In this chapter, we hypothesise that the adoption of the UNGA Resolution on the Right to a Clean, Healthy, and Sustainable Environment in 2022 represents a significant milestone in global recognition and the potential establishment of a legally binding instrument about this right. Despite the international fanfare around this instrument, it is vital to assess its implications for Cameroon with a constitutional framework concerning this right. We adopt an Afrocentric perspective to examine the UNGA Resolution on a Healthy Environment in light of extant African regional instruments and illuminate its impact on environmental governance in Cameroon. Contrary to popular expectations, we argue that the UNGA Resolution offers limited prospects for environmental governance in Cameroon in particular and Africa at large, primarily due to binding rights at the domestic level. Consequently, we emphasise the need to avoid superficial human rights instruments that do not offer practical prospects for addressing environmental degradation. Instead, we advocate for the utilisation of existing domestic and regional instruments to mobilise support for environmental protection efforts in Cameroon in particular, and Africa at large.

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UN Resolution on the Right to a Clean, Healthy, and Sustainable Environment: Implications for Africa and Cameroon

  • Jean-Claude N. Ashukem,
  • Tinashe Kondo,
  • Chindinma Therese Odaghara

摘要

In this chapter, we hypothesise that the adoption of the UNGA Resolution on the Right to a Clean, Healthy, and Sustainable Environment in 2022 represents a significant milestone in global recognition and the potential establishment of a legally binding instrument about this right. Despite the international fanfare around this instrument, it is vital to assess its implications for Cameroon with a constitutional framework concerning this right. We adopt an Afrocentric perspective to examine the UNGA Resolution on a Healthy Environment in light of extant African regional instruments and illuminate its impact on environmental governance in Cameroon. Contrary to popular expectations, we argue that the UNGA Resolution offers limited prospects for environmental governance in Cameroon in particular and Africa at large, primarily due to binding rights at the domestic level. Consequently, we emphasise the need to avoid superficial human rights instruments that do not offer practical prospects for addressing environmental degradation. Instead, we advocate for the utilisation of existing domestic and regional instruments to mobilise support for environmental protection efforts in Cameroon in particular, and Africa at large.