the eanece bulletin, june 2012

7/31/2019 The EANECE Bulletin, June 2012

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The EANECE Bulletin

MESSAGE FROM THE SECRETARIAT

Dear Friends,

Greetings. I am glad you are reading the second EANECE Quarterly Brief.First, let me share with you some exciting news regarding enhanced en-forcement cooperation amongst various governmental agencies in Ken-ya. The National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) and KenyaWildlife Service (KWS), in a joint operation, recently impounded severaltones of extracts of illegally harvested Aloe species ready for export. Thesuspects, a Kenyan and two foreigners were arrested and prosecuted ina Nairobi court and have been sentenced to pay a ne of KES. 450,000/=or, in default, to serve 2 years in prison.

A Quarterly Newsletter of the East African Network for Environmetal Compliance & Enforcement

In another case, NEMA and the Customs Department have impounded at the Mombasa Portseveral cylinders of banned CFCs which were imported into the country and illegally mislabeledas HCFCs. The importer, a Kenyan company, has been ordered to re-ship the consignment to thecountry of origin. These and other similar operations come in the wake of increasing collabora-tion amongst various agencies in enforcement of environmental laws in Kenya under the aus-pices of EANECE.

In another important development, the EANECE Executive Committee in its last meeting in Na-kuru, Kenya on 24-25 May, 2012 approved the entry of Ethiopia and Zanzibar into the Network.

EANECE welcomes the participation of both countries and hails the growing commitment to ad-dressing the numerous environmental challenges affecting the Eastern Africa region.

There have also been several important developments in EANECE’s Capacity Building project.In February 2012, four Kenyans joined other participants from various African countries for a 2weeks Health Risk Assessment course at the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, SouthAfrica.

The Secretariat is working to spread the benet of the course to the other EANECE countries. Ina related development, NEMA-Kenya has recently delivered the Principles of C&E course to itseld staff. Also, for the third year running, EANECE in conjunction with INECE and the US EPA will,

in August 2012, deliver the Principles course to ofcials from the EANECE participating countries.The training will be held in Zanzibar.

In April 2012, EANECE (Kenya Chapter) held a very successful Environmental Crimes Workshop inMombasa. Participants shared experiences and strategies for dealing with the ever growing ar-ray of environmental crimes. The workshop has opened up new frontiers for intelligence sharingamong the various enforcement agencies.

Welcome to the Newsletter and I hope you enjoy these and other news in our current issue. TheSecretariat welcomes articles from all our participants, partners and friends.

Sincerely,

Gerphas Keyah Opondo|Regional CoordinatorEANECE Secretariat, Nairobi, Kenya.

Vol.1 issue no. 2, June 2012



The National Environment Management Author-ity (NEMA) and Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS)

recently impounded extracts of illegally harvestedAloe species with a street value of approximate-

ly KES. 1.5m (USD. 20,000) in Nairobi. A Kenyan, aPakistani and a Somali national in connection withthe consignment. The premises where the consign-ment was found was disguised as a motor garage.The suspects were arraigned before a Nairobi courtwhere they were charged with the offences of ac-cessing genetic material without a permit fromNEMA and attempting to export without a licensefrom KWS. All the defendants were convicted on aguilty plea and have been sentenced to pay a ne of

KES. 450,000 or, in default, serve 2 years in prison.

The operation comes in the wake of enhanced col-laboration between the two agencies in enforcementof environmental laws in Kenya under the auspicesof the East African Network for Environmental com-pliance & Enforcement (EANECE). The raid followedintelligence the two agencies had received con-cerning the consignment of 15 tones that had beentransported to a premise in Nairobi’s Industrial Area.

In Kenya, the aloe species is endangered and anydealing in the same is regulated under the Envi-ronmental Management and Coordination (Con-servation of Biological Diversity, Access to GeneticResources & Benet Sharing) Regulations and theWildlife (Conservation and Management) Act. Thus,anybody accessing, transporting or exporting theplant or extracts thereof must obtain an access per-mit from NEMA and an export license from KWS.

Aloe is a species threatened by international tradeand is protected under the Convention on In-ternational Trade in Endangered Species (CITES)through regulation of its trade. Its usage include

EANECE Holds Successful Environ-

mental Crimes Workshop

Environmental crime is a serious andgrowing concern all over the world.

Not only does it harm the environmentand human health, but it also often hasan impact on the economy and on gener-al quality of life. On 12th- 13th April 2012,EANECE held a two days Environmen-tal Crimes Workshop in Mombasa, Kenya.

