Environmental Policy & Politics In The Gambia
A way forward for our national development paradigms.
By Abdoukarim Sanneh, Postgraduate Student, University of Salford, UK.
The coming of The World Commission on Environment and Development and the publication of the report on our common future was a turning point in the global advocacy of national environmental policy development for both developed and developing countries. The World Commission on Environment and Development commonly known as Brundtland Commission headed by Former Prime Minister of Norway and the one time Director General of World Health Organisation was referred in many academic circles as the most important document of the decade on the future of our planet-earth.
Genesis of our common future had opened both academic and intellectual debate on topical issues of economic development and environmental protection. In the United Kingdom, the report led UK Department of Environment now known as Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to institute independent study of the deliberation put through in the report on the Our Common Future especially the term sustainable development. The UK Commission came up with a report entitled- Blue print for green economy which endorsed the report of the World Commission for Sustainable Development, providing the most influential account for UK economic policies to achieve sustainable development.
The Brundtland Commission led to a shift in policy direction in many other countries. It was the recommendations of the Commission, which shaped the debate of the United Nation Conference on Environment and Development known as the Earth Summit in Brazil in June 1992. It was the view of many environmental activists that, the Earth Summit was a failure but for many academics and development commentators, it was the beginning of the most important legal binding agreements between developed and developing countries such as Convention on biological diversity, Convention on sustainable development (Agenda 21), Convention on desertification and Convention on climate change. These Conventions significantly shifted international diplomacy and would certainly shape relationships between nation states in developed and developing countries in this millennium and beyond.
In the Gambia, the issues of environmental protection and erosion of biological resources had been a concern since 1977 leading to the coming into effect of the Banjul Declaration for the protection of our fauna and flora. In policy dimension, because of the dependency of our Gross National Product on environmental goods, the PPP government was well aware of the national resource base of the economy and also there was a strong political will to address the issues through development paradigms and policy interventions. After Gambia’s participation at the World Summit on Environment and Development commonly known as Earth Summit, the PPP Government with international funding because of the good democratic image at that time transformed the Environment Unit at the Department of Water Resources into what is today known as the National Environment Agency.
The Gambia National Environment Agency (NEA) came through an Act of Parliament called Environment Management Act, 1994. The legal mandate of the Agency was to formulate environmental policy. The deficit of the Act was that the agency was not mandated further to developed and replicate its own environment and development projects at national stage. The Agency was reduced to coordination, advice and consultation, overseeing compliance and providing technical advice on environmental issues and related development. The National Environment Agency is an institution with highly trained multidisciplinary team of professionals but cannot function within the scope and mandate like the UK Environmental Agency-Independent/autonomous, development oriented and decentralised to all the regions.
The APRC Government even with my critical observation about the progress of the National Environmental policy- Gambia Environmental Action Plan, have been positive and shows commitment in maintaining the semi-autonomous status of the agency before and after transition from military to quasi democracy. But the reality is that putting Gambia’s environmental crisis into perspectives, there is a need to shift policy directed toward environmental action beyond officialdom. The activities of the National Environment Agency need funding and should be decentralised from Divisional or Regional level to District through not only technical but also development arms. For example; looking into The Gambia’s farming system, one major problem confronting agricultural productivity relates to environmental problems. Among which are lost of soil fertility, salt water intrusion, soil and water conservation etc. The National Environment Agency with its experts can collaborate with Agricultural development extension with land use planning and conservation techniques to improve toward sustainable farming system development.
There are a lot of good efforts that the Environment Agency is doing. A lot of work has been done in the sensitisation of solid waste disposal, enforcement of illegal waste disposal and also a rather coercive monthly cleaning exercise known as ‘set settal.’ Even with the fact that it is hijacked by empty political rhetoric of APRC regime, mandatory enforcement can have a serious implication to civil liberty and human rights. With rapid urbanisation in urban and semi-urban areas, monthly national cleaning exercise is good initiatives coupled with public sensitisation issues relating to public and environmental health matters. Local Government authorities should compliment the efforts the Environment Agency with provision of dustbins and lavatories in all public areas and spaces. Environmental health is an important requirement of our national development. Poor hygiene and sanitation in Africa is the primary cause of the prevalence of both air and water borne diseases such as cholera, dysentery, typhoid etc.
Coming up with National Waste Management mobilisation through monthly cleaning exercise does not mean that we have seen light at the end of the tunnel. Mountain of both biodegradable and non biodegradable solid waste from Greater Banjul area which used to be openly dumped in Bakoteh Land fill site contain a lot of methane that can be used as a source of energy or the solid waste. This can be incinerated to generate energy which can be transformed into electricity. Gambia needs an incineration plant to address thousands of tonnes of solid waste that end up in open space dumping sites affecting not only the visual scenery but also the natural beauty of our landscape. Incineration of the solid waste will not address open space dumping but will meet the demand for alternative energy and reduce dependency on fossil fuel.
The Gambia needs waste management policy which is directed towards re-use, recycle and regeneration to meet its energy than open space dumping which can have a serious environmental impact for generations to come. Our country needs sustainable municipal waste management strategies and frameworks. A healthy environment improves the living condition of people and increases life expectancy.
The Gambia Environment Agency could be institutionally functional beyond its legal mandate through addressing crucial issues of sustainability within the framework of Local Government decentralisation. The recent amendment of the Local Government Act, have shifting all exclusive powers to the President and grossly undermines any meaningful reform strategies put in place by the United Nation Development Fund, commissioned decentralisation project of local government, which The Gambia benefited from during military its painful transition from first to second republic.
The Gambia is a signatory to Sustainable Development Agenda known as Agenda 21, which gives emphasis to local democracy, popular participation, social justice, environmental protection etc. The recent amendment of the Local Government Act is a violation of the principles and sprit of sustainable development. The goals of sustainable development aim at addressing social inequality, environmental protection and local democracy very crucial elements within the platform of local Agenda 21, which draws on development through participatory approach and empowerment. The autocratic control of local government is a retrogressive policy calculated to undermine the local agenda 21 through popular participation for decision-making and environmental justice.
On the legal dimension, there is a need for further development of Gambia’s environmental legislation in line with the current economic and global environmental realities. Environmental laws in The Gambia should cover all environmental media such as land, water and atmosphere. A resource poor economy like our country largely dependent on imported goods requires robust environmental legislation more policing and enforcement to target corporate criminal dumping of either hazardous waste or waste regime containing heavy metal that can have serious impact on the environment. Africa is normally a target for illegal dumping. The toxic dumping in Abidjan in 2006 resulting to the death of 6 people and 9000 people who sought hospital treatment is an indication we have to be vigilant. Environmental inspectorate of the Agency should be further developed to monitor and regulate pollution matters to any environmental media such as land, water and air. The Gambia Navy also needs training on monitoring, inspection and legal awareness of issues of marine pollution. The Gambia Custom & Excise needs further training in what Environmentalists call Life Cycle Analysis. With massive importation of second hand goods into the country, risk assessment and management of the impact of such goods in terms of human life, their useful life or durability and their impact on the physical environment should be prominent in the national policy domain or debate for both stakeholders to avoid indiscriminate dumping.
In the areas of built environment and infrastructural development, The Gambia National Environment Agency should develop, empowered with a policy framework or regulation to mitigate environmental impact of any development be it industrial, government or private sectors. With a rapidly increasing population and massive urbanisation, The Gambia needs a well-defined sustainable land-use planning. Centralisation of power as in the recent local government Act will only get matters worse in the immediate and long term effects. It is about time to act if we can dictate development policies that meet the need of the present generation. Otherwise, we may bequeath to posterity an environment that betrays our heritage