INTRODUCTION
The word Environment commands a very broad meaning. It includes: air, land and water; plant and animal life including human life; the social, economic, recreational, cultural and aesthetic conditions and factors that influence the lives of human beings and their communities; buildings, structures, machines or other devices made by man; any solids, liquids, gases, odour, heat, sound, vibration or radiation resulting directly or indirectly from the activities of man; and any part or combination of the foregoing and the inter-relationships between two or more of them (URT, 1997).
Environmental is abroad term, according to Paul Selman, 2000 and NEP, 1997, Environment means physical and biological systems which provide our basic life support and which contribute to our psychological well-being. It includes air, water, land, plant and animal life including human life, the social, economic, cultural, recreational and aesthetic conditions, buildings, technologies, and the direct and indirect impact of human activities.
East African cooperation involves member’s countries namely, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, as well as Rwanda and Burundi which are the new comers within the community. The leading members of the community that is Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda plays great role in attaining environmental sustainability through their national environmental policies. The process of attaining environmental sustainability needs great emphasize from the government as well as from the citizens. East African countries have taken into consideration the issue of environmental protection and management through forming various organisations which specifically deal with environmental protection as the way of attaining environmental sustainability. For example, in Tanzania there is National Environmental management council (NEMC), Kenya there is National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA), the same applied to Uganda there is NEMA, and these organisations enforce environmental policies and laws from the centre to the grass roots.
TANZANIA NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY, 1997
Tanzania National Environmental Policy has identified major six environmental issues which needs more attention, these include: - (URT, 1997)
i. Land degradation;
ii. Lack of accessible, good quality water for both urban and rural inhabitants;
iii. Environmental pollution;
iv. Loss of wildlife habitats and biodiversity;
v. Deterioration of aquatic systems; and
vi. Deforestation.
Each of these is important to the economic well-being of the country and the health of the people.
To expand on the above problems, it is appreciated that: -
i. Land degradation is reducing the productivity of soils in many parts of Tanzania;
ii. Despite considerable national effort, over half the people in towns and in the countryside do not have access to good quality water for washing, cooking, drinking and bathing;
iii. Pollution in towns and the countryside is affecting the health of many people, and has lowered the productivity of the environment;
iv. The loss of habitats for wildlife is threatening the national heritage and creating an uncertain future for the tourist industry;
v. The productivity of lake, river, coastal and marine waters is threatened by pollution and poor management; and
vi. Tanzania forest and woodland heritage is being reduced year by year through clearance for agriculture, for wood fuel and for other demands. These environmental issues needs greet attention so as to enable attainment of environmental sustainability.
NATIONAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT POLICIES IN KENYA.
Environmental and development challenges for Kenya include ensuring an equitable and sustainable pattern of development to meet people’s needs and aspirations for better standard of living. There is also the challenge to develop sustainable industrial production while maintaining an environmentally sound resource base. However, while development planning has been accorded high priority throughout the history of Kenya, environmental planning has received far less emphasis. Efforts to develop environmental planning sectoral level have met with varying degrees of success, For instance, although Kenya has one of the most sophisticated soil conservation programmes in Africa, sedimentation is still major threat to its dams and lakes. Kenya derives an enormous income from wildlife through tourist trade, yet some of the large mammals, notably the elephant and the rhinoceros, are threatened with extinction. While the ministry of environmental and natural resources would like wetlands preserved in order to maintain biodiversity, the department of land reclamation would like the same wetlands reclaimed for agricultural expansion (Wamicha, et al, 1997).
ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT IN UGANDA.
In 1991, Uganda launched its first National Environmental Action Plan (NEAP) process. The main purpose of the NEAP was to integrate environmental concerns into the overall socio-economic development process, in further to address concrete modalities for the conservation of Uganda’s natural heritage. The NEAP process resulted in several environmental policies, legislation, institutional arrangements and an investment plan (http://www.nemaug.org/).
The process of managing and protecting the environment in Uganda is coordinated by National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA).
