dc.description.abstract | Over the past decades, international relations have adversely experienced increase in
cooperation among different states in form of agreements and policies. The move towards greater
common understanding and cooperation has become a global aspect driven by trade forces, shared
natural resources, human rights issues, migration policies and politics, as they open opportunities
for cooperation and integration. The goal for cooperation is to create common economic, social,
political and cultural space among the participating countries. Cooperation evolves from economic
links, historical or cultural ties. Different natural resources exist around the world and have helped
to shape the society. In history, man has managed to earn a living through natural resources, thus,
it is through the same natural resources which can bring cooperation among states and bring
conflict between states, to examine the impact of shared resources as a source of conflict and a
hindrance to state cooperation in the EAC To assess the effectiveness of legal and policy
frameworks established in the EAC that foster cooperation within the EAC states, and to evaluate
the prospects and challenges faced by states in the EAC in management of Lake Victoria as a
shared natural resource and provide recommendations on strengthening capacity of the key
institutions and frameworks on Lake Victoria as a shared natural resource in the region. The most
serious environmental problems in Lake Victoria Basin relate to land use especially agricultural
practices; destruction of protected areas in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems particularly to
destruction of forests and depletion of fishery resources respectively; and discharge of municipal
and industrial wastes which cause pollution. It has been demonstrated in this paper that without
exception, there are legal and institutional arrangements in the books to deal with these problems.
In reality, the hopes may remain frail, if the Ministry of Water and Irrigation together with the
Authority do not depart from the traditional lethargy of line ministries or agencies to date. That
lethargy also characterized the conduct of the office of the attorney general, the supposed defender
of the public good, at least as far as environmental matters are concerned. It is therefore curious
that the protocol for sustainable development of the Lake Victoria Basin made no provision at all
on access to environmental justice. The framework treaty, similarly, makes no such specific
provision. Here, the Partner States agree to grant rights of access to the nationals or residents of
other partner states to their judicial and administrative machineries to seek remedies for
transboundary environmental damage, there is a uniform agreement that deliberate action be taken
to develop and harmonize laws in the main problem areas. There are at least two primary aspects
to this. On the one hand there is an urgent need to bring the national sectoral statutes in harmony
with the framework statute. It was pointed out earlier that where any statute is in conflict with the
framework law then the latter prevails. Thirdly, all the instruments call for strengthening of
enforcement machineries and procedures, a matter which is grossly wanting in Kenya. We have
recognized the overwhelming lethargy in the sectoral agencies as far as enforcement of
environmental laws are concerned, all the instruments urge for public participation in development
and enforcement of environmental law. As pointed out earlier the Kenyan framework
environmental law has abundant and appropriate provisions for public participation and access to
environmental justice. The fifth basic matter recognized by the regional instruments is capacity
building and awareness creation. Beyond these levels, it is essential to introduce and intensify
continuing education in environmental law. Judges, legal practitioners, parliamentarians, policy
makers and civil society groups should be targeted. | en_US |