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8 Afr. J. Int'l & Comp. L. 904 (1996)
Scales of Environmental Management: Wetlands Conservation in Kenya and Uganda

handle is hein.journals/afjincol8 and id is 920 raw text is: SCALES OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT: WETLANDS CONSERVATION IN KENYA AND UGANDA BENJAMIN J. RICHARDSON* I. INTRODUCTION This article compares how Kenya and Uganda are implementing international standards and responsibilities in relation to the conservation of wetlands. These countries provide quite contrasting approaches to the implementation of the 1971 Convention on Wetlands of International Importance especially as Waterfowl Habitat (known as the Ramsar Convention),' one of the very first modem environmental conventions. While the Kenyan government has relied largely on colonial-dated administrative structures to manage wetlands, the Ugandan gov- ernment has attempted pioneering policy-making processes that combine reform of national legislation with the overhaul of local government and property rights structures that shape village-based, resource use practices. Wetlands illustrate well how the use of natural resources can pose significant institutional problems in terms of the relationships between different scales of environmental management. The trans-disciplinary and cross-sectoral manage- ment requirements of wetlands make this environmental issue one of the most challenging for governments in post-colonial societies. Effective management of environmental resources in developing countries requires proper integration of relevant local, national and international institu- tions. Since colonial rule, responsibility for environmental management in many developing countries has been overwhelmingly dominated by the central state, albeit increasingly within the context of evolving transnational environmental standards and inter-governmental assistance. National and transnational contribu- tions to environmental policy-making, while important, have tended to erode and displace local institutions, leading to a loss of effective resource management at the grass-roots level. The following discussion of wetlands management in Kenya and Uganda demonstrates this thesis. The first part of this article intro- duces the problem of reconciling various scales of environmental management. The requirements of the Ramsar Convention and the problems associated with conserving wetlands are then detailed. The remainder of the article examines * Faculty of Law, University of Auckland, New Zealand I Signed at Ramsar, Iran, on 2 February 1971; 11 ILM 969; 996 UNTS 245 (entered into force 21 December 1975). 8 RADIC (1996)

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