Overall Goal of NEMA: committed to continuous improvement of the internal and external environmental management of NEMA’s activities and ideals and practices of environmental sustainability.
Objectives: To ensure that the overall goal of the Environmental Policy is achieved, NEMA is committed to the following four objectives that are appropriate to the nature, scale and environmental impacts of NEMA’s activities:
1. Greening the Work Practices
a) Comply with all relevant environmental laws, regulations, standards and other requirements;
b) Integrate environmental considerations in the procurement practices;
c) Reduce, reuse and recycle materials and goods purchased;
d) Save energy and reduce water consumption; and
e) Promote good house keeping practices.
2. Greening the Work Places
a) Improve the quality of the working environment within NEMA House (internal air quality, water quality, waste management, paper use, energy use, health and safety, among others;
b) Training staff in environmental management systems (EMS), and its implementation.
3. Contribute to the Global Community
a) Enhance networking and capacity building in environmental management;
b) Develop and implement projects that contribute to environmental sustainability
4. Contribute to the Local Community
a) Participate as a responsible party in local initiatives that improve the quality of the environment; and
b) Organize events to raise local awareness of environmental problems.
Strategies: The goal and objective of this policy statement will be implemented through an EMS Plan containing measurable targets and with monitoring, review, self-assessment and analysis of performance against the plan. Corrective action, whenever appropriate, shall be encouraged among staff to ensure improvement in environmental performance and that the NEMA EMS is maintained. To achieve the above, we shall:
a) Carry out semi-annual reviews of the activities, procedures and programmes in order to ensure continuous improvement of the EMS; and
b) Document and communicate the policy to all staff and employees through meetings, training sessions, displaying it on the notice- boards, website and other places (http://www.nemaug.org/).
There are various environmental programs in Uganda targets in attaining sustainable utilization of stock resources of the mother nature which is the environment, for instance, there is the project of Uganda Earth Education organised by Jane Goodall institute (JGI) - African programs, The goal of this project is to influence and reduce environmentally damaging practices within vulnerable areas of Uganda, with a focus on chimpanzee habitat areas.
Objectives of Jane Goodall institute (JGI) - African programs:-
Ø To improve environmental education throughout Uganda by training and supplying primary and secondary teachers and community members with environmental knowledge, skills, and curricula designed to encourage behavioral change.
Ø To assist teachers and the Ugandan school system to deliver environmantal education curricula to 10,000 primary students and 400,000 secondary students over a three-year period.
Ø To carry out a series of “sensitization” visits for local leaders and politicians in order to raise their awareness of environmental concerns and the efforts needed to resolve them.
JGI-Uganda is concerned that if the project targets only one cohort, i.e. primary students, secondary students, or adults, then the level of environmental awareness and sustainable resource use required will be very difficult to achieve. By targeting all three groups JGI-Uganda hopes to influence as much of the population as possible, thus increasing environmental awareness throughout Uganda at all levels (www.janegoodall.org/africa-programs)
MANAGEMENT AND CONSERVATION OF NILE RIVER BASIN
The Nile Basin Initiative (NBI) is a partnership initiated and led by the riparian states of the Nile River through the Council of Ministers of Water Affairs of the Nile Basin states (Nile Council of Ministers, or Nile-COM). The NBI seeks to develop the river in a cooperative manner, share substantial socioeconomic benefits, and promote regional peace and security. Cooperative water resources management is complex in any international river basin. In the Nile Basin, which is characterized by water scarcity, poverty, a long history of dispute and insecurity, and rapidly growing populations and demand for water, it is particularly difficult. The NBI started with a participatory process of dialogue among the riparians that resulted in their agreeing on a shared vision—to “achieve sustainable socioeconomic development through the equitable utilization of, and benefit from, the common Nile Basin water resources.
