International environmental governance: A case for sub-regional judiciaries in Africa

Arguably, due to the non-justiciability of the right to environment doctrine in many African countries, Non-governmental Organisations (NGOs), activists, communities and individuals now utilise the sub-regional judiciaries in accessing justice in environmental issues. This chapter focuses on the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Community Court of Justice (ECCJ) and the East African Court of Justice (EACJ) because they are amongst the most active sub-regional judiciaries in Africa. The main question this chapter addresses is whether the rise of environmental governance or litigation in sub-regional judiciaries leads to better environmental protection for the victims and communities. The methodology adopted in this study is of a doctrinal nature that consists of library-based texts analysis. This paper undertakes a critical analysis of the emergent environmental governance under the sub-regional judiciaries in Africa.N/