Compendium Of Environmental Laws Of African Countries Sectoral Environmental Laws And Regulations

C.O.OKIDl1 I welcome the opportunity to prepare a Foreword to the book on Environmental Policy and Law in Africa, edited by Kevin R. Gray and Beatrice Chaytor. It is a pleasure to do that because the book is a contribution to the cause of capacity building for development and implementation of environmental law in Africa, a goal towards which I have had an undivided focus over the last two decades. There is still some belief in and outside Africa that for developing countries in general, and Africa in particular, development and implementation of environmental law is not a priority. This belief prevails strongly in many quarters of the industrialised countries. In fact, the view is held either out of blatant ignorance or by some renegade industrialists who fail to appreciate Michael Royston's 1979 thesis that Pollution Prevention Pays.2 That group, for obvious reasons, must have their correspondent counterparts in Africa to provide hope that industries rejected as derelict in the West or inoperable due to rigorous environmental regulation, can find homes to which they can escape and dump their polluting industries.

"Now that economic development is starting to pick up in many countries in Africa, the question arises how such development can be balanced with the need for adequate environmental protection. This crucial issue, inherent in the notion of sustainable development, is addressed in this innovative and path-breaking volume. For the first time, academics from seventeen African countries have joined forces to analyse the way in which economic and environmental interests are balanced in their legal systems. The authors all use a common framework to improve the comparability of the country studies. The different country-related chapters do not only provide insights into the formally applicable legal rules (law in the books), but given that the book brings together academics aware of the practice in Africa, they also describe the way in which environmental policy functions in practice (law in action). Many case studies, with conceptual analyses are provided of pollution incidents and the way in which administrative agencies or courts have on those occasions balanced the interests between the economy, society and the environment. A critical comparative analysis by the editors points at tendencies towards convergence and points of divergence between the African countries. Suggestions for policy reform are also formulated, showing African countries how they can benefit from experiences in the US and Europe. This thought provoking volume is a must for anyone (academic, policymaker or practitioner) interested in sustainable development generally and in Africa in particular."--P. [4] of cover.

Environmental law is a broad and interdisciplinary branch of law within the South African legal system. The promulgation of the 1996 Constitution of the Republic of South Africa provided for the potential acceleration of the development of South African environmental law jurisprudence. The Constitution grants every person the right to an environment that is not harmful to their health or well-being; as well as the right to have the environment protected through reasonable legislative and other measures that prevent pollution, ecological degradation, promote conservation and secure ecological sustainable development and the use of natural resources while promoting justifiable economic and social development. Environmental law deals with a large number of legal problems at the domestic level (i.e. South Africa), the regional life (i.e. African Union), the sub-regional level (i.e. Southern African Development Community), as well as at an international level (i.e. United Nations). At the domestic level, environmental law draws on all the formal sources of law including legislation, common law principles, customary law, indigenous law and international environmental law. The bulk of South African environmental law and principles are regulated by legislation at national level. The most important environmental legislative measures at a national level include the 1996 South African Constitution and the National Environmental Management Act (NEMA) of 1998. Other additional environmental legislation in South Africa deal with issues such as conservation, pollution (atmospheric, land, marine, noise, water and waste management), energy and energy resources. Comment Don: Centre for Human Rights.

Kenya is one of about 42 African countries which have enacted framework environmental laws. 14 January 2000 was the Date of Commencement of the Environment Management and Co-ordination Act (EMCA) after its adoption in December 1999 and receipt of Presidential Assent on 6 January 2000. From that date, all sectoral laws were expected to be reviewed or amended to ensure consistency with the requirements of EMCA. Under Section 148 of EMCA: "Any written law, in force immediately before the coming into force of this Act, relating to the management of the environment shall have effect subject to modification as may be necessary to give effect to this Act, and where the provisions of any such law conflict with any provisions of this Act, the provisions of this Act shall prevail". This book is an appraisal of the extent to which this provision has been implemented. It critically analyses environmental law in Kenya with a view to identifying the convergences and divergences between select sectoral laws and EMCA. The ultimate objective is to support internal harmonization of the corpus of environmental law in Kenya.