ISSUED ON
11 APRIL 2008 - Sub-Saharan African Network
for Environmental Compliance and Enforcement
Established at International Conference
The 8th International
Conference on Environmental Compliance and
Enforcement culminated in the formation
of an informal Sub-Saharan African Network
for Environmental Compliance and Enforcement.
This informal regional
network was founded on 10 April 2008 at
the 8th International Network for Environmental
Compliance and Enforcement (INECE) Conference
in Cape Town, South Africa by environmental
compliance and enforcement officials and
experts from South Africa, Cameroon, Ghana,
Nigeria, Botswana, Uganda, Tanzania as well
as Kenya.
The objective of the
network is to enhance environmental compliance
and enforcement in the great countries of
Sub-Saharan Africa by sharing information
and experience.
Eastern, Southern, Central
and Western Africa represent the four subregions
into which the network has been divided.
Through the International
Network for Environmental Compliance and
Enforcement (INECE) network members can
register online. At the national level key
documents such as training materials, policies,
legislation, information on technology,
inspection report formats and case studies
will be identified.
The 8th INECE conference
commenced on 05 April and drew to a close
today, 11 April 2008. It saw 200 participants
from more than 60 developing and developed
countries converge in Cape Town, South Africa,
to affirm the benefits of environmental
compliance and enforcement, to highlight
progress made by the network, and press
for further actions to improve compliance
and enforcement around the world.
Nobel Peace Prize winner
and world renowned environmentalist, Wangari
Maathai in a video message to the conference
today (11 April) said that laws are important
but compliance to laws is more important
as we cannot have sustainable development
without compliance. She emphasised that
compliance is part of good governance and
effective rule of law - one is not effective
on its own, both law and compliance were
needed.
Mathaai highlighted
the need for protection of forests in Africa.
She said that there was a need to look at
the role of forests in climate change mitigation.
Mathaai emphasized that it cannot be more
important to plant an extra tree than to
protect the one that is standing.
In the Cape Town Conference
Statement delivered by The Dutch Inspector
General for International Enforcement Cooperation,
Gerard Wolters several key outcomes actions
were realized and will be integrated into
a post conference programme of action. Some
of the key actions include:
a. Communicate that
environmental compliance and enforcement
programs create value across all areas of
society: public value through strengthened
rule of law; protected ecosystem goods and
services; improved human health and private
value through increased investor confidence;
reduced business risks; stimulated innovation;
increased competitiveness; and new jobs
and markets.
b. Encourage the development
and growth of environmental compliance and
enforcement networks in the Sub-Saharan
region of Africa.
c. Promote transnational
and intergovernmental cooperation for the
management and protection of newly established
transboundary conservation parks in Sub-Saharan
Africa.
d. Build an informal
community of practitioners that strategically
manages environmental compliance and enforcement
programs.
e. Encourage the use
of performance measurement, including indicators
of effective environmental compliance and
enforcement.
f. Enhance national
capacity for detecting violations, emphasizing
practical tools, including technological
developments, to strengthen compliance and
enforcement programs.
g. Improve national
compliance with, and enforcement of, laws
protecting biodiversity and habitat, and
develop further tools to enhance international
compliance with multilateral environmental
agreements.
h. Support the further
development of networks, such as the Network
for Environmental Compliance Training Professionals
and the Seaport Network to build capacity
and curtail the illegal movement of goods,
including hazardous waste, chemicals, ozone
depleting substances, and flora and fauna.
i. Develop recommendations
for compliance and enforcement strategies
and mechanisms for addressing climate change
within existing and future climate regimes.
j. Promote compliance
with measures that restrict emissions that
contribute to climate change, including
greenhouse gases, ozone depleting substances,
and black carbon (or soot), and that protect
carbon sinks, including forests and soils,
with emphasis on measures that produce strong
co-benefits, such as improvements in public
health and ecosystem services.
k. Apply environmental
compliance and enforcement tools to protect
ecosystems and their services as a basis
for climate change adaptation.
“Environmental protection
is nothing less than protecting the very
sources of life - land, air, water, and
ecosystems. These also form the basis of
all economic activities. As such, these
environmental resources must be given the
highest priority in the global agenda of
humankind. The laws that conserve, protect,
and restore these elements of life must
be implemented and their compliance assured.
The rule of law is the basis for good governance
and sustainable development,” said Wolters.
For further information on INECE visit :
http://www.environment.gov.za/HotIssues/2008/INECE/INECE.html
or www.inece.org
Sonnyboy Bapela, Chief Director: Regulatory
Services
Melissa Fourie, Director: Enforcement
+ More
Deputy Minister's Intervention
on the Farm Owner & Farm Dwellers Conflict
in Hoedspruit game farm
14 April 2008 - Media
Statement - STATEMENT BY DEPUTY MINISTER,
MS REJOICE MABUDAFHASI, ON FARM OWNER AND
FARM DWELLERS CONFLICT IN HOEDSPRUIT
MONDAY, 14 APRIL 2008:
The Deputy Minister of Environmental Affairs
and Tourism, Ms Rejoice Mabudafhasi, has
today met with aggrieved members of Mokoena
family whose deceased family member has
been denied burial rights in Welverdien
241 KT game farm in Hoedspruit by Hannes
Wessels, the farm owner. Mr. Wessels refused
the burial on the farm despite the deceased
having been born in the farm and never had
any other home. Burial has been kept on
hold for more than three weeks.
When reacting to the
conflict Ms Mabudafhasi said, “As government
we cannot allow a situation where our people’s
rights are violated in the name of tourism.
We encourage responsible tourism which espouses
everyone’s constitutional right to dignity
and respect. This practice of gross human
rights violation is very bad for tourism
as it creates negative about our beautiful
country. Tourists will never be interested
in visiting areas where poor people are
exploited and ill-treated by rich people
who are pursuing narrow self-enriching activities.
This situation is very
disgusting and works against government’s
genuine efforts for nation building, reconciliation,
social-cohesion and moral regeneration.
What attracts tourists
to visit our country is our cultural diversity
and ability to remain united as one nation
despite the racial divisions of the past.
Those who still have an apartheid mentality
of humiliating poor people must be stopped
from doing so. I therefore strongly urge
all tourists not to visit this area and
other places where the owners have no respect
for other fellow human beings.
I wish to send a strong
message to everyone that South Africa belongs
to all of us irrespective of race. The days
when racism and shameful treatment of poor
black people by white people was tolerated
are gone. Government will therefore not
allow anyone to undermine the current democratic
dispensation through unethical, immoral
and unconstitutional behaviour”.
Ms Mabudafhasi also
appealed to the Limpopo Land Claims Commission
to expedite the processing of a land claim
for the Mokoena family on the same property.
Moses Rannditsheni (Media Liaison Officer
for the Deputy Minister)
