30. The right to clean environment under Article 24 requires that appropriate environmental risk assessments be undertaken prior to industrial development or the initiation of small-scale/artisanal mining. As corollary to this, it is imperative that the necessary measures for mitigating identified risks are instituted as part of building industrial plants or setting up the small-scale operations. 31. Equally, there is a need for putting in place a waste disposal system that conforms to acceptable standards of environmental safety. Specifically, the acceptable waste disposal standards appropriate to various sectors or industries should be legally established and strictly enforced. States should put in place the necessary mechanisms for monitoring compliance with the established standards and ensuring that illegal disposal of waste by companies is penalized. 32. As with Article 21, Article 24 is predicated on and significantly constituted by the right of people to timely and accessible information. People have the right to be provided with and to share information regarding all industrial activities or projected natural events that may cause damage to the environment and thereby threatening the life, health and livelihood of people. People should be consulted about all the activities or conditions that may affect the soil, water, fauna and flora and air of the territory in which they reside and their views should be duly taken into account in all decisionmaking relating to their environment and development activities in the areas of their residence. Consultations have to be adequate and inclusive. There should be legal and institutional avenues that afford people the opportunity both for receiving information and being heard. People should be able to make oral or written submissions individually or collectively and directly by themselves or through the support of autonomous community organizations including civil society groups. 33. In case of despoliation of the environment resulting from the activities of extractive industries, people residing in the affected areas are entitled to a number of protection measures. As the African Commission pointed out in the SERAC case, such despoliation also entails that scientific inspection/ assessment of the nature and scale of environmental, health and socioeconomic impact of oil spillage, gas flare ups, leakage of dangerous chemicals into land, water and air is promptly conducted. Affected State Reporting Guidelines and Principles  | 29