The EANECE Bulletin

Vol.1 issue no. 2, June 2012

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

Dear Friends,

MESSAGE FROM THE SECRETARIAT

Greetings. I am glad you are reading the second EANECE Quarterly Brief. First, let me share with you some exciting news regarding enhanced enforcement cooperation amongst various governmental agencies in Kenya. The National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) and Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), in a joint operation, recently impounded several tones of extracts of illegally harvested Aloe species ready for export. The suspects, a Kenyan and two foreigners were arrested and prosecuted in a Nairobi court and have been sentenced to pay a fine of KES. 450,000/= or, in default, to serve 2 years in prison. In another case, NEMA and the Customs Department have impounded at the Mombasa Port several cylinders of banned CFCs which were imported into the country and illegally mislabeled as HCFCs. The importer, a Kenyan company, has been ordered to re-ship the consignment to the country of origin. These and other similar operations come in the wake of increasing collaboration amongst various agencies in enforcement of environmental laws in Kenya under the auspices of EANECE. In another important development, the EANECE Executive Committee in its last meeting in Nakuru, 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 addressing the numerous environmental challenges affecting the Eastern Africa region. There have also been several important developments in EANECEs Capacity Building project. In February 2012, four Kenyans joined other participants from various African countries for a 2 weeks Health Risk Assessment course at the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. The Secretariat is working to spread the benefit of the course to the other EANECE countries. In a related development, NEMA-Kenya has recently delivered the Principles of C&E course to its field 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 officials 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 in Mombasa. Participants shared experiences and strategies for dealing with the ever growing array of environmental crimes. The workshop has opened up new frontiers for intelligence sharing among the various enforcement agencies. Welcome to the Newsletter and I hope you enjoy these and other news in our current issue. The Secretariat welcomes articles from all our participants, partners and friends. Sincerely, Gerphas Keyah Opondo|Regional Coordinator EANECE Secretariat, Nairobi, Kenya.

NEMA & KWS IMPOUND ILLEGAL ALOE SPECIES IN NAIROBI as an ingredient in commercially available body lotions and other beauty products, yoghurt, beverages, and some desserts. It is also used by cosmetic companies to make tissues, moisturizers, soaps, sunscreens, incense, razors, and shampoos. Aloe also has a long association with herbal medicine where it is used for the treatment of various ailments.

he National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) and Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) recently impounded extracts of illegally harvested Aloe species with a street value of approximately KES. 1.5m (USD. 20,000) in Nairobi. A Kenyan, a Pakistani and a Somali national in connection with the consignment. The premises where the consignment was found was disguised as a motor garage. The suspects were arraigned before a Nairobi court where they were charged with the offences of accessing genetic material without a permit from NEMA and attempting to export without a license from KWS. All the defendants were convicted on a guilty plea and have been sentenced to pay a fine of KES. 450,000 or, in default, serve 2 years in prison. The operation comes in the wake of enhanced collaboration between the two agencies in enforcement of environmental laws in Kenya under the auspices of the East African Network for Environmental compliance & Enforcement (EANECE). The raid followed intelligence the two agencies had received concerning the consignment of 15 tones that had been transported to a premise in Nairobis Industrial Area. In Kenya, the aloe species is endangered and any dealing in the same is regulated under the Environmental Management and Coordination (Conservation of Biological Diversity, Access to Genetic Resources & Benefit Sharing) Regulations and the Wildlife (Conservation and Management) Act. Thus, anybody accessing, transporting or exporting the plant or extracts thereof must obtain an access permit from NEMA and an export license from KWS. Aloe is a species threatened by international trade and is protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) through regulation of its trade. Its usage include

EANECE Holds Successful Environmental Crimes Workshop

nvironmental crime is a serious and growing concern all over the world. Not only does it harm the environment and human health, but it also often has an impact on the economy and on general quality of life. On 12th- 13th April 2012, EANECE held a two days Environmental Crimes Workshop in Mombasa, Kenya. The workshop brought together 20 participants from various government agencies in Kenya including Kenya Wildlife Service, Kenya Forest Service, Kenya Revenue Authority (Customs Department), Kenya Police, Interpol, City Council of Nairobi and National Environment Management Authority. The workshop objectives were: to discuss and understand the nature, extent and trends of environmental crimes in Kenya; to understand the challenges faced in enforcing environmental crime laws in Kenya; and, to come up with common strategies for enhanced cooperation in the areas of information/intelligence sharing, environmental crime investigations and prosecutions. After two days of presentations and deliberations, the participants were in agreement that environmental crimes are on an upward trend in Kenya, and that several challenges were hindering the implementation and enforcement of environmental crime laws in the country. Based on the challenges identified, the participants came up with a raft of recommen-

About EANECE
The East African Network for Environmental Compliance and Enforcement (EANECE) is a regional network of governmental agencies which have in their mandate environmental management, compliance and enforcement responsibilities in the East African nations of Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi. The EANECE Executive Commitee has recently approved the entry of Ethiopia and Zanzibar into the Network and steps are being taken to actaulize the entry of the two nations.

