Kamanga settlement is located about 14km east of Lusaka town. It is an upgraded settlement, meaning that it has been accorded legal status with basic services like water, schools and improved sanitation. This study investigated Environmental problems which were faced by residents of Kamanga settlement after being upgraded and the role that Environmental Education could play in addressing the identified problems. The aim of the study was to find out Environmental problems faced by the Kamanga unplanned settlement and the role of environmental education in addressing such problems. To achieve this aim, the objectives were to find out environmental problems faced by residents of Kamanga after upgrading it. To investigate if Environmental Education (EE) is addressing the problems faced by the residents of Kamanga settlement. To find out whether or not there is EE in Kamanga and to find out if EE has brought improvements in Kamanga.
A case study was used so that Kamanga could be described in detail and bring about deeper insights and better understanding of the problems faced by the residents of Kamanga.
Even if Kamanga had been upgraded, it still faced a number of problems. Most housing structures presented danger to the lives of the people there due to overcrowding and poor ventilation which exposes residents to a number of respiratory diseases. The houses were made of low quality materials which sometimes easily collapse during heavy rains. Most of the residents of Kamanga rely on pit latrines. There were a few houses which had individual flush toilets connected to individual septic tanks. Due to lack of space between houses, the pit latrines were constructed close to the houses. In some cases two to four households used one pit latrine.
To reduce on unplanned settlements, there was need to have some form of regulations on rentals so that people were not exploited. People could not afford to rent good houses in good residential areas because the rent was usually high, therefore they ended up in unplanned settlements.
Houses were not made from laid down plans from architecture and they were generally built by residents themselves. In the old Kamanga, a lot of houses were made out of mud bricks with unconventional building materials. There was need to streamline building standards, regulations and other controls in unplanned settlements once they are upgraded.