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PICs: Recognition of environmental considerations in legislation

The enactment of environment legislation can be taken as measure of government's awareness and concern for the environment.

Fiji:

In the case of Fiji environmental legislation dates back to the 1920s with the Birds and Game Protection Act: Fiji's State of the Environment Report notes that this act remains a remarkable piece of legislation under which for instance, all native birds are completely protected (except certain pigeons in 'season'). Since that time Fiji has enacted some 55 Acts dealing in some way with the environment and resource allocation. The majority of these laws are products of the colonial era when there was a regulatory environment of considerable enforcement and control. Thus during colonial period these laws were quite effective in meeting the needs of the time, particularly in areas such as land degradation. However it is now widely recognised that these laws are now outdated, fragmented, and often contradictory, and there is uncoordinated and often "half hearted" approach to their application. The response to this problem was the preparation of the Sustainable Development Bill that will provide a comprehensive legislative framework for environmental management. The enactment of the Sustainable Development Bill would mean that Fiji would be the first country in the world to have a sustainable development legal framework under which decisions are made. However, while the draft of the Bill was completed in November 1996, it is yet to be enacted.

PNG:

For PNG during its period of colonisation by Australia there was no articulated policy or legislation relating to environmental protection. The exceptions were the Fauna Protection Ordinance (1966), the Crocodile Trade (Protection) Ordinance (1966) and the National Parks and Gardens Ordinance (1966). The lack of colonial legislation is in PNG contrast with the situation described for Fiji.

PNG's environmental legislation and institutions were developed after independence in 1975. This had some advantages in that PNG was able to begin with a clean slate. In the immediate post independence period a comprehensive set of environmental legislation was passed. This included the Mining and Petroleum Act, the Environmental Planning Act, the Water Resources Act, the Environmental Contaminants Act and the Dumping of Wastes at Sea Act. At the time this represented some of the most progressive Third World environmental legislation in existence.

Vanuatu:

Vanuatu's (then the New Hebrides) joint Colonial Administrators (Britain and France) showed no particular interest in environmental issues. Some environmental related legislation was during the latter years of the Condominium such as the Wild Bird Protection Regulation (1962) and the Prevention of the Spread of Noxious Weeds Regulations (1966). Vanuatu now has over twenty-four pieces of legislation that have some relevance to environmental and resource management on the statute books. Most of this was enacted in the immediate post independence when Vanuatu enjoyed stable government for about a decade. As with the situation described for Fiji Vanuatu's law for environmental management is fragmented and undeveloped, with much of the existing legislation is neither applied nor enforced. Thus Vanuatu is following the lead of Fiji and has begun the process of preparing a comprehensive set of environmental and resource management legislation.

Tonga:

Tonga is the only PIC not to have had a colonial government. Thus Kingdom has a string of home grown environment-related legislation dating to the turn of the century. Thus it is hardly surprising that Tonga's environmental legislation is particularly fragmented - scattered throughout a range of statutes and administered independently by various Ministries and Departments. Tonga, as with Fiji and Vanuatu, is in the process of preparing comprehensive legislation, the Environmental Assessment and Planning Bill, to rationalise all this disparate legislation.