The workshop brought together 20 partici-pants from various government agencies

in Kenya including Kenya Wildlife Service,Kenya Forest Service, Kenya Revenue Au-thority (Customs Department), Kenya Police,Interpol, City Council of Nairobi and Na-tional Environment Management Authority.

The workshop objectives were: to discussand understand the nature, extent andtrends of environmental crimes in Kenya;to understand the challenges faced in en-

forcing environmental crime laws in Kenya;and, to come up with common strategies forenhanced cooperation in the areas of infor-mation/intelligence sharing, environmen-tal crime investigations and prosecutions.

After two days of presentations and delib-erations, the participants were in agree-ment that environmental crimes are onan upward trend in Kenya, and that sev-eral challenges were hindering the imple-mentation and enforcement of environ-mental crime laws in the country. Basedon the challenges identied, the partici-pants came up with a raft of recommen-

as an ingredient in commerciallyavailable body lotions and otherbeauty products, yoghurt, bever-ages, and some desserts. It is also

used by cosmetic companies to maketissues, moisturizers, soaps, sun-screens, incense, razors, and sham-poos. Aloe also has a long associationwith herbal medicine where it is usedfor the treatment of various ailments.

NEMA & KWS IMPOUND ILLEGAL ALOE SPECIES IN NAIROBI



dations which, if implemented, will go a long wayin curbing the rising trend of environmental crimes.

The proceedings of the workshop and full text of thepresentations and recommendations are available atwww.eanece.org. EANECE is optimistic that the rec-

ommendations of this workshop will lead to en-hanced cooperation and collaboration among therelevant government agencies involved in combat-ing various forms of environmental crimes in Kenya.

EC MEETING APPROVES ENTRY OF ETHIOPIA AND ZANZIBAR

The EANECE Executive Committee held its third meeting in Nakuru, Kenya on 24th -25th May,2012. Among the issues discussed during the meeting included: mid-term review of Action

Plan 2010 –2013; review of the EANECE Charter and Governance Structure; funding and sustain-ability strategy for the Network; strengthening and sustaining the National Chapters and the

entry of Ethiopia and Zanzibar into the Network.

About EANECE

The East African Network for Envi-ronmental Compliance and Enforce-ment (EANECE) is a regional networkof governmental agencies which

have in their mandate environmentalmanagement, compliance and en-forcement responsibilities in the EastAfrican nations of Kenya, Uganda,Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi. TheEANECE Executive Commitee has re-cently approved the entry of Ethiopiaand Zanzibar into the Network andsteps are being taken to actaulizethe entry of the two nations.

The meeting unanimously ap-proved the expansion of thescope of the Network to gobeyond the ve East AfricaCommunity nations of Burundi,Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania andUganda. This follows the in-terest expressed by Ethiopiaand Zanzibar to participate in

EANECE. Thus, the Secretariatwill now work with the relevantagencies in both countries toformalize the entry and to set

up national networks in both countries.

On the long term sustainability of the Network, the Executive Committee called upon the mem-ber agencies to consider making provision for network activities within their annual work plans

and budgets. This will ensure that there is sufcient leverage for possible support from otherdevelopment partners. The National Focal Points were also urged to help the Secretariat inidentifying possible funding sources within the respective member countries to ensure that theNetwork achieves its objectives. The meeting also called for the strengthening of the existing



national networks in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda as this is the only way to ensure the vibrancy andvisibility of the network in the region.

Finally, the Executive Committee reviewed the governance structure of the Network to allow formore efciency in the running of the Network. The revised structure allows the National FocalPoints who are responsible for in-country network activities to sit in the Executive Committee.

Kenyans attend Health Risk AssessmentCourse in South Africa

On22nd February – 1st March, 2012,four participants from EANECE Kenya

Chapter joined other participants from differ-ent African countries for a two weeks HealthRisk Assessment Course at the Faculty of HealthSciences, University of Witwatersrand. The

event was organized by the University of Witwa-tersrand and the National Institute for Occupa-tional Health (NIOH).

The objectives of the course included to providean understanding of the basics of human healthand environmental risk assessment; to developa common base knowledge and terminology onhuman health and environmental risk assess-ment; and to provide a framework for develop-

ing risk-based management decisions.

The course builds on EANECE’s outreach andcollaborative initiatives. In this regard, theEANECE Secretariat has built a working relation-ship with the Toxicology Society of South Africa(TOXSA). Thus TOXSA and NIOH were able tosecure full sponsorship for the four Kenyansto attend and undertake the course in Johan-nesburg. . Prior to this, in September, 2011,

EANECE held a joint two days workshop withTOXSA on Health Risk Assessment in Nairobi,Kenya. Participants to the workshop were in-cluded government ofcers and academiciansdrawn from different Kenyan institutions.