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

The proceedings of the workshop and full text of the presentations and recommendations are available at www.eanece.org. EANECE is optimistic that the recommendations of this workshop will lead to enhanced cooperation and collaboration among the relevant government agencies involved in combating various forms of environmental crimes in Kenya. EC MEETING APPROVES ENTRY OF ETHIOPIA AND ZANZIBAR

he 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 sustainability strategy for the Network; strengthening and sustaining the National Chapters and the entry of Ethiopia and Zanzibar into the Network. The meeting unanimously approved the expansion of the scope of the Network to go beyond the five East Africa Community nations of Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda. This follows the interest expressed by Ethiopia and Zanzibar to participate in EANECE. Thus, the Secretariat will now work with the relevant agencies in both countries to formalize 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 member agencies to consider making provision for network activities within their annual work plans and budgets. This will ensure that there is sufficient leverage for possible support from other development partners. The National Focal Points were also urged to help the Secretariat in identifying possible funding sources within the respective member countries to ensure that the Network 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 and visibility of the network in the region. Finally, the Executive Committee reviewed the governance structure of the Network to allow for more efficiency in the running of the Network. The revised structure allows the National Focal Points who are responsible for in-country network activities to sit in the Executive Committee. Kenyans attend Health Risk Assessment Course in South Africa Principles Training Course to be held in Zanzibar

On

22nd February 1st March, 2012, four participants from EANECE Kenya Chapter joined other participants from different African countries for a two weeks Health Risk Assessment Course at the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Witwatersrand. The event was organized by the University of Witwatersrand and the National Institute for Occupational Health (NIOH).

ANECE in partnership with the International Network for Environmental Compliance and Enforcement (INECE) and the United States Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) will for the third year running conduct training in East Africa on the following courses: i. Principles of Environmental Compliance and Enforcement Course. ii. Facilitators Course (Principles of Environmental Compliance and Enforcement). The training will be held in Zanzibar and will bring together participants from various government agencies in Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda. The Principles of Environmental Compliance and Enforcement training course is designed to enable participants to develop their own management approach to an environmental problem, to draft enforceable requirements where appropriate, to design a unique compliance strategy and enforcement program, and to role-play in a negotiation session to resolve a specific enforcement case. At the end of the course, all the participants were optimistic that they will be able to apply the common principles to their specific environmental challenges and design efficient strategies to use their national laws to their most effective outcomes. The Principles course was developed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA), in cooperation with the Netherlands Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and Environment in response to requests from new enforcement programs and has been taught to thousands of participants in different countries and environmental programs worldwide. It

The objectives of the course included to provide an understanding of the basics of human health and environmental risk assessment; to develop a common base knowledge and terminology on human health and environmental risk assessment; and to provide a framework for developing risk-based management decisions. The course builds on EANECEs outreach and collaborative initiatives. In this regard, the EANECE Secretariat has built a working relationship with the Toxicology Society of South Africa (TOXSA). Thus TOXSA and NIOH were able to secure full sponsorship for the four Kenyans to attend and undertake the course in Johannesburg. . Prior to this, in September, 2011, EANECE held a joint two days workshop with TOXSA on Health Risk Assessment in Nairobi, Kenya. Participants to the workshop were included government officers and academicians drawn from different Kenyan institutions.

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nal prosecution, revocation of license and/ or an order to reship the goods at own cost to the country of origin. In this case, NEMA has ordered the company to reship, at its own cost, the consignment to the country of origin. NEMA is also considering revoking the companys annual license once the cargo is In another exiting development, on 18-20 April, 2012 NEMA-Kenya delivered the Principles Course shipped out of the country. to some of its field officers. The trainers were This case adds to the growing list of examdrawn from among the group who undertook the Facilitators course in Mombasa in November, ples of successful partnerships in environmental enforcement by various governmental 2011. The course was well received by the paragencies not only in Kenya, but also in the ticipants and it is hoped that this trend will be replicated more and more in the different EANECE larger Eastern Africa region. The increased partnerships and collaborations are attribcountries. ILLEGAL ODS SEIZED AT MOMBASA PORT utable to the East African Network of Environmental Compliance and Enforcement nyas National Environment Management (EANECE). The steady growth of EANECE in Authority (NEMA) and the Customs Dethe past two years has resulted in strengthpartment have seized a consignment of 55 cylin- ened relationships amongst various govders containing banned Ozone Depleting Subernment agencies that have environmental stances (ODS) at the Mombasa Port. The seizure compliance and enforcement responsibilities followed a routine random testing and analysis by across East Africa. the Customs Department to ascertain the contents of the consignment. presents a compilation of international experience on the fundamental principles for designing and implementing environmental compliance and enforcement programs and is designed for delivery in a wide variety of cultural settings. The cargo originated from Dubai and was imported in April, 2012 by a Kenyan company based in Mombasa. The company has an annual license from NEMA to deal in controlled ODS. In the present case the company had obtained a permit from NEMA to import controlled refrigerants (R410A and R404A). However, upon random testing, one cylinder among the imported consignment was found to contain sufficient quantities of R12 (Dichlorodifluoromethane) which is a banned The Secretariat CFC, the same having been phased out in compli- East African Network for Environmental Comance with the provisions of the Montreal Protocol pliance and Enforcement on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer. The Hosted by NEMA-Kenya Customs Department notified NEMA about the Popo Road, off Mombasa Road development and a full verification of the entire P.o.Box 67839-00200 consignment was ordered. The verification exNairobi, Kenya ercise was conducted jointly by NEMA, Customs Office: +254-20-6005522/6/7 Mobile: +254 and the Environmental Police Unit. The results 722 306 461 revealed that all the 55 cylinders contained suffiEmail: eanece@eanece.org cient quantities of the banned CFC (R12). Under Kenyas Environmental Management and Co-ordination (Controlled Substances) Regulations, 2007, it is an offence to import any banned ODS into the country. It is also an offence to mislabel and/or misdeclare any banned or controlled ODS. Sanctions for offenders include crimi-