Written By Vanessa Kariuki ||
The Kenya Judiciary is hosting the third regional symposium on greening judicial systems in Africa, which began today, Monday, April 3, and will end on Wednesday, April 5.
Under the heading “Strengthening the Role of Judiciaries in Addressing Climate Change in Africa,” the symposium’s objective is to examine Climate Change in Africa.
The conference is a hybrid symposium that combines the General Conference of the Educators Network on Environmental Law (AJENEL), Plenary Sessions, and the Chief Justices Forum on Environmental Law Session.
More than 26 Chief Justices from across Africa will assemble in Nairobi for the three-day gathering, which will be formally launched by President William Ruto, to explore the role of the courts in addressing climate change and its effects in Africa.
Justice Smokin Wanjala, Director, Kenya Judiciary Academy, said that the Symposium is a timeous for reasons that Climate change is a persistent, pervasive and pernicious problem.
The Symposium is appropriate, according to Judge SmokinWanjala, Director of the Kenya Judiciary Academy, because climate change is an ongoing, ubiquitous, and dangerous issue.
In spite of having made the fewest contributions to global warming and producing the fewest emissions, he continued, Africa remains the continent most susceptible to the effects of climate change.
“Therefore climate change represents a major threat to Africa achieving its Sustainable Development Goals. It faces exponential collateral damage, posing systemic risks to its economies, infrastructure investments, water and food systems, public health, agriculture, and livelihoods, threatening to undo its modest development gains,” said Wanjala.
He added,” Considering the extent of the antagonistic consequences of climate change, each arm of government, including the Judiciary, has a role to play in tackling climate change and its consequences.”
The KJA Director added that the duties performed by each arm of government inevitably change the nature and scope of the role. To accomplish this goal, though, there must be cooperation and consultations.
According to LSK President Eric Theuri, the Law Society of Kenya has taken the lead in promoting a clean and healthy environment, as stipulated by Article 42 of the Constitution.
He claimed that in order to establish a safer atmosphere, the judiciary would need the appropriate legislative framework. Kenya, for example, has the Climate Change Act of 2016. The essential Rules to carry out this Act are missing. Investigating this is really needed.
