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ELI’s on-line research and policy documents on
African environmental law
Click
below to download these articles
African
Perspectives on Genetic Resources: A Handbook on Laws, Policies, and
Institutions
Researchers developing innovative solutions to some of the world's most pressing problems - disease, hunger, and poverty - rely on access to genetic resources. Regulating the conservation, use, and exchange of these resources - who has access to them under what circumstances, who has the right to benefits accrued through their use, how they are conserved - is a complicated process, and many nations lack adequate laws and policies. This book examines how 12 African nations are meeting this challenge and provides a resource for nations to develop a common policy framework. Following the publication of the book,
ELI and the International Plant Genetic Resources Institute, with
support from the Rockefeller Foundation, convened two meetings on Genetic Resources Laws, Policies, and
Institutions. Click here for more information on these meetings.
Final Draft: A Toolkit for Environmental Advocates in Africa
Developed under a grant from the United States Agency for International Development and the MacArthur Foundation, this handbook seeks to increase civil society understanding of the advocacy process and to provide a range of tools with which to conduct meaningful advocacy. The Toolkit discusses the ways in which organizations and individuals can advocate effectively and safely. The Toolkit has been field tested in Kenya, South Africa, and Zambia, and we will gather additional input from an upcoming training seminar in Nigeria. The Toolkit is being translated into Arabic, French, Portuguese, and Swahili. This draft is expected to be finalized in early 2004. For more information on ELI's program devoted to Building African Environmental Advocacy,
click
here.
Breathing
Life into Fundamental Principles: Constitutional Environmental Law in Africa
Constitutional provisions offer strong tools for protecting the
environment, but to date these tools have gone largely unutilized in Africa. This brief
article highlights several existing provisions that may be used to protect the environment
in Africa and provides examples from Africa and outside Africa of how advocates have given
force to these provisions. The process of opening courts to citizens to enforce their
constitutional rights strengthens the judiciary, empowers civil society, and fosters an
atmosphere of environmental accountability. This article provides examples from a survey
of relevant provisions from the constitutions of 53 African countries, as well as cases
from around the world that illustrate opportunities for implementing constitutional
environmental rights.
The Aarhus
Convention as a Model for Advancing Citizen's Rights in Africa
The Convention on Access to Information, Public
Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters, adopted
in Aarhus, Denmark, June 25, 1998, provides a valuable example of international
collaboration to promote different aspects of public participation at the national and
local levels. This article provides an overview of the Aarhus Convention, and outlines the
Convention's three "pillars." Considering the example of Niger, the authors
examine the potential for promoting public participation principles at the national level
through existing legal norms. the authors also take a broader look at how the Aarhus
convention might be developed in Africa, noting options for global, pan-African, regional,
and state level development of the convention's principles.
Regional
Opportunities for Improving Environmental Governance Through Access to Information, Public
Participation, and Access to Justice
"Ensuring citizens and other members of civil society the
rights of access to information, public participation, and access to justice is
indispensable to sustainable development. This paper -- delivered at the 8th session of
the African Ministerial Conference on Environment (AMCEN) in Abuja, Nigeria on 3, April
2000 -- discusses how the application of procedural rights can protect the environment and
promote sustainable development. It examines their emergence as global norms,
opportunities for promoting procedural environmental rights in Africa, and reasons why
developing an African voice on procedural rights is particularly important in
Africa."
French version ...
LES OPPORTUNITES REGIONALES D’AMELIORATION DE LA GESTION
DES AFFAIRES PUBLIQUES EN MATIERE D’ENVIRONNEMENT GRACE A L’ACCES A
L’INFORMATION, A LA PARTICIPATION DU PUBLIC ET A L’ACCES A LA JUSTICE
Click
below to view these articles from the Environmental Law Institute's policy journal, The Environmental Forum®
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