Search Climate Insights Directory

Natural Justice submitted comments to the National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA) on November 27, 2018, challenging the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for proposed salt works by Al-Sherman Limited in Marereni, Kilifi County. The organization argues that the EIA fails to adequately address risks to water sources, climate change impacts, local ecosystems, and community livelihoods, while also citing deficiencies in the public participation process.

This case study by Natural Justice describes the legal efforts to protect fishing communities in Lamu, Kenya, from the environmental impacts of the Lamu Port Three Berth Project and a proposed coal power plant.

This document contains the minutes of two public baseline consultation meetings held on 11 November 2018 in Yaq Barsadi (Isiolo County) and 13 November 2018 in Mwanarafa Hall (Lamu County). These meetings were part of the Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) for the proposed Lokichar to Lamu Crude Oil Pipeline (LLCOP) project in Kenya, aimed at informing stakeholders about the project and gathering community concerns.

A memorial statement from Natural Justice honoring the life and legacy of Taghi Farvar, emphasizing his passion for nature, culture, and justice.

Natural Justice submitted comments on Kenya's draft Environmental (Strategic Assessment, Integrated Impact Assessment and Audit) Regulations, 2017, while raising concerns about the adequacy of the public participation process.

Natural Justice submitted a series of recommendations on the Land Value Index Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2018, arguing that several proposed changes would marginalize vulnerable groups, undermine the judiciary, and conflict with the Constitution of Kenya 2010.

This guide provides indigenous communities in South Africa with information on legal instruments and tools to manage their rights and engagement during externally-led academic research processes.

Natural Justice issued a statement mourning the passing of Rodney Sibuyi, the Chief Executive of the Kukula Traditional Health Practitioners Association, highlighting his leadership in developing biocultural community protocols and advocating for the rights of traditional healers.

This case study describes the efforts of Natural Justice and the community-based organization Vision of Hope to address environmental and public health violations caused by a slaughterhouse in Isiolo town, Kenya. By utilizing access to information requests and formal complaints based on the Environmental Management and Coordination Act and the Public Health Act, the group successfully pressured the National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA) and the Isiolo county public health office to issue a closure notice to the facility in July 2017.

The Environmental (Strategic Assessment, Integrated Impact Assessment and Audit) Regulations, 2017, establish the legal framework for environmental assessments in Kenya. The regulations detail the requirements for Integrated Environmental Impact Assessments (IEIA) for projects, Strategic Environmental Assessments (SEA) for policies, plans, and programmes, and mandatory environmental audits. It defines the registration and licensing of environmental assessment experts, the role of the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) in approvals and monitoring, and the procedures for public participation and appeals.

This report by Natural Justice examines the use of community protocols as tools for indigenous peoples and local communities to manage their rights and engage with extractive industries. Based on action research in Argentina, India, Kenya, and Zimbabwe, the document analyzes how these protocols help communities articulate their values, secure free, prior and informed consent (FPIC), and address power imbalances with governments and corporations.

A reflection by Ivan Vaalbooi of Natural Justice on the life and contributions of Andries Steenkamp, a leader within the Khomani San and broader indigenous communities in South Africa.

The document describes the political action and organizational strategies of the communities in the Cuenca de Salinas Grandes and Laguna de Guayatayoc to oppose development models that facilitate dispossession and ignore their ancestral knowledge and community history.

This e-learning module provides an introduction to the United Nations human rights system, focusing on its general structure and its specific application to Indigenous peoples and local communities.

Natural Justice issued a statement condemning xenophobic attacks in South Africa, referencing both the 2008 violence and subsequent attacks in KwaZulu-Natal and other regions.

This report summarizes a February 2015 midterm review meeting in Cape Town, South Africa, regarding an international project led by Natural Justice and the Heinrich Böll Foundation. The project, which began in July 2013, examines the development and use of biocultural community protocols (BCPs) to help Indigenous peoples and local communities safeguard their rights and interests when engaging with extractive industries and infrastructure development.

This research paper by Marie Wilke, Laura Letourneau-Tremblay, and Stephanie Booker examines community-company engagement in the extractive industries, specifically focusing on communities that struggle to engage with companies and seek to use formal agreements to secure commitments and manage conflicts.

This statement, issued by The Berne Declaration and Natural Justice on January 15, 2015, provides critical feedback on the draft Implementing Act for Regulation (EU) No 511/2014, which implements the Nagoya Protocol in the European Union. The authors identify significant gaps in the monitoring of user compliance, particularly when users and commercializers are different entities or operate outside the Union, and express concerns over blanket confidentiality clauses that could shield fraudulent access to genetic resources and traditional knowledge from public scrutiny.

The Ogiek Bio-Cultural Community Protocol (BCP), published by Natural Justice in 2015, is a community-determined document outlining the rights, traditional knowledge, and resource management priorities of the Ogiek people, an indigenous hunter-gatherer group in Kenya. The protocol serves as a tool to safeguard their ancestral lands in the Mau Forest Complex and Mount Elgon, establishing terms for access to their traditional knowledge and the equitable sharing of benefits arising from their resources.

This report, published by Natural Justice and Namati, synthesizes strategies and lessons from a 2013 symposium of 20 expert advocates working to protect community lands and natural resources across Africa. It provides a practitioner-focused guide to confronting threats such as state-driven mega-projects, large-scale land concessions, and exclusionary conservation. The document emphasizes the importance of community self-definition, the use of biocultural community protocols, and the necessity of multi-pronged advocacy strategies that combine legal education, community mobilization, and strategic engagement with government and media.