Arusha (Tanzania), May 2, 2025 — A major legal turning point is unfolding on the African continent. An unprecedented coalition of lawyers, environmental activists, and human rights defenders—gathered under the banner of the African Climate Platform (ACP) and the Pan African Lawyers Union (PALU)—has submitted a historic petition to the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights, based in Arusha.
The goal of this initiative is to obtain an advisory opinion on the legal obligations of African states in the face of climate change, in light of regional legal instruments, including the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the Maputo Protocol, the Kampala Convention, and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child.
Africa accounts for only a marginal share of global greenhouse gas emissions. Yet, it is one of the continents most severely affected by the impacts of climate change: prolonged droughts, recurrent floods, food insecurity, collapsing agricultural systems, and mass displacement.
“Africa is the continent that has contributed the least to the climate crisis, but it suffers the worst consequences. This action seeks to ensure justice, dignity, and protection for millions across the continent,” said Alfred Brownell, Campaign Director of the African Climate Platform.
The petition, the result of several days of consultation in Arusha between legal experts, activists, and civil society representatives, is grounded in fundamental principles: the right to a healthy environment, to water, to food, to health, to housing, and the duty to protect vulnerable groups. It also calls for a just energy transition and the decolonization of natural resource governance.
Among the powerful testimonies is that of Paul Mulwindwa (CIVICUS, Uganda): “More than 2.6 million heads of livestock have died in Kenya due to drought, leading to conflicts over access to water and land.” In Liberia, Peter Quaqua (MRU CSO) describes a West Africa hit by record heat waves, destroying crops and worsening poverty.
The movement around this petition extends beyond legal circles. For Dorcas Sikujua Faida, an activist from the DRC, the triple threat of floods, drought, and conflict is weakening states and increasing people’s vulnerability. In Egypt, Shahinaz Adel highlights how the climate crisis disproportionately affects women and girls, who are often on the frontlines without adequate protection. And from Namibia, artist and influencer Inna Maria Shikongo reminds us: “It is time to confront the inequalities driven by climate change.”
Among the organizations involved in the initiative are ERA (Environmental Rights Action), a founding member of ACP, and the Global Climate Legal Defense (CLIDEF) network and ELAW. They are mobilizing key actors in the DRC, including Congolese lawyer Olivier NDOOLE, a prominent environmental rights defender in Africa, who emphasized the scope of this legal action:
“This petition seeks the advisory opinion of the African Court on Human Rights: the questions of the environment, of environmental defenders, of participation — this is a significant step for the future of defenders and their freedom in Africa. But it is also a victory of solidarity from the environmental civil society and climate activists, not only for the protection of environmental resources across Africa but for the creation of a continental legal text — a reference point for defending environmental rights in communities impacted by resource extraction and logging. It also provides a framework for public interest information access, and for the protection and access to justice for thousands of defenders.”
This is the first petition of its kind to be brought before the African Court in the realm of climate change. If the Court issues a favorable opinion, it could establish continental jurisprudence to guide future environmental policies and provide a powerful legal tool for civil society.
Dubbed the “Arusha Accord” by its initiators, this initiative has the potential to become a symbol of legal resistance, transnational solidarity, and civic mobilization in the face of one of the greatest threats of our time. It embodies a shared determination to bring forth, from Africa, a form of climate justice rooted in human rights.
By kilalopress
