a) Workshops for Judges (The Bench) on Judicial Intervention in Environmental Causes and Access to Environmental Justice

It should be pointed out, in the first instance, that even though the primary target of these training initiatives, in some cases the demonstration effects were global. For instance, training for judges and legal practitioners on the jurisprudence in environmental field sparked off a global trend. Workshops for judges followed closely with two in Asia and one in Latin America. The IUCN Commission on Environmental Law actually set up a Working Group on the role of the Judiciary in development and implementation of environmental law. In some cases, the concept has been broadened to the general theme of access to environmental justice, to cover also elements of Arhus Convention, as was the case with the workshop organized by Ugandan lawyers at Jinja in June 2000 and in Tanzania in July 2000. In May 2001 Ugandan lawyers organized a judicial symposium on environmental law and access to environmental justice, attended by 13 judges.

The training workshops also offered flexibility for the project managers to seek non-project funds in order to facilitate the participation of non-project countries. If these activities are to be continued, then this is one of the advantages which will be fully explored and exploited to benefit more African countries. The two workshops (above) conducted in Uganda were based on the momentum build by the project but with supported by funding solicited from other sources.

Ideally, every country should have its entire judiciary fully exposed to environmental jurisprudence in a formal way. But at best the project should endeavour to build up a critical mass of well-informed judiciary, if enforcement of environmental law is to be sound and well-reasoned. Note for instance, that in Kenya, the entire Bench is over 320 strong, of whom 275 are magistrates, 36 are High Court Judges while 11 are Judges of Appeal, and one Chief Justice. In Uganda, the Supreme Court has 7 judges just like 7 in Court of Appeal. The training and general orientation to environmental jurisprudence will need to reach a critical mass of the jurists and at all the levels. This is particularly essential because the Institutional Study (completed in May 2000) found a trend, which they in fact applauded, that there was decentralization of environmental law in some countries down to the district levels. This was found to be particularly pronounced in Burkina Faso, Malawi and Uganda. The increased enhancement of the capacity of the civil society organizations and deliberate emphasis on public participation and clamour for environmental justice, will necessitate a rapid and intensified work with members of the Bench expanding their awareness in comparative environmental jurisprudence and general techniques of judicial intervention in environmental causes.

b) Training of Legal Practitioners (The Bar) on Environmental Litigation and Access to Justice

It is to be emphasized that however sophisticated the Bench is, in most jurisdictions they do not set precedents on their own. Within the jurisdictions in Africa in general, judiciaries rely on the counsels for the plaintiffs to move the courts and to present compelling evidence. There is no exercise of the suo moto jurisdiction which enables judges to take own initiative and to call on individuals to explain apparent or alleged abuse of the environment. A complainant with or without a counsel must take the first step. Inevitably, individuals will be reluctant to proceed without a counsel because of the technical nature of the legal process. Therefore, an emphasis on building up the competence of private lawyers as well as prosecutors will be imperative. The training of lawyers, both private and prosecutors, should be intensified, definitely to an even greater number than for the Bench.

c) Training of Other prosecutors, including Police

Experience from Uganda shows that a large number of the prosecutorial responsibility will remain with the police and the technical departmental officers who end up handling many of the infractions before magistrates. This is largely because the governments lack the financial resources to pay qualified legal practitioners as prosecutors. In fact, as is the case with general criminal cases, the police might end up handling most prosecutions of environmental offences, while lawyers remain for complex civil litigation before higher courts. Therefore, it will be essential that the training reaches this cadre of officers, if enforcement process is to be reasonably informed and effective.

d) Training of Inspectors, Auditors and Monitoring Officers

Another category of enforcement officers who will require building of general legal awareness in the environmental legal field are inspectors and auditors who deal with monitoring of compliance at micro-level. It will be assumed that monitoring as well as investigation collection and custody of evidence in environmental field may be unlike the work they have done before, even if they have basic and relevant training.

Neither the police nor environmental inspectors were reached by the Joint Project during Phase I. It is recognized though, that they will be responsible for a significant part of enforcement and monitoring of compliance.

e) Training Workshops of Government Managers on development and Enforcement of Environmental Law

Senior government managers will make decisions affecting environmental law. They also are staff of the focal points and lead agencies determining policy, standards and regulations. Therefore, it is essential that they be briefed on the province and function of environmental law including an overview of enforcement mechanisms with which they are to be involved.

There is a primary difficulty in that officers in the focal points or lead agencies are not stable in their offices. The Institutional Study (2000) confirmed that there are frequent transfers to other public positions and therefore their sustained input and influence in the departments where they are located is hardly assured. This does not negate the necessity for the training though. It is to be hoped that their appreciation of environmental legal processes will carry over to other sectors, given that the ultimate purpose should be to mainstream environmental law systemically.

