this study provides a critical assessment of the emergence and
progression of inclusion of climate change and incidental phenomenon in Zambia’s
development policy. Specifically, the study seeks to trace these issues within each
and every National Development Plan (NDP) published by the Government since
Zambia’s independence in 1964. Results, synthesised from the different data
sources, show that NDPs have progressively incorporated environmental issues
from as early as the 1960s, with more recent consolidation of climate change
discourse and its increased inclusion beginning in the early 2000s. Practical
implications of these results are presented in this paper, but mainly suggest: (i) the
need to learn from past NDP best practices and contextualise them to the current
complexion of the country; (ii) formulation of a handbook of implementation for
climate change as an accompanying volume to the NDPs; (iii) importance of
determining the climate change-industrial development trade-off; (iv) harnessing
the dual correlational effect of international stimuli and domestic political forces
on climate change inclusion in NDPs; (v) use of domestically-defined climate change
mainstreaming and policy formulation tools; and (vi) adoption of a holistic climate
change performance indicator methodology for formulating climate change related
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).
Key words: Climate Change, Environment, National Development Plans, Development
Planning, Sustainable Development, Development Policy
INTRODUCTION
The discussion on climate change and related environmental issues cannot be detached from
the wider development discourse as evidenced in various literature (Mensah, 2019; Shi et al,
2019; Todaro and Smith, 2006; Klarin, 2018; Sustainable Development Goals Centre for Africa,
2019). It can additionally, be observed that the discourse on development further points to the
generally agreed position that planning is a critical ingredient in attaining national
development outcomes. Hence development planning in general, and National Development
Plans (NDPs) in particular, have received specific scholarly attention with regard to inclusion
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Zulu, K., & Simenti-Phiri, E. (2022). When Did Zambia Start Going Green? Assessing the Allusion to and Inclusion of Climate Change and Incidental
Phenomenon in Development Planning Policy From 1964 To 2021. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 9(2). 326-342.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/assrj.92.11878
or mainstreaming of climate change and environmental variables in the planning process and
within development plans (Vincent and Colenbrander, 2018; Atanga et al, 2017; Ngum et al,
2019; Pilato 2018). It is for this reason, that this study aims to provide a critical assessment of
the genesis and progression of inclusion and allusions to climate change and/or related
environmental issues vis-à-vis development policy. Specifically, the study seeks to trace these
issues in the development discourse of Zambia as evidenced through allusions and inclusions
within the country’s NDPs and incidental documents. By so doing, this paper also endeavours
to highlight the specific climate change and related policy lessons to be drawn, inferred or
learnt from the undertaking of the study.
The study follows after Gomez de Cuenca (2021) and Sorgho et al (2020) by undertaking a deep
dive analysis and systematic review of Zambia’s NDPs and incidental documents that have been
published since it attained independence in 1964. In presenting the study, this article therefore
firstly contextualises the discussion by providing a political-historical background to the
development planning approach and then goes on to examine allusions and inclusions of
climate change and/or environmental issues in each and every NDP and incidental documents
from 1966 to 2021.
METHODOLOGICAL APPROACH TO STUDY
The study used a three-pronged approach by combining archival research, deep dive analysis
and systematic review of NDPs adopted and published by the Government of Zambia since
independence in 1964, as well as incidental development planning and climate change policy
documents. Inclusion criteria were: (1) Zambia’s NDPs1 published by the Government since
Independence; (2) Other official development planning or related documents; and (3) Climate
Change Policy or Strategy documents.
Exclusion criteria were: (1) All other Government documents and/or policies not related to
national development planning or national climate change planning; (2) Publicly available
development planning documents not authored and/or published by the Government; (3)
Publicly available development planning documents not recognised by Government as official
development planning policy in line with its public policy mandate; and (4) Policy or related
documents not included in the “Inclusion Criteria.”
1 NDPs were defined (by authors) as the Zambian Governments officially and publicly recognised, nationally scoped, development plan that
encompasses various sectors and details the development aspirations by outlining the various goals, strategies, programmes and activities,
which are envisaged to be employed in order to achieve the country’s development objectives.
