In collaboration with the Department of Environmental Regulation, the Senegal Natural Resources Management Project (SENRM) organized a pre-validation workshop for the implementing texts of the new Environmental Code in Thiès on Friday, October 24. This activity brought together all national stakeholders active in this sector.

According to Baba Dramé, Director of Environmental Regulation and Control at the Ministry of the Environment and Ecological Transition, this workshop is of paramount importance. "A code is always operationalized through implementing texts. This is why this workshop is a key step in the process of operationalizing the Environmental Code," said Mr. Dramé.

He added that in August 2023, Senegal had a new environmental code and that its implementing decree was adopted in February 2025. Following these texts, Baba Dramé affirms that it is now a question of moving towards the other decrees and orders which must operationalize the provisions of the Environmental Code.

In this context, the Environmental Regulation and Control Department benefited from the support of the SENRM project, through the recruitment of a LERPDES technical assistant, which is the environmental and health law laboratory of the Cheikh Anta Diop University of Dakar (UCAD), to develop these texts.

"We have already conducted an internal evaluation of the texts produced by the laboratory. And now this second phase consists of conducting a technical validation of these texts with all the stakeholders concerned before introducing them into the approval process by the competent authorities, in particular the Minister of the Environment and the President of the Republic," Mr. Dramé said.

He then emphasized that the issue of oil and gas exploitation is being taken into account. Because it is an extremely strategic sector for our country's economy and a sector that presents environmental risks. "As part of the revision of the Environmental Code, we deemed it useful to introduce a chapter dedicated to oil and gas exploitation. The objective is to put in place all the tools, all the regulatory guarantees to regulate these activities and avoid negative impacts on the environment, as we have seen in other locations around the world," reassured Baba Dramé.

SENRM project coordinator Ndèye Coura Mbaye said the project is being funded by the World Bank to the tune of 62 billion CFA francs for a period of six years. According to her, these funds are being distributed between the Environment and Fisheries sectors.