Principles Training Course to be held

in Zanzibar

EANECE in partnership with the InternationalNetwork for Environmental Compliance

and Enforcement (INECE) and the United StatesEnvironmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) willfor the third year running conduct training inEast Africa on the following courses:

i. Principles of Environmental Complianceand Enforcement Course.

ii. Facilitators Course (Principles of Envi-ronmental Compliance and Enforcement).

The training will be held in Zanzibar and willbring together participants from various gov-ernment agencies in Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya,Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda.

The Principles of Environmental Complianceand Enforcement training course is designedto enable participants to develop their ownmanagement approach to an environmentalproblem, to draft enforceable requirementswhere appropriate, to design a unique compli-ance strategy and enforcement program, andto role-play in a negotiation session to resolvea specic enforcement case. At the end of the

course, all the participants were optimistic thatthey will be able to apply the common princi-ples to their specic environmental challengesand design efcient strategies to use their na-tional laws to their most effective outcomes.

The Principles course was developed by theU.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S.EPA), in cooperation with the NetherlandsMinistry of Housing, Spatial Planning andEnvironment in response to requests from newenforcement programs and has been taught tothousands of participants in different countriesand environmental programs worldwide. It



presents a compilation of international experienceon the fundamental principles for designing andimplementing environmental compliance and en-forcement programs and is designed for deliveryin a wide variety of cultural settings.

In another exiting development, on 18-20 April,

2012 NEMA-Kenya delivered the Principles Courseto some of its eld ofcers. The trainers weredrawn from among the group who undertookthe Facilitators course in Mombasa in November,2011. The course was well received by the par-ticipants and it is hoped that this trend will bereplicated more and more in the different EANECEcountries.

The SecretariatEast African Network for Environmental Com-

pliance and Enforcement

Hosted by NEMA-KenyaPopo Road, off Mombasa Road

P.o.Box 67839-00200Nairobi, Kenya

Ofce: +254-20-6005522/6/7 Mobile: +254722 306 461

Email: [email protected]

ILLEGAL ODS SEIZED AT MOMBASA PORT

Kenya’s National Environment ManagementAuthority (NEMA) and the Customs De-partment have seized a consignment of 55 cylin-ders containing banned Ozone Depleting Sub-stances (ODS) at the Mombasa Port. The seizurefollowed a routine random testing and analysis bythe Customs Department to ascertain the con-tents of the consignment.

The cargo originated from Dubai and was im-ported in April, 2012 by a Kenyan company based

in Mombasa. The company has an annual licensefrom NEMA to deal in controlled ODS. In thepresent case the company had obtained a per-mit from NEMA to import controlled refrigerants(R410A and R404A). However, upon random test-ing, one cylinder among the imported consign-ment was found to contain sufcient quantities of R12 (Dichlorodiuoromethane) which is a bannedCFC, the same having been phased out in compli-ance with the provisions of the Montreal Protocol

on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer. TheCustoms Department notied NEMA about thedevelopment and a full verication of the entireconsignment was ordered. The verication ex-ercise was conducted jointly by NEMA, Customsand the Environmental Police Unit. The resultsrevealed that all the 55 cylinders contained suf-cient quantities of the banned CFC (R12).

Under Kenya’s Environmental Management and

Co-ordination (Controlled Substances) Regula-tions, 2007, it is an offence to import any bannedODS into the country. It is also an offence tomislabel and/or misdeclare any banned or con-trolled ODS. Sanctions for offenders include crimi-

nal prosecution, revocation of license and/ or an order to reship the goods at own costto the country of origin. In this case, NEMAhas ordered the company to reship, at itsown cost, the consignment to the country of origin. NEMA is also considering revoking thecompany’s annual license once the cargo is

shipped out of the country.

This case adds to the growing list of exam-ples of successful partnerships in environ-mental enforcement by various governmentalagencies not only in Kenya, but also in thelarger Eastern Africa region. The increasedpartnerships and collaborations are attrib-utable to the East African Network of En-vironmental Compliance and Enforcement

(EANECE). The steady growth of EANECE inthe past two years has resulted in strength-ened relationships amongst various gov-ernment agencies that have environmentalcompliance and enforcement responsibilitiesacross East Africa.

the eanece bulletin, june 2012

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