ENTRENCHING WASTE HIERARCHY FOR SUSTAINABLE MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT IN KENYA

Wambua Kituku 1

Collins Odote 2

Charles Okidi 3

Patricia Kameri-Mbote 4

INTRODUCTION

Prioritizing waste prevention, reuse, recycling and recovery of materials and energy over disposal through landfilling, offers the waste hierarchy approach (WHA) a sustainable pathway to the management of municipal solid wastes (MSW) and realization of a circular economy. The concept is now part of the legal framework in some developing countries and its implementation has been credited for addressing waste problems linked to high rates of economic growth and urbanization. Even though Africa Vision 2063 prioritizes improvements in urban waste recycling in the continent, much of the MSW generated on the continent is disposed through landfilling evidencing weak adoption of the WHA. This article contends that because WHA is not adequately incorporated in the current legal framework at national and sub-national levels of government, Kenya is unlikely to achieve a circular economy approach necessary for realizing sustainable waste management. Operationalization of the WHA is impeded by inadequate financing, weak institutional coordination, gaps in private sector and informal actors’ engagement and risks associated with investments in large-scale waste recovery initiatives. It is therefore necessary for Kenya to elaborate the WHA in its legal framework at both national and county level, while ensuring adequate financing, involvement of informal actors, incentivization of private sector and adoption of waste planning procedures.

Keywords: Waste Hierarchy, Circular Economy, Municipal Solid Waste Management, Sustainability

DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.4314/jsdlp.v11i2.2

1 BSc (JUAT), LL.B (Nairobi), LLM (Nairobi) PhD Candidate (Nairobi), University of Nairobi, Kenya 

2 LLB (Nairobi), LLM (Nairobi), PhD (Nairobi), Director, Centre for Advanced Studies in Environmental Law ( CASELAP), University of Nairobi, Kenya

3 BA (Alaska), MA (Tufts), PhD (Tufts), Professor, CASELAP and IDS, University of Nairobi, Kenya 

4 LLB (Nairobi), LLM (Warwick), LLM (Zimbabwe), PhD (Stanford), LLD (Nairobi), Professor of Law, Faculty of Law, University of Nairobi

TROPHY HUNTING: TO BAN OR NOT TO BAN? LEGAL PATHWAYS FOR ZIMBABWE IN THE AFTERMATH OF CECIL THE LION

Precious G. Makuyana*

ABSTRACT

This article examines the legal framework and tools for achieving sustainable trophy hunting in Zimbabwe. Trophy hunting is part of wildlife tourism, in which wealthy tourists visit Zimbabwe to hunt for a unique, iconic wildlife with desirable phenotypic characteristics at a very high cost. The trophy hunting system was developed to achieve the tripartite objectives of conserving wildlife; providing local communities with economic opportunities and income; and incentivizing local communities to support environmental conservation initiatives. This article, however, highlights the blurred lines between the purported sustainable trophy hunting and its unsustainable implementation which now resembles “legal poaching.” This dichotomy was heightened by the killing of Cecil the Lion, a tourism icon in Zimbabwe when it was not listed under the quota system for trophy hunting. The wellintentioned legal frameworks on sustainable trophy hunting in Zimbabwe are weakened by broad exceptions that render them toothless to achieve the intended tripartite sustainability objectives. As demonstrated in this article, these tripartite objectives can be fulfilled by effective enforcement mechanisms that do not currently exist. Proposals are recommended to promote these objectives through reformation of the existing legal frameworks. The option to ban trophy hunting is examined through a socioeconomic analysis in Zimbabwe to determine whether it would be possible to support a complete ban. Zimbabwe’s current socioeconomic realities confirm that banning trophy hunting would be unlikely as doing so would devastate the tripartite objectives. Undertaking effective and sustainable policies is the more effective path for Zimbabwe at this time.

Keywords: Sustainability, Trophy Hunting, CITES; CAMPFIRE, Zimbabwe

DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.4314/jsdlp.v9i1.7

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* JD Candidate, College of Law, Florida A&M University, United States. Email: precious1.ndebele@famu.edu

EVALUATION OF THE LEGAL FRAMEWORK FOR PROMOTING SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN THE EXTRACTIVE HOST COMMUNITIES IN NIGERIA

Bethel Uzoma Ihugba* and Sergius Nnamdi Okoro**

ABSTRACT

The extraction of oil and mineral wealth has some environmental, social, economic and political impact on the host communities. In many instances these communities do not derive any sustainable developmental benefit from the wealth extraction activities in their area and where they do, it is less than the magnitude of harm suffered. This has contributed to conflicts between government and host communities, and between host communities and mining companies. This suggests that either there is no legal framework for extractive industry host community development or they are weak or not applied. In Nigeria, existing legal framework includes revenue allocation formulas between the Federal and State Governments, the establishment of bodies like the Niger Delta Development Commission, and enactment of laws like the Nigeria Minerals and Mining Act (NMMA) 2007, the Nigeria Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (NEITI) Act 2007 and the proposal of the Petroleum Industry Bill 2012 and the recently passed Petroleum Industry Governance Bill 2016. However, despite this framework, contentions persist and there is sparse evidence of sustainable development in host communities to counter some conclusions of ineffectiveness. This article, therefore, examines some of the legal framework to determine their contribution or otherwise and potential towards sustainable host community development.

Key Words: Extractive industry, local host community development, Nigeria, petroleum industry, sustainability.

DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.4314/jsdlp.v8i1.15

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* LLB, LLM, PhD, BL, Research Fellow, National Institute for Legislative Studies, National Assembly, Abuja, Nigeria. Correspondence email: bethelihugba @yahoo.com

** LLB, LLM, BL, Research Officer, National Institute for Legislative Studies, National Assembly, Abuja, Nigeria.

INCREASED RELEVANCE AND INFLUENCE OF FREE PRIOR INFORMED CONSENT, REDD, AND GREEN ECONOMY PRINCIPLES ON SUSTAINABLE COMMONS MANAGEMENT IN PERU

Carlos A. M. Soria Dall’Orso, Ph. D.*

ABSTRACT

This paper examines unique opportunities provided by international discourses and practices of the Green Economy approach and valuation of ecosystem services (as promoted under the international climate change regime) on the sustainable management of indigenous forests and lands in Peru. It examines the influence of epistemological changes prompted by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) on the improved understanding and conceptualization of the role of forests and sound natural resource management; and how these changes at the international level have positively impacted traditional land rights in Peru.1 It also analyses how increased development and financing of Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) processes and projects have enhanced the incorporation of interculturality into indigenous peoples’ public policy in Peru. This paper discusses the Peruvian experience, most especially how international demands for greater transparency in forest management led to the evolution of the Prior Consultation Law and Forestry (FPIC) Law in Peru. It reviews the growing relevance and influence of the Peruvian FPIC law, its impact on sustainable forest management, and the opportunities and practical challenges it portends for sustainable commons management in Peru.

Keywords: Peru, forests, green economy, FPIC, REDD, indigenous

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* MSc (Ecuador), PhD (Australia), international consultant, researcher, lecturer and activist on environmental and indigenous public policy since 1988. Dr. Soria Dall’Orso is the co-author of the Code of Environment and Natural Resources of Peru (1990); the General Environmental Law (2005), the Forestry and Wildlife Law 29763 (2011) and Regulation of the Forestry and Wildlife Law 27308 (2001). He is an Associate Researcher with the Institute for Nature, Territory and Renewable Energies Sciences (INTE) of the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru (PUCP). He teaches in the Master’s Program in Sustainable Development and Biocomerce at PUCP; Master’s programs of the Faculty of Forestry at the Universidad Nacional Agraria La Molina; Faculty of Business Administration at the Universidad San Ignacio de Loyola; and at the Postgraduate School of the Pedro Ruiz Gallo University of Lambayeque. He supported the Amazonian indigenous peoples and the Peruvian government negotiations in 2001 and 2009. From 2012-2014, he returned to the World Wide Fund for Nature WWF-Peru as Senior Policy Specialist on issues of indigenous peoples in isolation, developing voluntary standards for palm plantations, development of forestry legislation, among others. As such, he was very instrumental to the activities of World Wildlife Fund and the Coordinator of Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon Basin COICA to develop the content of the proposed Amazonian Indigenous REDD in various projects. In 2014 he helped the dialogue around the development of the regulations of the Forestry and Fauna Law.

1. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) came into force in 1994 with the aim of reducing greenhouse gases (GHGs) emissions into the atmosphere. The UNFCCC COPs have been organized since 1995 as part of the commitments of the UNFCC. The Kyoto Protocol, although failed to come in to force, was, nevertheless, an important milestone whose failure to achieve still haunts us. The Kyoto Protocol ended in 2012 and the world seeks to establish a new solid and binding agreement climate change measures. For a list of UNFCCC COPs, see accessed June 15, 2015.

LEGAL ANALYSIS OF THE EUROPEAN UNION SUSTAINABILITY CRITERIA FOR BIOFUELS

Evgenia Pavlovskaia*

ABSTRACT

This paper provides a legal analysis and review of the European Union (EU) sustainability criteria for biofuels, presented in Directive 2009/28/EC. The paper discusses the EU sustainability criteria as a tool that could be efficiently utilized to operationalize and implement the concepts of sustainable development and sustainability in an industrial setting. The results of the analysis highlight that to safeguard the sustainable quality of biofuels and their production, the list of the EU sustainability criteria should be elaborated further. Other criteria that regulate various aspects of environmental, social and economic sustainability need be added. For example, there is a need for further elaboration of the sustainable agricultural practices and tolerable use of water resources. Furthermore, as long as the EU requirements to fulfill the sustainability criteria have global impacts, the perspective of the involved actors from other regions and countries should be taken into account. Practical possibilities of the involved actors, their costs for the implementation of the sustainability criteria and regional differences should also be considered. More generally, the paper suggests that the list of sustainability criteria, incorporated in a legal framework, should neither be too long, nor too short. A long list is not easy to implement. For a short list, as illustrated by the EU, it could be difficult to guarantee sustainability. Consequently, to the extent possible, the legislated list of sustainability criteria should be complemented by non-binding recommendations, explanations and guidelines. Furthermore, before making the suggested sustainability criteria legally binding, possible conflicts between different interests and contradictions with the already existing regulations from neighboring spheres of law should be investigated as a matter of necessity. Keywords: Sustainability, Sustainability criteria, Biofuels, Directive 2009/28/EC.

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* Evgenia Pavlovskaia, Ph.D. Candidate, Faculty of Law, Lund University, Sweden, evgenia. pavlovskaia@jur.lu.se.