ENVIRONMENTAL COMPLIANCE OF INDUSTRIES IN KOMBOLCHA TOWN: LEGAL AND INSTITUTIONAL ASSESSMENT

Abstract

Starting from recent years, Ethiopia has been striving to transform its economic platform from agrarian to industry. To realize this transformation, the country has been expanding different types of industries, and inviting foreign and domestic investors to engage therein. In line with this industrial expansion however, the risk of threat to the environment and human health has been increasing rapidly due to poor management and control of industrial wastes. Though the country has embodied environmental legislations as well as creating environmental regulating institutions, the threat to the environment due to release of waste from industries is still far from being managed well, and environmental compliance of industries is not duly ensured. In the Town of Kombolcha, where there exist industrial expansion and rapid population growth, the release of untreated industrial wastes has exposed the environment and residents to the upcoming environmental risks. The aim of this study is to assess the adequacy of environmental legal and institutional frameworks put in place to ensure environmental compliance of industries in Ethiopia while assessing the related gaps and challenges towards ensuring environmental compliance of industries in the case of Kombolcha town, Amhara Region. To this end, the study employed qualitative and non-doctrinal research methodology by which it looked into qualitative data collected from selected industries and regulatory bodies through questionnaire, interview, and review of literature. Then, these data were assessed and analyzed using analytical, descriptive and to some extent comparative method. Upon the assessment, it was found that legal frameworks and environmental regulatory institutions set to ensure compliance were inadequate to ensure compliance. As a result, compliance of industries in the study area was found inadequate too. Hence the author recommends that legal frameworks must be reviewed, and environmental regulatory institutions must be enhanced in such a way they can ensure environmental compliance of industries.