Implementing REDD+ in Africa - A Human Rights Perspective

This book presents a cohesive collection of contributions representing an African scholarly voice on some of the most burning and emerging topics and experiences regarding the implementation of REDD+ in Africa from a human rights perspective. It addresses the international human rights obligations of states and non-state actors in the context of REDD+ implementation in Africa; how current practices in various African states reinforce or affect human rights standards; and critical issues concerning the rights of vulnerable groups such as women, Indigenous populations, and forest dwellers in the implementation of REDD+ in Africa. Further, it investigates potential gaps in the existing laws, and how they can be addressed from a comparative point of view. The book also sheds light on the roles that different actors can play in fostering change and identifies best practices in the implementation of REDD+ in Africa.

The book offers a rich intellectual resource for various actors in the environmental science, climate and environmental law fields who are often confronted with the challenge of how to manage the delicate balance of forests as a development resource; forests as a climate-change mitigation resource; and forests as a catalyst for the rights of vulnerable populations. The book responds to the imbalance and gaps in REDD+ scholarship. Addressing such lacuna in an edited volume of this nature is essential to the present and future work of practitioners, academics and other actors with a sustained interest in REDD+ in Africa.

Ademola Oluborode Jegede is a full Professor of Law and an NRF rated researcher in the Ismail Mahomed Centre for Human and Peoples' Rights, School of Law, Faculty of Management Commerce and Law, University of Venda, Thohoyandou, South Africa. He holds degrees from Obafemi Awolowo University Ile-Ife, University of Ibadan and the Centre for Human Rights, Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria. He was a research visitor at the Centre for International Environmental Law in the United States and at the Human Rights Institute at Abo Akademi in Finland. His research focuses on the intersection of climate change and biodiversity loss and the human rights of vulnerable groups. Writings include the co-edited volumes 'Human Rights and the Environment under African Union Law', and 'Climate change justice and human rights: An African perspective', and the book 'The climate change regulatory framework and indigenous peoples' lands in Africa: Human rights implications'.