The National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) is a semi-autonomous institution, established in May 1995 under the National Environment Act CAP 153 and became operational in December 1995, as the principal agency in Uganda, charged with the responsibility of coordinating, monitoring, regulating and supervising environmental management in the country.

NEMA spearheads the development of environmental policies, laws, regulations, standards and guidelines; and guides Government on sound environmental management in Uganda.

NEMA ensures that environmental concerns are integrated into the planning processes at national, local governments, and community levels. Since ‘environment management’ is a cross-cutting matter, it calls for networking and partnering with different stakeholders, to ensure sustainable socio-economic development. The stakeholders that NEMA collaborates with in environment management include donors, development partners, lead agencies, local governments, communities, NGOs/CBOs, the media, academia, the public, and the private sector.

NEMA has played a leading role in the formulation and development of laws, regulations, guidelines, and standards; training and skills development; integration of environmental concerns in planning processes; and, environmental information and education