FFOS will not be silenced
Press Statement
FFOS will not be silenced
Date: May 29th, 2019
Dear Editor/Newsroom,
Sincerely, Fishermen and Friends of the Sea (FFOS) is being compelled once again to intervene in the mismanagement of our nation and the denial of public-spirited bodies from lawfully and meaningfully participating in the developmental aspirations of our nation’s environment.
In late 2018, the Environmental Management Authority (EMA) adopted a position of denying the public and civil society groups (like FFOS) complete copies of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) reports. As a result, FFOS and other civic-minded organizations have become crippled in terms of its ability to meaningfully participate in the decisionmaking process embodied in the Certificate of Environmental Clearance (CEC) Rules, 2001 of the Environmental Management Act, 2000.
Over the past 20 years FFOS has developed alliances with technical organizations and scientific experts in different continents of the world. These groups provide scientific and technical advice in the review of countless EIAs which has facilitated FFOS contributions to the EIA via the mandated consultation process. It is simply not practical for an expert who resides overseas to review an entire EIA at the National Register of the EMA when an EIA is often thousands of pages in length and covers a varied range of technical, environmental and scientific matters that often require inter-disciplinary expertise.
What the Government/EMA has achieved by its actions is to prohibit FFOS’s ability to review EIAs and this direct action cripples’ public participation by civil society organizations. Our pleadings have fallen on deaf ears. We have a meaningful part to play in the developmental process of our country and should not be prevented from doing so.
On Friday 24th May, FFOS has written a pre-action protocol letter to the Chairman of the EMA and we hope we will not be forced to proceed to a Judicial Review. FFOS does not want to place an additional burden on the already exhausted public purse. This possible High Court action may result in the filing of an injunction to stop any CEC approval being granted to any project which requires an EIA.
FFOS have once again been compelled into a confrontational standoff with our Government, which was completely avoidable. However, we have every hope that this matter would be resolved whereby civil society organizations can continue to contribute meaningfully to our Nation’s development aspirations in the protection of our environment.
Sincerely,
Gary Aboud
Corporate Secretary