This book features a series of essays on environmental law and policy in Africa from experts within and outside the region. It primarily aims to demonstrate how African countries are responding to their international environmental obligations contained in instruments, such as the Convention on Biological Diversity, Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Desertification Convention, in light of local environmental problems. The book covers national experiences ranging from the input in multilateral negotiations to national implementation, with some attention given to the wide assortment of policy and regulatory instruments used to achieve the optimum balance between exploitation of natural resources and conserving the continent's environment.

This book is a welcome contribution to the scholarship on the implementation of international environmental law and policy at the regional level. Increasing attempts by African countries to meet their international commitments while achieving national economic development objectives helps inform the student, project manager, parliamentarian or national regulator, about practical and empirical ways to achieve sustainable development outcomes. As African economies develop, there should be parallel enactments of new environmental laws and regulations. Further study of these processes is needed in order to determine where capacity deficits exist and where positive lessons can be learned. This book supplements the development of new and exciting research on African environmental law and policy.