Senegal-Environnement
DAKAR, May 6 (APS)- The NGO Natural Justice launched, in partnership with the Study and Research Laboratory in Politics, Environmental and Health Law (LERPDES), a project of manual on environmental litigation in Senegal intended to equip legal actors in the management of legal issues and procedures related to environmental disputes.
” The main objective of this workshop, with its primary perspective, is to help the actors of justice, be it police officers, magistrates, lawyers to acquire a practical tool that will facilitate their work in the field of environmental litigation ”, said the director of Natural Justice of West and Center, Sokhna Dié Dia.
She was thus expressed at the opening of the Manuel project presentation workshop on environmental litigation, which brought together sixty participants.
“The objective of this project is also to involve populations and communities before seizing the courts to better understand the rules of procedures of environmental disputes to facilitate referral to jurisdictions,” she added.
Environmental litigation defines all legal disputes relating to environmental protection. It includes conflicts that may arise between different actors, such as individuals, businesses, local authorities or states, concerning issues such as pollution, the use of natural resources, the protection of species, indicates a document given to the press.
Structured in two main parts, this manual first presents the general context, before tackling the theoretical and practical frameworks relating to environmental litigation in Senegal.
The deputy to the Director of Environmental Regulation at the Ministry of the Environment and the Ecological Transition (METE), Abdoulaye Sy.
-Evoking the prospect of training the actors of justice on the challenges linked to environmental litigation, the director of Natural Justice West Africa indicated that the NGO has “started discussions with the Judicial Training Center and we hope to lead to a concrete partnership”.
“We also work very closely with the Ministry of Justice,” she said, adding that with this objective of training judicial actors, “around forty West African magistrates had been invited, two years ago, in Senegal to strengthen their skills in terms of environmental litigation”.
The assistant to the Director of Environmental Regulation at the Ministry of the Environment and the Ecological Transition (METE), Abdoulaye Sy, stressed that “this project of manual on environmental litigation appears not only as an instrument of regulation but also, as an essential lever to enforce the rights of communities and strengthen environmental governance in the face of time issues”.
He stressed that “the effective use of environmental justice is still limited because of several factors, despite a relatively provided legal framework and clear commitments in terms of environmental protection”.
The representative of the Minister of the Environment and the Ecological Transition (METE) called to identify structural obstacles with environmental content and propose realistic reform paths, inclusive and anchored in our local realities.
The workshop participants during the meeting discussed key themes, presented a roadmap for the writing process and create a space for dialogue and collaboration with the various actors involved in environmental litigation.
AB/ABB/SBS
