Multilateral environmental agreements and land and resource rights in Africa

Many African countries are signatories to a number of international and regional environmental treaties. These include the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), the World Heritage Convention, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the African Convention on the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources. Governments should meet their legal obligations under these treaties in such a way that the land and resource rights of the poor in their countries are not compromised