CYIL vol. 15 (2024)

CYIL 15 ȍ2024Ȏ CLIMATE LITIGATION AND JUSTICE IN AFRICA chapter, the scholars contributing to the book represent various professionals and therefore offer a range of insights and perspectives, from international researchers learning from and citing the work of African scholars, to lawyers, judicial practitioners, and activists with direct experience in Africa. The book shows how the characteristics of climate litigation in Africa differ from, and converge with, the global conversation on climate litigation. It rejects the simplistic argument that the low number of reported climate cases indicates the slow progress of African climate jurisprudence. On the contrary, the authors explain the current state of climate litigation in Africa and the editors’ thesis is that it has been “slow to be recognised” (p. 3). In three thematic parts, preceded by an introductory chapter on ‘Africa, Climate Justice and the Role of Courts’, which provides background on the mission of the book, the editors progressively explore individual issues relevant to climate litigation and climate justice discussions across several African jurisdictions in thirteen essays: legal tools, opportunities and barriers (I.), rights-based approaches (II.), and justice, equity and activism (III.). In the first chapter, the editors highlight some specific issues that are prevalent in most African countries, such as the importance of adapting to the impacts of climate change with limited resources and infrastructure, and the need for a just transition to a green economy, which require a distinct meaning of climate justice. They argue for a broader definition of climate litigation to include cases where climate change issues might be peripheral but have an impact on mitigation or adaptation, with the aim of analysing the qualitative rather than quantitative aspects of African climate case law. The thread running throughout the book is the unique African context of many of the issues in the climate litigation debate, such as climate responsibility, contribution to global warming in the African context, or types of remedies, which should make us question what is the appropriate objective of climate litigation in Africa. Part I aims to introduce the reader to the specificities of climate litigation in Africa. It begins by offering an alternative approach to the conventional selection of climate cases, by using the criterion of climate risk, as defined, inter alia , for the African region in IPPC reports or in the updated Nationally Determined Contributions of African countries, and covering, for example, stress on water resources, extreme weather events, loss of food production, reduced economic output, or mortality from infectious diseases. Professor Field applies this approach to three South African cases that deal with drought, but do not refer to climate change and are therefore not included in the Global Climate Litigation Databases, and points to the usefulness of this risk-thematic approach in developing climate jurisprudence decided in African courts in the African context, focusing more on adaptation cases. Nigeria’s recent litigation in Africa remain limited. Key contributions include selected articles and book chapters, such as DU TOIT, L., SOYAPI, C. and KOTZÉ, L. J. ‘David versus Goliath? Indigenous people, carbon majors and climate litigation in South Africa’ (2024) 33 Review of European, Comparative & International Environmental Law 2; ADIGUN, M. ‘Companies’ Human Rights: The Implications for a Human Rights Approach to Climate Change Litigation in South Africa’ (2024) 42 Nordic Journal of Human Rights , 3, pp. 366–383; WADIWALA, Z. M. ‘Rights-Based Climate Litigation in South Africa and the Netherlands’ (2023) 7 Chinese Journal of Environmental Law 2, pp. 227–-244; MOODLEY, P. ‘The Tide of Climate Litigation is Upon Us in Africa’ in RODRÍGUEZ-GARAVITO, C. (ed) Litigating the Climate Emergency . (Cambridge University Press 2022), pp. 376–86; KOTZÉ, L. J., DU PLESSIS, A. ‘Putting Africa on the Stand: A Bird’s Eye View of Climate Change Litigation on the Continent’ (2020) 50 Environmental Law 3, pp. 615–663; and ONIEMOLA, P. K. ‘A Proposal for Transnational Litigation against Climate Change Violations in Africa’ (2020) 38 Wisconsin International Law Journal 301.

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