Selective workshops should, therefore, be organized during Phase II for senior government officers on environmental law and related processes.

f) Building awareness of Parliamentarians on Environmental Legislative Process

Although this was envisaged in Phase I there were workshops for parliamentarians only in Burkina Faso, Kenya and Sao Tome and Principe. There is a strong justification for enhancing the understanding of parliamentarians because they handle the legislative process and should be receptive to environmental law. In most cases parliamentarians, like the public at large, understand environmental law only as pollution control law. Often-times, they are hostile to the idea because they immediately understand environmental law as an anti-development movement. Experience in discussions with the President of the National Assembly in Sao Tome and Principe as well as with the Prime Minister of the country both of whom had previous exposure to environmental law was instructive. Both of them swiftly supported any draft law presented to them for action.

Workshops would be organized for parliamentarians at national and regional levels. The national workshops would aim at reaching large numbers while the regional ones aim at exchange of ideas and mutual influence.

g) Training of Civil Society Organizations on Development and Enforcement of Environmental Law

In this context the civil society organizations include, professional societies or associations, the industry - commonly called the private sector, women's groups and church organizations. Some of these groups were represented in the training workshops during Phase I. However, since no specific quota were assigned and the government was doing the nominations, government and parastatal officers dominated in numbers. It is the intention, during Phase II, that capacity building for the civil society organizations will be mainstreamed in the general training categories, especially for legal practitioners.

Consideration should, however, be given to the unique advocacy role of the civil society organizations. But such advocacy must be well-informed. Therefore, specific capacity-building initiatives for civil society organizations would be conducted. Thus some of the capacity building initiatives will be conducted at national level in order to reach large numbers especially of the community-based organizations.

In addition, capacity building initiatives will be undertaken at the regional levels to encourage the formation of regional alliances and, eventually a regional umbrella organization or institution as proposed in the Institutional Study (2000). The establishment of an East Africa Law Society in 1995 with Annual General Meetings offers an opportunity in this regard.

h) Training of Women and their Groups on Development and Enforcement of Environmental Law

During Phase I the government focal points were specifically requested to include women among nominees to training workshops. This request was not met in a systematic way. It is globally recognized that deliberate efforts should be made to enhance the capacity of women to participate in public affairs. The United Nations General Assembly recognizes this imperative and UNEP Governing Council Decision 20/9 specifically requires gender equity.

Thus general capacity building initiatives, such as those of the judiciary and legal practitioners will require that women constitute at least 30 percent of the total number of participants. That notwithstanding, some specific budgetline could be reserved for exemplary capacity building initiatives for women where the subject requires and funding is set aside. Possibly, these could be organized on regional or project-wide basis to facilitate development of women's alliances for the promotion of enforcement of environmental law.

i) Training Workshops for Industries on compliance with Environmental Law

Industries (to include manufacturers) constitute important role occupants in enforcement of and compliance with environmental law. Frequently, they are considered simply as subject of control and irrelevant to any proactive or positive roles. The new direction in environmental legislation which emphasizes planning and management including economic incentives has rejected this rigidly adversarial notion. The new approach emphasizes constructive engagement and promotion of compliance. The one workshop organized during Phase I evoked constructive responses and ideas from industries. Its report can be used in similar initiatives in future.

Awareness building workshops would be organized, on a cost-sharing basis as far as possible, for industries with an emphasis on promotion of compliance with environmental law, where the project can cover resource persons, reference materials and local accommodation and board while the participants can cover their travel expenses.

As pointed out above, the nominating agencies would be required to ensure that at least thirty per cent of their delegates are women.

j) Training Workshops on selected topics in Environmental Law

During Phase I the project conducted only a limited number of topical workshops on basic environmental law, and these were on request. The lusophone countries requested a general theory and practice course which was broadened to non-project countries, using non-project funds. Graduates of this course turned out to be key movers of the project's work in the country. These included the present Prime Minister in Sao Tome and Principe. A similar course was conducted in Burkina Faso, a country which eventually had an outstanding performance under the project. The only other topical workshop was on implementation of conventions related to biological diversity.

Phase II plans on training workshops covering selective topics in environmental law. Special consideration will be given to topics requested by the governments after a national consensus building workshop.

k) Establishment of Teaching Programmes in Environmental Law

The project has worked successfully towards development and enforcement of environmental law in the project countries. Most of the national experts who have been part of this process have received intensive on-the-job training. But the overall process is only sustainable if there are succeeding generations of experts. Such succeeding generations can be created only if teaching of theory and practice of environmental law is conducted systematically in the universities in the project countries.

Phase II will assist countries in establishing programmes of teaching environmental law at university level. The following could be three of the main components: Curriculum development; Provision of teaching materials and access to information technology; and Training of trainers.