New effort to address key environmental issues

While many Tanzanians marked World Environment Day on 5 June with localised tree-planting and cleanups, environmental activists have drawn attention to what they say is a weak legal and institutional framework for environmental management and protection in the country. "This legislation is not coordinated, and we don't have an agency with a final word on environmental matters. Nor do we have the essential environmental management tools that are recognisable," says Rugumeleza Nshala, president of the Lawyers' Environmental Action Team (LEAT), which is acting as the secretariat for the Environment Coalition, a collection of civil society organisations involved in environmental management in Tanzania. He cited Environmental Impact Assessments as an area where there are fundamental problems, since EIAs were only legally demanded in the Mining and Marine Parks and Reserves sectors. Neither was there any agency to monitor the quality of assessments and, as a result, EIAs were carried out merely as a matter of procedure, rather than being geared towards ensuring sound environmental management in the country, he added. In its study of the state of the environment, the Institutional and Legal Framework for Environmental Management Project (ILFEMP) has listed land degradation, environmental pollution and deforestation, deterioration of aquatic systems, loss of wildlife habitats and biodiversity, and the lack of accessible, good quality water as the major environmental problems affecting Tanzania and its people. "Striking examples of the extent of this degradation are that between 130,000 and 500,000 hectares of forest are destroyed each year and approximately 65 percent of the nation's coral reefs have been blown up, resulting in the deterioration of aquatic systems," the agency added in a recent report. Environmental campaigners argue that while the right to a healthy environment is enshrined in the Tanzanian constitution and there are various laws that protect the environment through sectoral legislation, different approaches are not harmonised and the effort to establish a more coherent legal framework for environmental management must be stepped up. The process to address this and the many other issues has been initiated through ILFEMP, and its objectives are to enable the government to make a decision on an institutional structure (Phase I), draft a bill (Phase II) and put together a National Environmental Management Programme (Phase III). The study phase (Phase I) has been completed, but campaigners say it confirmed many prior concerns, including poor inter-sectoral coordination and linkages between local and national government, weak institutional linkages, conflicting mandates and a lack of implementing capacity. Critics also say that there are those within the existing system who fear effective change, because people would lose positions and power in the streamlining of institutions. They say conflicts between different institutions and duplication of activities by them typify the problems. Local media reports have also said there is confusion over environmental management projects, but Dr Palamagamba Kabudi, a lawyer who has been involved in ILFEMP from its inception, told IRIN that a draft paper had been prepared, and it was now up to the cabinet to decide what institutional framework the country should adopt and when the law should be drafted. "The process might be taking time, but for me what it important is the process, not the product," he said. "I could come up with a draft in two weeks, go to the parliament and we would have a law - but it will have no legitimacy if it does not involve the people in the process." "We need a law that doesn't only deal with institutions," Kabudi said. "We don't just need a prescriptive law, but a law that also deals with normative principles and which provides tools for management irrespective of which institution will be given the mandate to manage the environment. We need also to encourage incentives and voluntary compliance, which comes from awareness and empowerment." While Tanzania might be the last of the East African countries to enact an environmental law, it was, for the same reason, now in a position to learn from their mistakes, Kabudi added. According to Angelina Madete, acting director of the environment division at the Vice-President's Office, the process is, indeed, taking time and there have been problems with elements of the project. However, she does not believe that there are any serious hitches, and says the process will effectively tie together some 80 existing pieces of legislation relating to the environment. Gertrude Liatu from the environment division of the United Nations Development Programme in Tanzania also thinks the country is on the right track to fill in existing gaps. "I think the government has made tremendous steps to look into those areas that are missing and address areas where regulations are lacking," she said. Despite the scepticism of some activists, those involved seem optimistic that, through public meetings - with representation from a broad mix of governmental and nongovernmental agencies - the environmental management process in Tanzania can result in a sound and cohesive environmental law and policy.