Eco-cop: Environmental policing in Eastern Africa

This paper looks at a particular dominant realm of governance that is a mainstay of modern policing.

The power to police, as part of statecraft , is a basic attribute of contemporary government that manifests in a vast array of sites of governance, including not only the state itself, but also areas such as the community, the household and industry, and contemporary realms such as the war against terrorism. This paper looks at a particular dominant realm of governance that is a mainstay of modern policing, i.e. the environmental protection realm, and particularly the policing component known as environmental crime management. Towards that end, this paper attempts to make sense of the policing component understood as ‘environmental policing’ and how it is operationalised in Africa. Case studies from the Great Lakes and the Horn of Africa have been adopted. The question of whether the police institution in the continent should be involved in environmental protection or have an environmental enforcement component has been critically investigated against a backdrop of the political, societal, administrative and bureaucratic realities in the mentioned geo-political concerns.

About the author

Philip Arthur Njuguna Mwanika is a researcher in the Environmental Security Programme (ESP) at the ISS Nairobi office. He has previously worked in the Arms Management Programme (AMP) of the Institute, the Regional Centre on Small Arms and Light Weapons in the Great Lakes and Horn of Africa (RECSA) and has also lectured at the Department of International Relations, United States International University-Africa in Nairobi, Kenya. He is a PhD candidate in Peace and Development Studies at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, Port Elizabeth (South Africa). He also holds a Master of Arts degree in Peace Studies and International Relations from the Catholic University of Eastern Africa, Kenya.