Environmental Law in East Africa

Environmental law is an essential tool for the governance and management of the environment and natural resources. It is the foundation of national and regional policies and actions to ensure that the use of natural resources is done equitably and sustainably.

In the East African sub-regional countries of Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda have, since 1995, been developing and harmonizing various environmental laws in selected sectors within their region. The process of developing and harmonizing environmental laws is intended to lead to the enactment or amendment of the internal legislative, regulatory and administrative framework of each country. Such change has been harmonized at a sub-regional level where the three countries have agreed on legal principles, definitions and substantive legal provisions to govern a segment or matter of the environment or natural resource sector.

http://www.unep.org/padelia/publications/VOLUME2preface.htm

Environmental laws and sustainability

Please find below some information about environmental laws and sustainability (http://www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability/special_issues/env-laws/)

More articles:


John C. Dernbach and Joel A. Mintz, Environmental Laws and Sustainability: An Introduction, http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/3/3/531/

Nicholas A. Ashford and Ralph P. Hall, The Importance of Regulation-Induced Innovation for Sustainable Development, http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/3/1/270/

Klaus Bosselmann, Losing the Forest for the Trees: Environmental Reductionism in the Law, http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/2/8/2424/

Anthony B. Schutz, Grassland Governance and Common-Interest Communities, http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/2/7/2320/

Robert W. Adler, Drought, Sustainability, and the Law, http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/2/7/2176/

Kenneth W. Abbott and Gary E. Marchant, Institutionalizing Sustainability across the Federal Government, http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/2/7/1924/

Rachel Medina and A. Dan Tarlock, Addressing Climate Change at the State and Local Level: Using Land Use Controls to Reduce Automobile Emissions, http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/2/6/1742/

Maja Goepel, Formulating Future Just Policies: Applying the Delhi Sustainable Development Law Principles, http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/2/6/1694/

Robin Kundis Craig and J.B. Ruhl, Governing for Sustainable Coasts: Complexity, Climate Change, and Coastal Ecosystem Protection, http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/2/5/1361/

Amanda L. Kennedy, Using Community-Based Social Marketing Techniques to Enhance Environmental Regulation, http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/2/4/1138/

Andrea Ross, It’s Time to Get Serious—Why Legislation Is Needed to Make Sustainable Development a Reality in the UK, http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/2/4/1101/

INDIA'S FOREST RIGHTS ACT OF 2006

INDIA'S FOREST RIGHTS ACT OF 2006

HTTP://WWW.LEAD-JOURNAL.ORG/CONTENT/08020.PDF

HTTP://WWW.FORESTRIGHTSACT.COM/WHAT-IS-THIS-ACT-ABOUT

HTTP://WWW.AITPN.ORG/ISSUES/II-09-06-FOREST.PDF

SMOKE AND MIRRORS: A CRITICAL ASSESSMENT OF THE FOREST CARBON PARTNERSHIP FACILITY

SMOKE AND MIRRORS: A CRITICAL ASSESSMENT OF THE FOREST CARBON PARTNERSHIP FACILITY

This report from FERN and Forest Peoples Programme analyses eight of the Readiness Preparedness Plans (RPPs) submitted to the World Bank’s Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) and reviews current FCPF documents and policy debates. The review finds that rather than strengthening and implementing the Bank’s safeguards, the FCPF has created a dense set of guidelines that appear to water down existing policies and obfuscate minimum standards.

http://www.fern.org/sites/fern.org/files/Smokeandmirrors.pdf

http://www.fern.org/smokeandmirrors

Understading Environmental Rights

http://www.carnegiecouncil.org/resources/publications/dialogue/2_11/index.html/_res/id=sa_File1/Human_Rights_Dialogue_Environment.pdf

http://www.ielrc.org/content/a9502.pdf

RULE OF LAW, GOOD GOVERNANCE, AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

RULE OF LAW, GOOD GOVERNANCE, AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT



This paper reviews the relationship between the rule of law, good governance, and sustainable development, as those terms are used by the relevant development organizations; describes the efforts made by various organizations to promote the rule of law and good governance; and addresses the need to strengthen compliance and enforcement for sustainable development.
http://www.inece.org/conference/7/vol1/05_Sachiko_Zaelke.pdf


Judges and the Rule of Law, Creating the Links: Environment, Human Rights and Poverty
The role of the judiciary to achieve environmental conservation was recognised in the last decade by Agenda 21. Paragraph 8.26 states that “efforts to provide an effective legal framework for sustainable development should be oriented towards improving the legal-institutional capacities of countries to cope with national problems of governance and effective law-making, and law-applying in the field of environment and sustainable development.” Most recently, the Johannesburg Principles have emphasised that “the fragile state of the global environment requires the judiciary, as the guardian of the Rule of Law, to boldly and fearlessly implement and enforce applicable international and national laws … ” The necessity of further strengthening the rule of law and its complementary national frameworks, especially each country’s ability to effectively implement and enforce existing environmental law through national authorities and adequate judicial institutions, has been repeated in the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation.
http://data.iucn.org/dbtw-wpd/edocs/EPLP-060.pdf

WEF, IWA Celebrate World Water Day by Announcing Winners of Second Annual World Water Monitoring Day™ Awards

Recognized in two categories, winners participated in the 2010 monitoring period

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – In celebration of World Water Day 2011, the Water Environment Federation (WEF) and the International Water Association (IWA) proudly announce the winners of the second annual World Water Monitoring Day (WWMD) Awards. Today also marks the start of the program’s 2011 monitoring period that will run through December 31, 2011.

