Environmental Regulations in Kenya are established and enforced by the National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA) which is a government organisation that was founded in 2002. They have launched a strategic plan for the period of 2019 to 2024 on the 26th of September 2019 which aims at achieving the vision of “a clean, healthy and sustainable environment” and the mission “to coordinate, supervise and manage all matters relating to the environment in Kenya.”

This plan outlined the following components as the Key Result Areas to focus on within this period:

1. Environmental Quality Protection and Conservation
2. Ecological Integrity of Ecosystems
3. Climate change
4. Environmental Governance & Coordination
5. Green economy for Sustainable Development
6. Institutional Capacity

This is the most recent strategic plan to be put in place and since it is ongoing it is tough to evaluate the effectiveness of the government measures to improve these key result areas.

However, the previous strategic plan had the following notable achievements:

1.     Compliance & Enforcement of Environmental Legislations and Policies: This was successful in terms of the development of waste management action plans for 5 towns in Kenya, as well as the rehabilitation of two dumpsites in Mombasa and Kisumu. Most notably, the greatest achievement was the ban on plastic carrier bags across the country.

2.     Environmental Research & Planning: One development was the installation of wind farms in Turkana and Ngong.

3.     Environmental Education, Awareness & Communication: Four centres of excellence and innovation were established in the towns of Lamu, Kilifi, Elgeyo Marakwet and Kajiado as an area for exhibitions on good environmental practices and office space. Campaigns on the ban of the plastic carrier bags also took place.

Despite these plans NEMA is limited by factors such as inadequate funding, low implementation of devolved environmental functions, inadequate infrastructure, equipment and office space and inadequate staffing levels which hinder the potential success of such plans.

The future of environmental regulation lies in the implementation of Multi-Lateral Environmental Agreements which are international treaties or guidelines under international law that enable countries to collaborate on environmental challenges. I believe that hard-laws must be implemented on some fronts especially in the sector of waste management and dumpling as well as pollution as these environmental issues have a global effect no matter the country that is the cause of the issue.

References:

·       https://www.eac.int/environment/multilateral-environmental-agreements#:~:text=MEAs%20are%20agreements%20between%20states,be%20undertaken%20toward%20an%20environmental

·       http://csud.ei.columbia.edu/files/2013/06/How-Well-Do-Environmental-Regulations-Work-in-Kenya.pdf

·       https://www.unenvironment.org/resources/report/environmental-laws-kenya

·       https://www.nema.go.ke/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3&Itemid=138

·       https://www.nema.go.ke/images/Docs/Awarness%20Materials/NEMA%20Strategic%20Plan%202019-2024%20Final-min.pdf

·       https://www.nema.go.ke/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3&Itemid=138