From Mohammed Suleman, Dar es Salaam,Tanzania
A renowned Tanzanian environmentalist, Dr Rugemeleza Nshala, has called on African governments to strengthen their environmental laws as the continent inches closer to becoming a giant in Oil and Gas production.
“Environmental laws are supposed to supersede any other laws as far as environmental management is concerned,” Dr Nshala stressed.
He explained that environment in the modern context of sustainable development encompassed the physical and social factors of the surroundings of human beings and these include land, water, atmosphere, climate, sound, odour, taste, energy, waste management, coastal and marine pollution, the biological factors of animals and plants, as well as cultural values, historical sites, and monuments and aesthetics.
To this effect, he emphasised the urgent need for institutional strengthening and inde-pendence of environmental agencies to ensure that they assumed and performed their tasks as per the laws.
Besides, he called for amendment and harmonisation of laws on the continent in order to ensure that petroleum and mining laws were in accordance with environmental laws.
Dr Nshala, who is also an Environmental lawyer and a member of Lawyers Environmental Action Team(LEAT) based in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, noted: “Laws must state clearly that no license on oil exploitation is to take place contrary to environmental laws and that pollution of the environment is sufficient ground to end petroleum activities.”
Dr Nshala made the call at an ongoing media capacity building workshop in oil and gas reporting in Dar es salaam, Tanzania. The workshop brought together 28 Journalists from Ghana, Tanzania and Uganda It was put together by the Revenue Watch Institute (RWI) in collaboration with Ghana-based Penplusbytes, Journalists' Environ-mental Association of Tanzania, African Centre for Media Excellence in Uganda, and Thomson Reuters Foundation.
The programme aimed at increasing the quantity and quality of coverage of extractive-related issues in the print and electronic media in the aforementioned countries. Whilst seeking to equip participants with the understanding of legal and policy documents on oil, gas and mining.
Dr Nshala who was presenting a paper on the topic Environmental Law and Petroleum Exploration and Exploitation in Africa, admitted that a number of the laws in some African countries were strong enough as they did demand the carrying out of Environ-mental Impact Assessment (EIA) and prohibited the issuance of the license unless environmental protection measures had been put in place.
However, whether Environmental Agencies were strong and independent enough to enforce these laws was a subject of discussion.
The Lawyer was of the view that most of the environmental agencies were very weak, lacked the required independence, lacked staff and resources to enforce the laws.
The agencies, he bemoaned were easy to manipulate and saw themselves as governmental bodies and thus required to give effect to government wishes, ading,”they [Environmental agencies] have country's mandate yet they are based in capital cities and are unable to reach and monitor petroleum activities in the entire country.
Civil Society involvement in enforcement of environmental laws and rights was crucial, he said, stressing that: “CSOs must step in to demand accountability and monitor environmental agencies and oil companies' activities.” CSOs, he continued, should be bold enough to expose bad Environmental practices of foreign oil companies nationally and internationally.
“Remember Petroleum companies purport to attach much value to their name and brand in order to protect their “good image” so shaming them is a powerful fighting tool,” he added.
Some countries particularly Uganda and Tanzania getting ready to joining the league of oil and gas producing nations in Africa discovering oil and gas in commercial quantities.
Dr Nshalas appeal came at a time when WACAM, a human rights and mining advocacy non-governmental organisation in Ghana is also calling for Amendment of the existing Minerals and Mining Act(Act 703).
The Organisation insists the law is weak and does not make provision for Human right protection. Be-sides, the law had been written in a way that put corporate interest above that of the citizens of Ghana.
It points out that: “the minerals and mining Act failed to include Human rights audits and reporting in mining sector. There is no provision for “No go Zones” to protect communities and national landmarks and has no provisions relating to the environment.”
The law, according to WACAM, was also silent on cyanide spillages and chemical pollution of water bodies .It hence emphasised the need to incorporate the “Polluter Pays Principle” in the legal framework. The Associate Executive Director of WACAM, Hannah Owusu-Koranteng, told Public Agenda recently that though Ghana was endowed with a lot of natural resources; the economic benefits of these resources were very small.
She lamented gold mining in Ghana had been an economic suc-cess story for multinational mining companies with minimal contribution to the country's economy. That, she said, was due to the inadequacies in the mining law.
Additionally, Mrs Owusu–Koranteng maintained there was lack of adequate prior consultation and consent from communities affected by mining activities. By law, she said, communities that were affected a mining project should be part of the processes of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) to determine whether the project would not adversely affect such communities.
