MINING TAKES MORE THAN MINERALS. IT TAKES LAND, HEALTH AND LIVELIHOODS.
SAVING LIVES
Who we are
We are a mass movement of 2,250 peasant farmers and pastoralists aged 15–35 spread across 750 villages in 15 mining-affected districts in Zimbabwe, organising to protect our communal land, environment, livelihoods and health from the damage caused by mining.
We organise affected villages, document what mining is doing to us, build evidence from our experiences, and use that evidence to influence public decisions and hold those responsible to account. We demand the right to decide what happens to our land and resources, free, prior and informed consent before mining begins, accountability for harm caused by mining, and laws and policies that put people and the environment before mining profits.
Our Vision
A Zimbabwe where mining does not destroy the land, livelihoods, environment or health of the people who depend on them; where communities have a real say over their land and natural resources; and where laws, institutions and economic development put people and the environment before mining profits.
Our Mission
Organising mining-affected rural youth, turn their experiences into credible collective evidence and collective power, and use that power to demand accountability, challenge harmful decisions, and win laws and policies that protect our land, environment, livelihoods and health.
Values
Community Participation
Strong Community Focus
Building Grassroots Networks
Partnerships
Putting Women and Youth at the Centre
DEMT envisions disaster-prepared communities living in an environment that is not harmful to their health or wellbeing and with full access to quality healthcare services.
Programme Pillars
Pillar 1 - Land, Natural Resources & Environmental Justice We organise people to defend communal land, water and natural resources from dispossession and destructive extraction. We document environmental harm, monitor mining decisions and demand restoration, meaningful participation and free, prior and informed consent. Pillar 2 - Livelihoods Restoration & Economic Justice We protect and restore farming, pastoralism, trading and other livelihoods disrupted by mining. We demand community benefits through corporate social responsibility, support people who lose livelihoods with skills and agroecology, and help families make productive use of what remains while we push for policy change and implementation. Pillar 3 - Community Health & Wellbeing We address mining-related health risks, with a focus on lung health and respiratory diseases caused by silica dust, including silicosis and tuberculosis. We also address HIV and sexually transmitted infections linked to mining economies and infections linked to mining economies and in creased transactional sex.
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