Save Lamu et al. v. National Environmental Management Authority and Amu Power Co.ltd

Save Lamu v. National Management Authority
In the Kenyan case on environmental protection Save Lamu et al. v. National Environmental Management Authority and Amu Power Co. Ltd.the case was about the construction of a 5000MW coal-fired power plant in the Kwasi zone of the Lamu county, by Amu Power Ltd in 2016. In opposition a claim was brought by Save Lamu organization against the respondents reason being that the license issued by the National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA) of Kenya was in violation of the Environmental Impact Assessment(EIA) and Audit Regulations, plus the absence of a public participation in the license issuing process. The Tribunal also found the scientific evidence from the EIA to be incomplete and inconclusive in support of the power plant project. The Kenyan National Environmental Tribunal dubbed "The tribunal" thus applied the Precautionary principle as a safety approach.

Relevant law

 * Climate change Act 2016
 * Kenyan Environmental Management and Co-ordination Act of 2009
 * Kenyan Constitution provision Article 42,Article 69,Article 70

Take away
The case case which was filed in 2016 is still pending before the Environmental Tribunal awaiting judgement. it is without a doubt that the decision shall resonate across the country as far as climate change litigation is concerned. The decision could probably open a floodgate for similar litigations, if the decision was in favor of the petitioners. Rather, a verdict pronounced in favor of the respondents could further consolidate the difficulty in bringing successful climate change claims before a court. That said, whatever the outcome of the case it could most likely create a    |binding precedent to be applied by Judges in similar cases.

Links
|Save Lamu et al. v. National Environmental Management Authority and Amu Power Co. Ltd.

Access information on multilateral environmental agreement

https://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/document/EPRS_IDA(2015)573876

[https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/precedent#:~:text=Precedent%20refers%20to%20a%20court,cases%20with%20the%20same%20facts. binding precedent]