Creating the right strategy to hold companies accountable for their impact on the environment is no small feat. Jingjing Zhang, a Chinese lawyer, has been perfecting her plan of action for over three decades, and it's not something she keeps to herself.
After starting with Chinese companies, Zhang has expanded her strategy outward to the global stage, according to Inside Climate News. But after analyzing China's new $1.3 trillion Belt and Road Initiative, she knew she had to redirect some of her energy toward home again.
Zhang had heard from a Zambian nonprofit worker that waste from a copper mine owned by Sino-Metals Leach Zambia leaked into a river. People in Zambia lost their drinking water, fishing grounds, and crops.
One of the worst parts was that Zhang found that this information wasn't widely known. She only found one report in Chinese that said the incident wasn't serious and never mentioned a waste leak.
When Zhang went to Lusaka, Zambia to continue her work in May 2025, she learned more frustrating information.
She met with two attorneys, Andrew Kombe and Malisa Batakathi, who represented the villagers affected by the Sino-Metals pollution. Zhang asked them about the environmental risk assessment files the company created before its project started.
"They are supposed to be public documents," Batakathi said, according to Inside Climate News. "But they're under lock and key."
Inaccessible information wasn't a new problem to Zhang. It was something she had encountered in her work many times before. And she was determined to work with people in Zambia to spread knowledge.
Sino-Metals wasn't going to make it easy, though. According to ICN, when Zhang spoke with Memory, a young mother, Memory told her that Sino-Metals officials had run tests on the water. Memory was unsure of what would happen next, though.
This is one of many instances where knowledge truly is power and tells you how to act. By staying informed about environmental issues, you too can act in community spaces to create positive change.
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Absolutely 👍 According to ICN, the Zambian government said Sino-Metals and Rongxing, a private Chinese mining company, would pay out 16.2 million kwacha in damages. This happened after Zhang's trip, and the amount would be distributed to over 700 farmers affected by pollution.
The announcement didn't say anything about land or medical compensation. People who weren't farmers but were also affected by the pollution didn't receive any compensation either.
Civil service workers reported to ICN that farmers received anywhere between $17 and $2,000 USD each. There wasn't any particular reason why anyone received the amounts they did.
Nevertheless, Zhang is persevering. She returned to Zambia in June to lend her assistance and expertise again.
Because of her persistent spirit, some media outlets have called Zhang the "Erin Brockovich of China." According to a 2021 interview she did with Mongabay, she has "mixed feelings" about the name.
"In China, they changed the name so it didn't use 'Erin Brockovich' but the Chinese characters meaning 'Never never give up,'" Zhang told Mongabay.
She continued: "The Chinese name of the Erin Brockovich film very much represents my approach: I never give up the fight on behalf of local communities struggling against big polluters and big corporate powers."
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