Regulation of Chinese infrastructure companies’ environmental and social impacts in host countries overseas: A study of the Chinese-built standard gauge railway project in Kenya

by | Oct 10, 2019 | SAJELP, SAJELP 2017

Regulation of Chinese infrastructure companies’ environmental and social impacts in host countries overseas: A study of the Chinese-built standard gauge railway project in Kenya

Authors Bingyu Liu

ISSN: 2616-8499
Affiliations: None
Source: South African Journal of Environmental Law and Policy 2017, p. 101 – 141

Abstract

China has rapidly become one of the world’s biggest overseas investors, and has increasingly encouraged more companies to go abroad. As part of China’s ‘One Belt One Road’ Initiative, Kenya’s Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) aims to promote trade and investment for Kenya and other countries in Eastern Africa. The railway construction is done by the China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC). Since the construction of the project, the SGR has sparked controversy on its community and environment impact, contracting practices, and financing arrangements. This article will analyze the environmental and social impact of the second phase of SGR’s construction (Mombasa-Nairobi)on the local communities and people. Specifically, the article addresses three questions: What is the CRBC’s environmental and social performance in the Mombasa-Nairobi SGR project in practice? What are the most important factors that influence the CRBC’s environmental and social behavior? What are the legal implications of the SGR project on other Chinese infrastructure building investments overseas in the future? This research was conducted through in-depth interviews with over 30 stakeholders, extensive review of publicly available documents, and two field visits to project sites between September and December 2016. The article uses the Mombasa-Nairobi SGR project as a case study to show how this Chinese state-owned company has tried to tackle environmental and social pressures, comply with Kenyan domestic and international environmental standards, and fulfill its corporate social responsibilities during construction. It examines the role of different stakeholders, including the Kenya government, the Chinese government, the China Export-Import Bank, the CRBC and third-party monitoring parties during the environmental and social impact assessment (ESIA) stage of the project. The article then examines the regulatory factors that have asserted the greatest impact on the CRBC’s environmental behaviors, and hence, the implication of this project for Chinese infrastructure construction companies in the future. The article will show that the SGR case, in demonstrating good cooperation between the home country government, host country government, financial institution, overseas infrastructure company and third-party monitoring parties involved in the project, can serve as a model for future Chinese infrastructure investment in African countries.

Challenges and strategies in the regulation of industrial pollution in Ethiopia: An overview

by | Oct 10, 2019 | SAJELP, SAJELP 2017

Challenges and strategies in the regulation of industrial pollution in Ethiopia: An overview

Authors Tsegai Berhane Ghebretekle

ISSN: 2616-8499
Affiliations: None
Source: South African Journal of Environmental Law and Policy 2017, p. 74 – 100

Abstract

Ethiopia offers an important case study on the role of law in regulating industrial pollution in developing countries. In the past decade, Ethiopia’s pursuits toward rapid economic growth have been at a high cost, with serious implications for the environment through industrial pollution. Ethiopia has taken steps to introduce industrial pollution legislation since 2002 with a view to eliminating or, when not possible, to mitigating pollution as an undesirable consequence of social and economic development activities. However, the Proclamation has not fared well with regard to the realization of its schemes and strategies. The new pollution control legislation i.e. The Industrial Park Proclamation No. 886/2015 embodies schemes and strategies to resolve the underlying tension in the country’s development agenda—the tension between the need to industrialize and to regulate industrial pollution. The legislation envisages that economic growth and environmental protection are possible at the same time. The effectiveness of Proclamation No. 886/2015 which deals with Industrial Parks remains to be seen.

Grassroots responses to water poverty, and the limitations of a right to water in South Africa and Malawi

by | Oct 10, 2019 | SAJELP, SAJELP 2017

Grassroots responses to water poverty, and the limitations of a right to water in South Africa and Malawi

Authors Nathan John Cooper

ISSN: 2616-8499
Affiliations: None
Source: South African Journal of Environmental Law and Policy 2017, p. 31 – 73

