This Ordinance of St Helena makes provision with respect to the environment and wildlife in St Helena and its surrounding waters (including the 200 nautical miles zone as established by Articles 3 and 4 of the St Helena and Dependencies (Territorial Sea) Order 1989. The Ordinance consists of 119 sections divided into 18 Parts: Preliminary (1); Objectives, Principles and General Duty (2); Administration (3); General Measures for Environmental Management (4); Multilateral Environmental Agreements (5); Conservation of Biodiversity (6); National Conservation Areas (7); Trade in Endangered Species (8); Pollution Control and Hazardous Substances (9); Litter (10); Waste (11); Control and Enforcement (12); Environmental Protection Notices (13); General Provisions as to Notices (14); Offences and Liability (15); Jurisdiction, Evidence and Procedure (16); Miscellaneous (17); Repeals and Transitional Provisions (18). The Ordinance is completed by 2 Schedules: Multilateral Environmental Agreements extended to St Helena (1); Protected animals and plants (2). The objectives of this Ordinance are to preserve and sustain the natural environment of St Helena, including by— (a) protecting and conserving biodiversity and the habitats, ecosystems and ecological systems that support biodiversity; (b) preventing, minimising or mitigating pollution, waste and littering; (c) minimising the risks to the environment from the introduction of potentially harmful materials or organisms; and (d) conserving and enhancing natural beauty and geological or physiographical features of special interest. principles underlying the achievement of the objectives of this Ordinance include the precautionary principle, the best available techniques principle, the polluter pays principle ad the principle of inter-generational equity. The Ordinance also defines the duty of any public authority to have regard to the objectives when preparing any policy, plan or programme, the implementation of which may cause or lead to the causing of significant environmental effects. The Governor must appoint a Chief Environmental Officer, who shall be responsible for the administration and operation of the processes of environmental protection, management and control and the implementation of this Ordinance. He or she may also adopt codes of practice (to be approved by the Governor) and environmental standards and make agreements for the management of (private) land and must establish a system for monitoring environmental quality. The Governor in Council may make Regulations generally and as specified for carrying into effect the provisions of this Ordinance. The multilateral environmental agreements specified in Schedule 1 have been extended to St Helena and the Chief Environmental Officer must take, recommend or promote all general or specific measures and carry out all other of his or her functions under this Ordinance as are necessary in order to achieve the objectives of this Ordinance as it applies to protecting the environment. The agreements include, among other things, the International Convention on the Regulation of Whaling, the Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter, CITES, UNCLOS, the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic and Convention on the Conservation and Management of Fishery Resources in the South East Atlantic Ocean and the Straddling Fish Stocks Agreement. The Governor in Council may designate, at specified conditions, any area in the sea to be a marine protected area and such area may also be designated as a national conservation area. If a national conservation area or marine protected area has been designated, the Chief Environmental Officer must adopt a management plan. The Ordinance provides for the implementation of CITES and application of Appendix 1, Appendix 2 and Appendix 3 of the Convention. The Governor may designate a body or person to exercise the function of the Management Authority in place of the Chief Environmental Officer. Powers and functions of the Management Authority and Scientific authorities are defined. Plant propagation licences, captive breeding licences, fisheries licences under the Fishery Limits Ordinance, 1977 and recreational fishing permits, are to be construed as appropriate permissions for purposes of Part 6 (conservation of biodiversity).
Santa Elena, Ascensión y Tristán de Acuña (RU) · 2016-01-01