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Table 1: List of key documents reviewed
# Document Name Publication Date
1 First National Development Plan 1966
2 Second National Development Plan 1971
3 Third National Development Plan 1979
4 Fourth National Development Plan 1989
5 Back to the Land Through Rural Reconstruction Centres 1977
6 Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper 2002
7 Fifth National Development Plan 2006
8 Sixth National Development Plan 2011
9 Revised Sixth National Development Plan 2014
10 Seventh National Development Plan 2017
11 Issues Paper on the Eighth National Development Plan 2020
12 Zambia Economic Recovery Programme 2020
13 2022 – 2024 Budget Call Circular 2021
14 National Policy on Climate Change 2016
15 National Climate Change Response Strategy 2010
Document review criteria was based on the following key words that include “climate change”,
“environment” and incidental concepts and nomenclature: “Global warming”, “ozone layer”,
“greenhouse gases”, “nature conservation”, “conservation”, “forest/forestry”, “ reaforestation”,
“desertification”, “weather”, “climatic changes”, “meteorology”, “water harvesting”, “earth
dams”, “tree planting”, “environmental degradation”, “alternative energy”, “charcoal burning”,
“droughts”, “floods”, “rainfall patterns”, “ forest reserves” and “water resource management”.
The identification of these key words was largely driven by a process of generally picking-out
climate change and environment related and/or linked phenomenon, ideas and words. In
addition, some key words were deduced from the semi-structured and in-depth interviews that
were undertaken with key respondents as can be seen in the paragraph that follow..
The study further utilised primary source data from semi-structured and in-depth interviews
with nine (9) key respondents from the targeted population of twelve, representing a 75
percent success rate. The key respondents were purposively selected and approached for
interviews based on the fulfilment of the study criteria whereby each respondent: (1) had to
have been a government official involved in development planning and straddled the different
political administrations and presidencies since the Kenneth Kaunda times (Zambia’s first
President from 1964 -1991); (2) had to have been critically involved, at one time or another, in
Zambia’s development planning process and/or climate change policy work; and (3) had to
have had over 15 years of development planning experience, in the Zambian case, by virtue of
their strategic technical positioning in the Government or in a recognised development
stakeholder institution. The key respondents were purposively targeted primarily based on the
fulfilment of the study selection criteria number one (1). However, respondents that did not
fulfil the selection criteria number one (1), but had at least fulfilled criterion numbers two (2)
and three (3) were still targeted because they were deemed to have had valuable insights useful
in answering the study questions.
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Zulu, K., & Simenti-Phiri, E. (2022). When Did Zambia Start Going Green? Assessing the Allusion to and Inclusion of Climate Change and Incidental
Phenomenon in Development Planning Policy From 1964 To 2021. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 9(2). 326-342.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/assrj.92.11878
In view of this, the study sought to answer four fundamental questions:
(1) When did the Zambian Government become alive to climate change/environmental
issues vis-à-vis development planning?
(2) Have National Development Plans (NDPs) been progressively moving towards greater
inclusion of climate change dynamics?
(3) Where does Zambia stand now with regard to climate change inclusion in NDPs?
(4) What climate change policy lessons, in relation to development planning, can be learnt?
Information was extracted from the selected NDPs and other policy documents that were
reviewed. Qualitative analysis was undertaken in triangulation with data obtained from the
semi-structured and in-depth interviews. The information and data from the various sources
was then synthesised and results extracted and presented in a synthesised narrative article.
POLITICAL-HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF DEVELOPMENT PLANNING
Zambia, a country in the central part of southern Africa, has undergone major transitions with
regard to its approach to development planning. The country has been characterised generally
by three key periods, with each respective period being identified with the development
planning paradigm prevailing at the time. The first period is identified by a coordinated
approach to development planning, with the National Commission for Development Planning
(NCDP) falling directly under the Presidency (Ministry of Finance and National Planning, 2006).
In effect, this entailed that Zambia’s first Republican President, Dr. Kenneth David Kaunda, had
direct oversight with regard to matters related to development planning; thereby also making
him Zambia’s first Minister of National Development Planning (Office of National Development
and Planning, 1966). During this period, Zambia’s first four NDPs were formulated and
implemented. It is worth noting that Kaunda adopted coordinated national development
planning from the onset of his Presidency, which began in 1964 at Zambia’s Independence, and
he continued with this approach to development planning until his Party, the United Nation
Independence Party (UNIP), was defeated 27 years later in 1991 (Sardanis, 2014, Musakanya,
2010).