Abstract

This article considers how effective socio-economic rights are in securing sustainable access to sufficient water for people in two water-scarce countries in the SADC region: South Africa and Malawi. In South Africa, despite a groundbreaking constitutional right to water, challenges remain to achieving sustainable access to sufficient water for many of the country’s most vulnerable people. Water in South Africa has largely been re-cast as a commodity, exposed to market rules, proving problematic for many and giving rise to a variety of responses, including litigation. But in the seminal case of Mazibuko the Constitutional Court failed to provide robust protection or to adequately enunciate a substantive core to the right to water. Similarly, in Malawi, while there is no explicit constitutional provision for water, a right to development does exist. Fulfillment of this right clearly requires access to basic resources including health care, food, and by implication, water. In international law, South Africa and Malawi have ratified several treaties affirming the right to safe drinking water and sanitation. Indeed the Malawian case of Chihana v Republic established the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as part of domestic law. Yet in both countries millions of people continue to live in water poverty (without sustainable access to sufficient water). Such failure of ‘rights-talk’ has provided impetus for the formation of ‘commons’ strategies for water allocation. Indeed ‘commoning’ is beginning to represent not only an emerging conceptual strand in peri-urban resource allocation, but also a potentially dynamic, contemporary, eco-sensitive, socio-cultural phenomenon, striving towards innovative, interactive and inclusive forms of planning and social engagement. Against the backdrop of unequal water access, commoning offers glimpses of a subaltern paradigm replete with empowering and enfranchising potential.

2050 Africa’s Integrated Maritime Strategy (2014)

by | Oct 10, 2019 | JOLGA, JOLGA 2016

2050 Africa’s Integrated Maritime Strategy (2014)

Authors None

ISSN: 2521-5442
Affiliations: None
Source: Journal of Ocean law and Governance in Africa (iilwandle zethu), 2016, p. 202 – 242

Abstract

Africa’s inland waters, oceans and seas are under pressure. Over the years, traditional maritime activities, such as shipping or fisheries have intensified, while new ones, such as aquaculture or offshore renewable energy, emerged. However, the rise in intensity of activities at sea is taking place against the backdrop of insecurity, various forms of illegal trafficking, degradation of the marine environment, falling biodiversity and aggravated effects of climate change. In the past decades direct aggregate losses of revenue from illegal activities in Africa’s Maritime Domain (AMD) amount to hundreds of billions US dollars, not to mention the loss of lives. The development agenda of the African Union (AU) promotes, among other things, human capital development and improved standard of living. It is inclusive and based on a human-centered approach to development where all social groups are engaged. The agenda sees an Africa using its own resources to take its rightful place in a multi-polar, inter-reliant and more equitable world. In the maritime domain of Africa, the wide variety of related activities are inter-related to some extent, and all have a potential impact on the prosperity derivative through their contributions to social, economic and political stability, and safety and security. Notably, therefore, the approach to regulation and management of maritime issues and resources cannot be confined to a few select sectors or industries. In developing this 2050 Africa’s Integrated Maritime (AIM) Strategy, it is recognized that the AMD has vast potential for wealth creation. So also is the realization that AU Member States have common maritime challenges and opportunities, and indeed, significant responsibilities for generating the desirable political will for implementing the Strategy. Accordingly, the 2050 AIM Strategy provides a broad framework for the protection and sustainable exploitation of the AMD for wealth creation. The Strategy is the product of cross-cutting inputs from African experts that includes Think Tanks, NGOs and Academia, Regional Economic Communities (RECs), Regional Mechanisms (RMs), AU Member States, specialized institutions and other important stakeholders such as Maritime Organization of West and Central Africa (MOWCA), African Port Management Associations (APMA), Union of African Shippers Council (UASC), Maritime Training Institutions, all MoUs on Port State Control, the United Nations, the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the International Labour Organization (ILO), World Trade Organization (WTO), World Custom Organization (WCO), International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), Global Shippers Forum (GSF), International Hydrography Organization (IHO) and the private sector. It is structured to address contending, emerging and future maritime challenges and opportunities in Africa, taking into account the interest of landly-connected countries, with a clear focus on enhanced wealth creation from a sustainable governance of Africa’s inland waters, oceans and seas. The Strategy integrates an annexed Plan of Action for its operationalization with a clearly defined vision with achievable goals, including specific desirable objectives, activities and milestones towards attaining the Strategic End State of increased wealth creation in a stable and secured AMD.