The Right to Public Participation in Environmental Decision-Making Processes in Uganda

Abstract

The right to public participation when it comes to making environmental decisions in Uganda has taken different forms of approaches. Supported by several instruments, at the local, regional and international level, the public in the country has taken and continues to contribute to decision making processes, albeit with limited capacities. In this Dissertation, and guided by a set of objectives to wit: to examine the nature and role of public participation in environmental decision-making process in Uganda, to analyze the domestic, regional and international legal framework in advancing the right to public participation in environmental decision-making processes and to analyze the approaches, best practices and challenges to public participation in environmental decision – making process in Uganda. The researcher also set out to assess how the right to public participation has been exercised in the country. In the presence of several instruments, the right is not fully exploited owing to a number of challenges including a lack of operational mechanisms to ensure that public participation flourishes in the Ugandan environment. In order to resolve these challenges, the researcher made several recommendations, that he believes when adopted would go a long way in improving the exercise of environmental decision-making process in the country by the wider citizenry