Strong political will needed for environment laws, says lawyer

THERE is a disconnection between national and subnational interpretations and understanding of legislations on environmental issues, environmental lawyer Sarah Stocks says.“For example; the Protected Areas Bill proposed in 2018 has been sitting in parliament waiting enactment for three years now,” she said. “So it really requires a strong political will and the ability to actually execute it and we need a strong Government to do that.“I know that we have had various Government promises over the years to push for this to become a priority, but if we do not involve trying to get institutional arrangements right from the start, we will always have a disconnect.”Stocks said there were many reforms taking place in the country.“However, it requires a strong political will to actually execute it,” she said. “Getting the institutional arrangements right is by ensuring legislations and policies put in place are effective. “I believe there are many opportunities to merge jurisdictions between Climate Change and Development Authority and Conservation Environment Protection Authority if they work together.“Many initiatives have been coordinated in adhoc and piecemeal approaches when they should be combined as a common objective for the country and the people.“So when creating all these different entities, how do they all connect? “And that’s the real issue here because we do not know the disparities between the national and subnational levels.“We have logistical issues. “Our country is one of the most difficult when it comes to logistical issues to navigat, and so it is making things work from the ground up as opposed to from top down.”Stocks said one of the key concerns was that the local peoples’ interests were being suppressed by national interest.“We have got large mining investments coming in and that can easily brush aside some of these initiatives that we have been working very hard to push,” she said. “The people’s interests should be at heart and be addressed.”