Nile river basin is crucial river for the people of East Africa, there fore management and conservation of that Trans-Boundary resource is of great significance as the basin plays great role to socio- economic development for the people of East Africa and Africa at large. Recognizing that cooperative development holds the greatest prospects for bringing benefits to the entire region, and aware of the challenges, the Nile riparians took an historic step in establishing the Nile Basin Initiative. Formally launched in February 1999, the initiative provides an institutional mechanism, a shared vision, and a set of agreed policy guidelines to provide a basin wide framework for cooperative action. The policy guidelines define the following as the primary objectives of the NBI:-
Ø To develop the Nile Basin water resources in a sustainable and equitable way to ensure
Ø prosperity, security, and peace for all its peoples
Ø To ensure efficient water management and the optimal use of the resources
Ø To ensure cooperation and joint action between the riparian countries, seeking win-win gains
Ø To target poverty eradication and promote economic integration
Ø To ensure that the program results in a move from planning to action.
The Strategic Action Program represents the Nile riparians’ strategic approach to achieving sustainable socioeconomic development in the basin through “equitable utilization of, and benefit from, the common Nile Basin water resources.” The Strategic Action Program provides the means for translating this shared vision into concrete activities through a two-fold, complementary approach:
Ø Lay the groundwork for cooperative action through a regional program to build confidence and capacity throughout the basin (the Shared Vision Program)
Ø Pursue, simultaneously, cooperative development opportunities to realize physical investments and tangible results through sub-basin activities (Subsidiary action programs) in the Eastern Nile and the Nile Equatorial Lakes regions (www.nilebasin.org).
PERFOMANCE EVALUATION OF THE NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL POLICIES WITHIN THE EAC MEMBER STATES.
The laws on natural resources are still underdeveloped in the region though conservation ranks high in most governments’ development agenda as evident in the compilation of State of Environment Reports, and development of National Environmental Action Plans (NEAPs) which are primarily off-shoots of structural adjustment economic and environmental policies spearheaded by the World Bank (Monica, P. 1998).
Kenya is the only country in the region which has legislation on Intellectual Property Rights which are gazetted as Industrial Property Act (Cap.509), Trade Marks Act (Cap.506) and Copyright Act (Cap.130), under the Kenya Industrial Property Office established in 1989. The rights include protection of parts of products of biotechnological process in form of inventions. The Act has a provision for protection of plant genetic resources or improvement.
Legislation affecting agricultural genetic resources was based upon colonial agriculture was developed by the importation of new genetic material in form of new crops and varieties, species and hybrid seeds. This has disturbed the local genetic scenario. In its emphasis on agriculture meant that other genetic resources were ignored and trampled by expanding agricultural activities (Monica, P. 1998).
POLICY GAPS
Existing environmental policies, natural resources laws and plant genetic resources policies are beset with various technical, policy and socio-political constraints. Laws relevant to conservation and management of genetic resources in the region have been developed piecemeal over a long period of time. The fragments of policy which have emerged are sectoral, truncated, sometimes conflicting and above all not legally binding with lack of a legal framework for asserting national economic sovereignty over crop genetic resources. At the practical level, the development and implementation of the various fragments of laws and policies have been impeded by: - (www.srdis.ciensin.columbia.edu).
Ø Formulation and implementation of the laws and policies have traditionally tended to be a prerogative of the central governments which normally fail to involve the local people, resulting in lack of conservation responsibility at the community level.
Ø Limitations of the existing laws which pay little attention to such important natural resources components as biodiversity in general and genetic resources in particular.
Ø Inadequate implementation and enforcement mechanisms for laws and policies due to lack of logistic, financial and human resources.
Ø Lack of proper co-ordination and integration mechanism for the many related and fragmented laws and policies which have evolved sectorally and have become compartmentalised.
Ø The environmental policies of EAC member states does not recognize the role of youth in managing the environmental resources, for example, Tanzania national environmental policy emphasize much on the relevance of gender resource base, Tanzania national environmental policy insist much on involving the gender issues in managing the environmental resources, the policy does not state anything about the position of youth in planning and management of environmental resources.
