Nairobi — Chief Justice Martha Koome has called for enhanced knowledge sharing among African judiciaries to enrich jurisprudence on environmental law.
Speaking on Monday at the opening of the 3rd Symposium on Greening Judiciaries, Koome stressed that regional dialogue is key to building on efforts to effectively respond to unique aspirations of the continent, and tackle emerging threats.
"We view hosting regional judiciaries dialogues as a means of fostering the development of an African jurisprudence that is responsive to the unique concerns and aspirations of our continent," the CJ told delegates.
Koome termed the conference under the auspices of Africa Judicial Education Network on Environmental Law (AJENEL) as a crucial platform in promoting continuous knowledge building.
"It is our vision to create a robust and dynamic platform for knowledge exchange, capacity building, and collaboration among African judiciaries, enabling us to better understand, interpret, and apply the law to promote social development and transformation in our respective jurisdictions."
Koome singled out Kenya's contribution to enriching environmental law saying the country had made significant strides in promoting transformative environmental constitutionalism.
Specialized courts
She cited the Constitution (2010) as an enabler towards the realization of this aspiration listing the National Environmental Tribunal (NET) and the Environment and Land Court (ELC) among key achievements.
Kenya has already committed to strengthen the specialized court handling environment matters by creating a standalone Environment Division of the High Court from the existing ELC.
Justice Oscar Angote, the President of the ELC Division, said the move seeks to encourage Kenyans to file cases that are related to the environment with the bulk on ELC matters currently resolving around land disputes.
"In the process of encouraging Kenyans to file environmental disputes, The Judiciary will establish a division which we will launch in June. We intend to conclude discussions with the judges on Thursday and Friday," he said during a pre-conference media roundtable on Wednesday.
"We hope to get more cases concerning the environment and this will help reduce some the effects of climate change in the country by holding those who pollute the environment," Justice Angote stated.
Ruto on green initiatives
President William Ruto called on the recalibration of the global financial system to afford African nations fair terms to fund green initiatives.
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Ruto said African governments are committed to deploy the continent's renewable resources to support efforts to reverse environmental degradation.
"Africa is abundantly endowed with all the resources required to power green industrialization. Our clean and green power potential is incomparable. Hydro, geothermal, wind and solar power potential is super abundant."
The Head of State delivered the remarks while officially opening the conference set to close on Wednesday.