More at:

http://www.wef.org/about/page.aspx?id=9745

Water Issues in the Democratic Republic of the Congo: Challenges and Opportunities

http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900sid/LSGZ-8F7H9J/$File/full_report.pdf

UN’s top climate change official calls on governments to maintain momentum in order to deliver on agreed timelines of Cancun Agreements

UN’s top climate change official calls on governments to maintain momentum in order to deliver on agreed timelines of Cancun Agreements

(Mexico City, 24 March 2011) . Less than two weeks ahead of the UN Climate Change Change Conference in Bangkok (3-8 April 2011), the UN.s top climate change official has called on governments to maintain momentum to ensure that the timelines agreed at the UN Climate Change Conference in Cancun in December of 2010 are met.

.The world was at a crossroads in Cancun . and took a step forward towards a climate-safe world,. said UNFCCC Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres. .Now governments must move purposefully down the path they have set, and that means maintaining momentum at Bangkok in order to take the next big climate step in Durban at the end of the year,. she said.

http://unfccc.int/files/press/press_releases_advisories/application/pdf/pr20112403mexico.pdf

In water-rich DR Congo, 50 million people lack clean water to drink – UN

In water-rich DR Congo, 50 million people lack clean water to drink – UN

22 March 2011 – An estimated 51 million people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) – or three quarters of the population – have no access to safe drinking water, even though the country holds over half of Africa’s water reserves, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) said in a new study released today.

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=37850&Cr=DR+Congo&Cr1=

Enthusiasm For 2012 Earth Summit Lagging - IPS ipsnews.net

Enthusiasm For 2012 Earth Summit Lagging - IPS ipsnews.net

Environmental justice: Rights and means to a healthy environment for all

Environmental justice: Rights and means to a healthy environment for all


There is growing evidence of the links between environmental problems and social injustices.
Environmental justice is the idea that brings both together. It researches the extent of linkages between environmental and social injustice, and asks whether it is possible to tackle both social exclusion and environmental problems through integrated policies and developments.
At the same time, there is an emerging toolkit for governments,individuals and communities to use to implement environmental justice. New assessment techniques,policies,and laws now allow the more transparent establishment of rights and responsibilities,and this in turn brings new legal,reputational and financial risks for those acting in an irresponsible way.


More at :

http://www.foe.co.uk/resource/reports/environmental_justice.pdf

Human Rights or Environmental Rights? A Reassessment


Environmental rights do not fit neatly into any single category or "generation" of human rights. They can be viewed from at least three perspectives, straddling all the various categories or generations of human rights. First, existing civil and political rights can be used to give individuals, groups and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) access to
environmental information, judicial remedies and political processes. On this view their role is one of empowerment: facilitating participation in environmental decision-making and compelling governments to meet minimum standards of protection for life, private life and property from environmental harm. A second possibility is to treat a decent, healthy or sound environment as an economic or social right, comparable to those whose
progressive attainment is promoted by the 1966 United Nations (UN) Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights. The main argument for this approach is that it would privilege environmental quality as a value, giving it comparable status to other economic and social rights, such as development, and priority over non rights-based objectives. Like other economic and social rights, it would be programmatic and in most cases enforceable only through relatively weak international supervisory mechanisms. The third option would treat environmental quality as a collective or solidarity right, giving communities (“peoples”) rather than individuals a right to determine how their environment and natural resources should be protected and managed.


More at:
http://www.law.ed.ac.uk/file_download/publications/0_1221_humanrightsorenvironmentalrightsareasses.pdf

Environmental Sustainability Advocate, Esther Agbarakwe

Meet the Young Woman Passionately Spreading the Word on Climate Change in Nigeria – Environmental Sustainability Advocate, Esther Agbarakwe

http://www.bellanaija.com/2011/02/28/meet-the-young-woman-passionately-spreading-the-word-on-climate-change-in-nigeria-environmental-sustainability-advocate-esther-agbarakwe/

Nigerian Youth Climate Coalition (NYCC)

http://www.nigerianyouthclimatecoalition.blogspot.com/

Sarawak: Sarawak Natives File Historical Land Rights Case

Sarawak: Sarawak Natives File Historical Land Rights Case

 Kelabit, Penan and Lun Bawang plaintiffs join forces to claim 1770 km2 of tropical rainforests in Upper Limbang, Sarawak – first land rights litigation uniting three ethnic groups in Malaysian Borneo

For the first time in the history of Malaysia, natives from three different tribes have filed a joint land rights litigation. This morning, representatives from the Kelabit, Penan and Lun Bawang communities of Upper Limbang, Sarawak, on the island of Borneo have filed a joint land rights litigation at the Miri High Court in which they are claiming native customary rights over 1770 km2 of tropical forests in the Limbang river basin. The case is being represented by native rights lawyer Baru Bian who also heads the Sarawak branch of the oppositional Justice Party (PKR).

http://indigenouspeoplesissues.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=9237:sarawak-sarawak-natives-file-historical-land-rights-case&catid=62:southeast-asia-indigenous-peoples&Itemid=84

 

Patricia Okoed-Bukumunhe wins UNEP Young Environmental Journalist Award

Patricia Okoed-Bukumunhe wins UNEP Young Environmental Journalist Award

http://www.unep.org/Documents.Multilingual/Default.asp?DocumentID=659&ArticleID=6907&l=en&WT.rss_f=pr&WT.rss_a=659-6907