Other constraints are:-
Ø The water in the lakes is getting more and more polluted. At the same time the demand for water is increasing with population growth and economic development. Effective and co-ordinated systems of integrated management of the water resources will be a crucial precondition for a sustainable socio-economic development in the Lake as well as promotion of water quality and quantity monitoring.
Ø High population growth coupled with poor farming technologies, have resulted in the clearing of new land for agriculture, destroying natural forests, bush and woodland, exposing the land to water and wind erosion and affecting wildlife.
Ø The strategy to counter these threats comprises of improving land use and natural resources planning with particular focus on urban expansion and promotion of proper land use management practices. Other focal areas are promotion of co-management of wildlife and the establishment of community forests, woodlots, forestation, tree planting schemes and agro forestry.
Ø In the past, the lakes showed a very high diversity of fish. Today, many indigenous species, which provided cheap and easily available protein, have disappeared and alien species such as the Nile perch, have been introduced. Promotion of sustainable fishing policies, extension services and monitoring are some of the measures that need to be carried out.
Ø Even though biological control has reduced water hyacinth noticeably, the plant is still negatively affecting local fishing, causing abundance of insect pests and hindering water transportation. The strategy implies intensification of water weed monitoring and control.
Ø Nutrient inputs and waste from human industrial waste give rise to serious eutrophication. Wastewater treatment plants are either not installed or generally malfunctioning. Laws and regulations intended to control pollution are regularly outdated, their enforcement is weak and the penalties too small to act as an incentive for installing effective treatments systems (www.sida.se).
THE WAY FORWARD/ SUGGESTIONS.
To counter these threats the following should be done:-
Ø Integrated waste management of solid wastes and discharges into the Lake needs to be undertaken. Reduction of point source pollution by strengthening industrial and municipal waste management in urban and industrial centres as well as regulations to reduce and control pollution from mines are other important measures. Farming methods that reduce the use of pesticides, herbicides and fertilizer need to be promoted (http://www.sida.se/).
Ø To conduct national review of economic sectoral and environmental policies strategies and plans, to ensure the progressive integration of environmental and development issues.
Ø To strengthen institutional structures to allow the full integration of environment and development issue at all levels of decision making, there should be involvement of concerned individuals groups and organization in decision making at all levels.
Ø To alleviate and reduce poverty among the individuals, this will culminate much to rescue the environment from severe degradation where by the population will not rely much on stock resources of the mother nature as their standard of living would be improved.
Ø To manage the ecosystem and use of natural resources sustainably.
Ø There should be a paradigm shift of decision making from top – down approach to bottom – up approach, this will enable the local people to be fully integrated in planning and management of environmental resources.
Ø Management of Trans-boundary resources should be highly emphasized among the EAC member’s states so as to attain efficiency and effective resource management within the region.
Ø To improve or restructure the decision-making process so that consideration of socio-economic and environmental issues is fully integrated and a broader range of public participation assured. Recognizing that countries will develop their own priorities in accordance with their prevailing conditions, needs, national plans, policies and programmes.
Ø Awareness creation should be encouraged, EAC member states should make a thoroughly information dissemination through providing environmental education from the centre to the grass roots, this will assists much in widening the environmental knowledge among the local community who are the main resource user, there should be a deliberate measures to initiate different environmental programs which will speed up the environmental knowledge base among the local community.
Ø Political parties should participate fully in all efforts of making sure environmental sustainability is attained, environmental protection and management should be incorporated in their manifesto, and this will build more knowledge among the local community on the relevance of protecting our environment as a way of attaining environmental sustainability.
CONCLUSION.
Economic growth and poverty reduction strategy can not be attained with the marginalization of the Ecosystem people, that means, any plans for development should be done taking into consideration the local people, local people should be involved in decision making process, there should be a power scaling down where by local community can have power to plan and manage their environmental resources. By power scaling down local people will be wise in the utilization of their environmental resources.
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