The defeat of Kaunda and his UNIP ushered in a new Government led by a young and vibrant
President, Dr. Fredrick Titus Jacob Chiluba. President Chiluba and his political party, the
Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD), not only made changes in the political arena
(Sardanis, 2014), but also restructured the way Government undertook development planning.
Under Chiluba’s MMD administration, the paradigm of development planning shifted to a
sectoral approach; thereby abolishing coordinated national development planning altogether
(Ministry of Finance and National Planning, 2006, Kaunda 2016). This meant that sector
institutions were tasked to develop their respective sector strategies without any form of
structured coherence coordinated by an apex institution or governed by an overall
development plan, strategy or vision. This approach to development planning marked the
second period in Zambia’s development planning history.
The third period is characterised by the reintroduction of coordinated national development
planning in 2001 by Chiluba’s successor, Dr. Levy Patrick Mwanawasa (Malupenga, 2008). It
was during Mwanawasa’s initial years as President of the Republic of Zambia that a National
Development Planning Division was created within the Ministry of Finance. This reintroduction
of coordinated national development planning led to the formulation of the Fifth National
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Development Plan (FNDP), covering the period 2006 to 2010 (Ministry of Finance and National
Planning, 2006). Therefore, commencing in 2006 the FNDP continued from where Dr Kaunda’s
UNIP Government had ended, in 1990, with their last development planning document being
Zambia’s Fourth National Development Plan (4NDP), 1989 to 1991.
Successive Governments after Dr. Mwanawasa have continued with coordinated development
planning. Mwanawasa’s successor Mr. Rupiah Bwezani Banda oversaw the formulation of
Zambia’s Sixth National Development Plan (SNDP). In 2011, when the Banda-led MMD
Government was defeated at the polls by the Patriotic Front (PF), President Michael Chilufya
Sata directed the revision of the SNDP and consequently a Revised Sixth National Development
Plan (R-SNDP) was developed. Mr. Edgar Chagwa Lungu who ascended to the Presidency in
2015, after the demise of Sata, went further towards promoting coordinated national
development planning by removing the national planning function from the Ministry of Finance
and creating a separate Ministry responsible for National Development Planning, as well as
appointing a Cabinet Minister solely responsible for this mandate (Scott, 2019; Sardanis, 2014;
Mukwita, 2017; Jere, 2014; Ministry of National Development Planning, 2017). However, in
2021, the newly elected President of Zambia, Mr. Hakainde Sammy Hichilema of the United
Party for National Development (UNDP) abolished the Ministry of National Development
Planning and reverted the national planning function to the Ministry of Finance (National
Assembly of Zambia, 2021).
RESULTS
Tracing Environmental/Climate Issues Through Zambia’s History of Development
Planning, 1964 to 2000
The First National Development Plan (1NDP), 1966 to 1970, was aimed at restructuring the
newly independent Zambia away from colonial structures and systems to a more domestic and
locally driven system of governance. It however alludes to Zambia having favourable factors
necessary to eliminate obstacles to economic and social development and thereby establish the
conditions necessary for dynamic and sustained growth of the economy. Among these
favourable factors, the Government in the 1NDP identified what it called favourable climatic
conditions which would be vital for agricultural productivity (Office of National Development
and Planning, 1966, p.1). The Plan further highlighted conservation and protection
programmes under three sub-sectors; Crops and Livestock, Forestry and Game and Fisheries
(Office of National Development and Planning, 1966, pp.40-45). Specifically, the 1NDP
highlighted the importance of the forestry conservation and protection programme given its
objective of protecting headwater areas of principal rivers as well as the development and
protection of forests of regional and local importance.
In reviewing Zambia’s performance during the First Plan period, the Second National
Development Plan (2NDP), 1972 to 1976, indicates that crop production during the 1969/70
farming season was affected due to adverse weather conditions (Ministry of Development
Planning and National Guidance, 1971, p.16). However, the Plan still went further to emphasise
Zambia’s comparative advantage in terms of the favourable climatic conditions that bolstered
agriculture productivity in other years (Ministry of Development Planning and National
Guidance, 1971, p188). In addition, the 2NDP reveals that Government intended to implement
a programme that aimed at building a specialised centre aimed at pulling and training human
resource with the purpose of undertaking conservation of natural resources (Ministry of