5.0 CONCLUSION

This handbook strives to analyse the relevant laws governing businesses in Tanzania and legal obligations inbuilt or implied in those laws which require businesses to take some actions to protect the environment. However since law is a very dynamic discipline, businesses will be required to keep themselves abreast of any legal and policy developments which impose additional obligations on their part to protect the environment.

In future, however, lawmakers may wish to enclude more legal incentives in the laws so as to have businesses develop the culture of voluntary compliance with environmental laws. This is important given the weak enforcement and monitoring mechanisms currently in existence. Since the theme of environmental protection gained international currency, the common lament has been the absence of laws to protect the environment and ensure sustainable development.

The common chorus has been a call for new laws to be made and institutions to be created to deal with the problem. The foregoing chapters, hopefully, have demonstrated that the situation is perhaps not that desperate. There are actually an impressive array of laws and regulations which, if observed or enforced, can fairly prevent environmental damage in the relevant sectors. Therefore, while there might be, and there always is, need and room for improvement, there is no justification for the despondent assertions that there are no environmental protection laws and that the salvation for the environment lies in new legislative action. Even if new laws are needed, the most important step to be taken first is to be able to know where the inadequacies are and in which ways they can remedied.

This work was restricted to environmental laws that are relevant to businesses. However, businesses are expected to protect the environment as a moral and ethical duty and also as a matter of self interest since they also would be affected by the destruction of human and natural environment. In addition, as shown in Chapters 3 and 4, business are also required by law to take certain actions to avoid destruction of the environment. These requirements are backed by sanctions which include fine and imprisonment.

Virtually all the laws discussed in this manual are not exclusively on environment but laws on other matters with provisions relevant to the environment. This may be seen as a weakness of the environmental protection regime. However, this might be a strength as well in that environment and environmental protection are not seen respectively as an issue and an agenda detached from the rest of the issues of society. As there is no activity which has no impact on the environment, it may be useful to infuse environmental protection provisions in the laws that regulate the very activities which threaten environmental integrity. The fashionable comprehensive environmental protection laws now under contemplation in Tanzania should supplement rather than replace this approach.

It is true that certain environmental protection requirements may raise the costs of operations and affect the profitability of businesses. However, these costs can always be shared with consumers who are increasingly becoming willing to pay for the preservation of the environment. Moreover, governments, including that of Tanzania, have indicated their intention to use tax reliefs and subsidies and other instruments to compensate businesses whose bottom line might be affected by their good business practices. What businesses should do therefore is to take collective decisions to follow good business practices so as not to unfairly compete with each other, take advantage of government tax reliefs and subsidies and even lobby for more and educated consumers who understand and accept having to pay for the difference between reasonable profits which would have been obtained by environmentally destructive practices and lesser profits or losses sustained for adopting better business practices which have been compensated by government measures.

The manual is primarily intended as a guide to businesses as to the legal requirements applicable to their activities. However, it should also be relevant to many institutions and individual government officials who are assigned responsibilities and powers under various acts. The general public may also find this Handbook a useful source of information when they feel compelled to challenge the existence or operations of businesses which threaten their life or property or which impair their natural environment.