CIVICUS discusses African climate litigation efforts with Liberian environmental rights activist, lawyer and law professor Alfred Lahai Brownell, president of Global Climate Legal Defence and co-founder and Lead Campaigner of the African Climate Platform, a coalition of public interest lawyers and climate activists.
On 2 May, the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights, which exists to ensure the protection and respect of human rights in Africa, received a petition requesting an advisory opinion on African states’ human rights duties in tackling climate change. The African Climate Platform and other partners are urging the Court to clarify states’ obligations to protect vulnerable groups and people who are impacted on by climate change, highlighting the urgent need for climate justice in Africa. This initiative aims to strengthen legal frameworks to address climate change and its human rights impacts.