Zambia, a country richly endowed with copper, is seeking to take advantage of the green energy boom, but local campaigners emphasise that community participation and accountability for historical harm to ecosystems and communities is essential to prevent the next mining wave from creating new “sacrifice zones".

At the Mopani mine, previously called Nkana mine, sulfur dioxide emissions and contaminated tailings from decades of smelting and waste dumping continue to affect nearby communities. Plans to increase production at the mine have prompted concern among environmentalists that expansion will proceed faster than remediation.

Business and Human Rights Centre invited the owner of the mine, Mopani Copper Mines, to respond, but it did not.