Cap. 549 Art. 2Interpretation.

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires:

"application" means a permission application or authorisation application submitted in the manner prescribed by the Authority;

"application report" means the final permission application report or authorisation application report; "the Authority" means the Environment and Resources Authority established under article 6 and includes any body or other person acting on its behalf under powers delegated by the Authority under this Act, and the Minister may, by order in the Gazette, designate different bodies or persons as a competent authority for different provisions and different purposes of this Act or any regulations made thereunder;

"authorisation" includes any licence or permit however so described issued by, or under this Act to operate, provide or carry out any activity or operation relating to the functions emanating from this Act. "biological diversity" or "biodiversity" means the variability among living organisms from all sources, including, inter alia, terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems and the ecological complexes of which they are part, and includes diversity within species, between species and of ecosystems; "the Chairperson" means the Chairperson of the Authority appointed in terms of article 6; "the Chief Executive Officer" shall mean such an officer so appointed who is vested with the executive management of the Authority;

* articles 1, 2, 6, 7, 9 to 30 and 35 to 38 were brought into force as from 31st January 2016 by Legal Notice 50 of 2016; articles 3, 4, 5, 8, 31, 32, 39 to 44, 48 to 87 and the Schedule were brought into force as from 4th April, 2016 by Legal Notice 106 of 2016. † articles 45,46 and 47 were brought into force as from 1st February, 2019 by Legal Notice 37 of 2019 "conservation" means a series of measures required to maintain or restore the natural habitats and the population of species of wild fauna and flora at a favourable status, and for cultural heritage means any activity required to maximize the endurance or minimize the deterioration of any cultural property as far as possible and includes examining, testing, treating, recording and preserving any such cultural property or any part thereof;

"derivatives" means parts of any specimen, whether processed by man or not;

"discharge" includes emission, deposit, dumping, disposal, addition or introduction into the environment of a substance or energy directly or indirectly from any point source or diffuse source, whether stationary or mobile, and whether caused or permitted intentionally or otherwise and whether continuous or intermittent or once only; "entity of Government" means a body corporate established by law or a company in which the Government or such body corporate, or a combination thereof has a controlling interest or which is a subsidiary of such a company;

"environment" means the whole of the elements and conditions, natural or man-made, whether together or in isolation, and in particular:

(a) the air, water, land, soil and sea, including their bedrock, aquifers and subsurface features;

(b) all the layers of the atmosphere;

(c) all biodiversity; and

(d) the landscape and its features; "fauna" means all types of animals and other biota including akaryotes, prokaryotes and eukaryotes, dead or alive, in whole or in part and their derivatives; "flora" means all types of plants and other biota including akaryotes, prokaryotes and eukaryotes, dead or alive, in whole or in part and their derivatives;

"functions" includes responsibilities, powers and duties; "Gazette" means the Government Gazette; "genetically modified organism" means any of the following:

(a) an organism derived from the formation of a combination of genetic material by any means other than natural means;

(b) an organism inheriting such combination of genetic material;

(c) an organism that results from the replication of an organism as derived in paragraph (a); or

(d) such other organism as may be prescribed by the Minister under this Act; ''guardianship'' and ''guardianship deed'' shall have the same meaning as assigned to them in article 70A; "land" includes the air, water, land, sea and soil, including their bedrock, aquifers and subsurface features, and extends to the proper use of resources found in such so as to ensure protection of the environment in general and use of the air, water and soil in a sustainable manner; "local council" means a local council established under the Local

Government Act; "minerals" includes all minerals and substances (including oil and natural gas) in or under land of a kind ordinarily worked for removal by underground or surface working;

"Minister" means the Minister responsible for the environment; "natural resources" means any component of nature and includes air, water, land, soils, minerals, energy, living organisms and genetic resources;

"officer" includes any employee or member of staff of the Authority;

"person" means a body or other association of persons whether granted legal personality or not and shall include Environmental Voluntary Organisations; "plan" means a plan approved in accordance with the provisions of this Act; "policy" means a policy approved in accordance with the provisions of this Act; "pollution" means the direct or indirect introduction by man, or due to natural processes, into the environment of substances, energy, organisms or genetic material that cause or are likely to cause hazard to human health, or harm to living resources or to the environment; "precautionary principle" means the principle whereby appropriate measures are taken to protect the environment and to ensure sustainable management of natural resources in the absence of absolute or conclusive scientific proof of the need for such measures; "prescribed" means prescribed by regulation, rule, order or other instrument made as provided in the provisions of this Act empowering the making of any such instrument; "protected area" means all areas that are afforded protection under this Act; "public officer" has the meaning assigned to it by article 124 of the Constitution; "sea" includes the water column, seabed, marine sedimentary subsoil, sediment and bedrock; "specimen" means any species, whether alive or dead, any part or derivative thereof, and includes any goods which from an accompanying document, the packaging, mark or label or from other circumstances appear to be parts or derivatives of animals or plants; "Standing Committee" means the Standing Committee on the Environment, Climate Change and Development Planning established in terms of the Development Planning Act;

"subsidiary plans" includes strategies, plans, programmes and guidance under this Act;

"substances" means any matter, chemical, mixture, compound or product, and includes fuels, combinations of elements, mixtures or compounds of a chemical reaction, as well as the mixture of substances of different molecular identities; "Tribunal" means the Environment and Planning Review Tribunal referred to in article 3 of the Environment and Planning Review Tribunal Act;

"waste" means any thing, substance or object which the holder discards or intends to discard, or is required to keep in order to discard, and includes such other thing, substance or object as the Minister may prescribe: Provided that if a definition provided for under this article is amended through a European, International or multilateral directive or legislative instrument, the Minister shall have the authority to amend such a definition in accordance with such a directive or legislative instrument by means of a Regulation issued under the provisions of article 54.