The East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) sitting in Kigali, Rwanda has passed the EAC Forests Management and Protection Bill 2015 in effect putting in place a regional framework to conserve the environment.
The Bill seeks to operationalize Article 112 (1) d) of the Treaty for the Establishment of the EAC in which Partner States undertook to co-operate in the management of the environment and agreed to take necessary disaster preparedness, management, protection and mitigation measures especially for the control of natural and man-made disasters.
The Bill whose mover is Hon Christophe Bazivamo sailed through at its 3rd Reading after the Committee stage scrutinized its various clauses, proposing amendments.
Once amends are integrated, the Bill is expected to undergo assent by the Heads of State in line with Article 63 of the Treaty for the Establishment of EAC.
During the last EALA Assembly sitting in Nairobi in October 2015, debate on the Bill was adjourned at Committee stage following a successful motion tabled by the Chair of EAC Council of Ministers Dr Harrison Mwakyembe, seeking for more time to enable the United Republic of Tanzania to make input.
Dr Mwakyembe then informed the House that Tanzania was expected to go to the polls in October and that it was necessary for the debate to be put on hold until such time that a new Government is in place to effectively enable the Partner State to make its input.
 ‘The Bill delineates the roles and responsibilities of Partner States and seeks to promote uniformity and integration in the area of Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and management. Finally, the Bill seeks to create a regional mechanism which would enable a timely intervention in disaster situations’ a release by the EALA Secretariat indicates in part.
The Bill has five parts with the Preliminaries and objectives contained in Part 1. Part two covers general measures on forest management and protection while Governance and institutions of forest management and control are entailed in part 3 of the Bill.  Part 4 amplifies trade in forest related products while section 5 envisages co-ordination matters under a Board known as the EAC Forests Board to be operationalized by the Council of Ministers.
The Report of the Agriculture, Tourism and Natural Resources was presented by Judith Pareno on behalf of the Chair, and the Plenary sitting resumes on Tuesday next week.
