John Nyanje and Elizabeth Kageni attended the African Society of International Law’s Annual Conference, themed “Africa and International Environmental law”, held at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban, South Africa, from 24 to 26 October.
John presented a paper entitled “The Environment and Land Court in Kenya and its Contribution to International Environmental Law”, in which he discussed how the Kenyan courts have handled various issues of international environmental law, both at state level and regional level. He also looked at the Kenyan Courts’ failure to take into account issues of sustainable development, as espoused by the RIO declaration and principles towards sustainable development.
The panel was chaired by Professor Edward Kwakwa from the Graduate Institute of Geneva, the former longest serving legal counsel of the World Intellectual Property Institute (WIPO) in Geneva, and current head of the Division of Traditional Knowledge at WIPO. The conference itself was well-attended, and participants included Professor Raymond Ranjeva, the former Vice President of the International Court of Justice; Professor Makane Mbengue, the President of AFSIL; and partners of top firms such as Clifford Chance and Foley Hoag LLP.