National Environment Management Act, 1994 (Act No. 13 of 1994).

This Act provides in 62 articles divided into 13 Parts the principles of environment protection and the instruments to carry out an environment protection policy in the Gambia.
Part 1 contains not less than 13 pages of definitions used in the Act. Part II outlines the general principles of environment protection and confers certain powers upon the national Environment Agency established under Part III. Part III provides for a Council for the protection of the environment to be headed by the President of the Gambia and having several ministers as its members, and the establishment of the Agency aforementioned as a corporate body. The Agency shall coordinate the environment policy of the Government and function as the secretariat of the Council. Several national and local committees are also established. The Action Plan, prepared by the Agency shall be the key instrument for national environment planning. Also local planning units shall prepare local environment plans which shall be co-ordinated with plans made under the Physical Planning and Development Act (No. 1 of 1991) (Part IV). Part V requires a developer to submit environment project briefs and environmental impact statements for projects listed in the Schedule. Section 25 provides for environmental audits. The environmental standards specified in Part VI shall be established by the Agency. Part VII, dealing with environmental management, contains also several sections on coastal zone management. Part VIII provides summarily for the control of various forms of pollution. The remaining Parts deal with inspection and analysis (IX), education (X), offences (XI), legal proceedings (XII) and miscellaneous matters (XIII). (completed by 1 Schedule)