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The Executive Chairman and senior staff of the Environment Protection Agency, Sierra Leone, paid a courtesy visit to the Honourable Chief Justice, Komba Kamanda, and senior judges to strengthen the agency’s growing partnership with the judiciary.
According to EPA-SL, the Judiciary has been quite supportive in the execution of our mandate as a regulatory agency.
“Key among our collaborative efforts was the creation of a land, property, and environment division to hear and expedite matters that undermine our sustainability efforts and the value of recent field visits, which have helped bring the realities of environmental harm and enforcement challenges into sharper focus for the bench.’’
During the visit, the discussion covered pressing concerns, including the rise in small-scale extractive operations, illegal dredging, and sand mining, all of which require a prompt and bold legal response.
Furthermore, both parties explored the idea of appointing dedicated judges for environmental cases, scaling up training using an updated manual, and working together to secure funding for regional learning exchanges and judicial immersion programmes.
Finally, they agreed on the importance of launching an annual Environmental Law Conference to foster cross-country learning and judicial dialogue.
There’s a shared sense of purpose, and committed to deepening this collaboration to protect our environment and uphold justice.
