Olayinka Adeniyi LLD Post-doctoral Fellow-Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria. Prof Ebenezer Durojaye, Centre for human Rights, University of Pretoria.
On 5 June 2026, the world will mark World Environment Day. The focus for this year on climate change is urgent as well as timely. Globally and throughout Africa, the climate crisis is not a new scientific prediction or a future policy concern. It is an emerging and present occurrence which is evident in sea level rising, drought, floods, the destruction of crops, recurrent epidemics, the collapse of economy and livelihoods, and the intensifying experience of poverty.
For too long, the world treated environmental protection as the monopoly of scientists, meteorologist and climatologists. However, it is clear that such framing is too narrow. Environmental degradation is not only about trees, rivers, oceans and emissions. It is also about people. It is about whether a child can have safe water to drink, whether a family can grow their food, whether a community can survive a flood, whether a girl and a woman can get water without having to walk long and far, whether informal settlement residents can live without constant exposure to polluted air, unsafe drainage and climate-related disasters. This is about access to water and sanitation, food security, air pollution, and inequality in standards of living and access to natural resources especially the disparities between men and women, the rich and the poor and rural and urban dwellers and more. Unreservedly, climate change in Africa is a socio-economic rights issue.
Climate change is not merely a moral argument, it is also a legal one. The African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights guarantees rights that are directly threatened by environmental harm, including the rights to life, dignity, health, property, development and a generally satisfactory environment favourable to development. The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights protects rights to health, food, water, housing and an adequate standard of living. These rights are not suspended when climate disasters occur. On the contrary, climate change makes their protection more urgent.
The global climate regime also reinforces this duty. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement recognise the need for mitigation, adaptation and resilience. The Paris Agreement specifically calls for climate responses that strengthen adaptive capacity and promote climate-resilient development. Importantly, climate action should not be pursued in ways that deepen inequality or sacrifice vulnerable communities. It must be guided by equity, justice and the protection of people who are least responsible for the crisis but most exposed to its consequences.
The African human rights system has also moved the conversation forward. The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights has recognised the serious human rights implications of climate change in Africa, including threats to life, health, water, food, livelihoods and the environment. This means that climate change is no longer only a matter of environmental policy. It is a matter of state obligation, public accountability and access to justice.
The connection is clear. Drought reduces access to water, this affects the right to water. Schools and homes are destroyed by floods affecting the right to education and housing. Heatwaves, pollution and epidemics threaten human lives affecting the rights to dignity and health. Degradation of land weakens agriculture and food systems, affecting the right to food and livelihood. Climate change is therefore not only an environmental event, it is a matter of equality, hence a human rights challenge, a human right reality
The injustice involve is that those who are worst affected and suffer most from the realities of the climate crisis are those who contribute the least to its occurrence. Rural communities, women, children, persons with disabilities, indigenous peoples, residents of informal settlement, migrant communities and people living in poverty are often the most exposed and the least protected. They face the double burden of environmental harm and weak social protection. Their vulnerability is not accidental; it is the product of inequality, historical exclusion, weak governance and lack of accountability.
For these reasons, climate justice must go beyond talks and slogans. Pertinent questions about responsibility, accountability and justice must be addressed. Who is protected when climate disasters occur? Who bears the cost when companies pollute rivers, destroy ecosystems or displace communities? Which sectors of society are vulnerable and excluded from access to essential services like water, health, food, housing, information, alienated from the tables of discussions of the issues of development and more affected by the breakdown of essential facilities?
A rights-based approach to climate and environmental governance requires states to do more than policy making. It requires them to fulfil obligations of duty bearers to citizen-right holders. These obligations are to respect, protect and fulfil human rights in the face of environmental harm. To respect rights, governments must avoid actions that worsen environmental vulnerability or displace communities without due process. To protect rights, they must regulate businesses and other private actors whose activities harm people and ecosystems. To fulfil rights, they must invest in adaptation, disaster preparedness, social protection, public health, water systems, sustainable livelihoods and community resilience.
This approach is consistent with the African Union Climate Change and Resilient Development Strategy and Action Plan, which calls for inclusive and climate-resilient development across the continent. It also aligns with Agenda 2063 and the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly the goals on poverty eradication, clean water and sanitation, health, sustainable cities, climate action, reduced inequalities and strong institutions. These frameworks point to one conclusion: environmental protection cannot be separated from social justice.
This is especially important in Africa, where environmental governance is often weakened by poor enforcement, limited public participation, corruption, underfunded institutions and fragmented policy implementation. Many African countries have impressive laws and policies on the environment, climate change and sustainable development. Lack or absence of framework is not always the challenge. The greater issue is often about implementation, accountability and justice for affected communities.
Climate justice must therefore be adapted to local communities. It must include awareness among communities at the grassroots. It must be measured not only by national climate commitments, but also by whether vulnerable communities can live safely and with dignity. A climate policy that does not reach the poor and marginalised is incomplete. Environmental regulations that cannot protect affected communities is weak. A development plan that sacrifices people’s health, land and livelihoods is unjust.
Africa also needs a stronger linkage between climate action and socio-economic transformation. Climate action should not be presented as externally inflicted burden. With proper design and plan, Africa can expand access to clean energy, improve water security, strengthen local agriculture, create green jobs, support public health, and build more resilient communities. But this will only happen if climate responses are inclusive, participatory and grounded in justice.
Communities must not be treated merely as victims of climate change. They are knowledge holders, problem-solvers and agents of resilience. Many communities already practise forms of environmental care, local adaptation and resource-sharing that policy systems often ignore. A just climate future requires listening to these communities and involving them in decisions that affect their land, water, health and livelihoods.
The private sector also has a responsibility. Businesses cannot speak the language of sustainability while externalising environmental costs to poor communities. Environmental, social and governance commitments must be matched by transparency, meaningful consultation, pollution control, fair compensation, responsible supply chains and effective remedies for harm. Development that destroys the conditions for human dignity is not sustainable development.
World Environment Day 2026 should therefore be a moment of honest reflection and renewed commitment. It should remind African governments, institutions, businesses, civil society and communities that climate justice is not an abstract idea. It is the practical demand that environmental protection must serve human dignity, equality and accountability.
The future of climate governance in Africa must be built on a simple but powerful principle: environmental protection and socio-economic rights cannot be separated. The right to water, food, health, housing, livelihood and a safe environment all depend on the choices we make today.
Climate action in Africa must not leave the vulnerable behind. Climate justice that protects people, restores ecosystems, strengthens accountability and places human dignity at the centre of development is what is needed.
On this World Environment Day, this is the message that resonates: the environment is not outside us. It is the condition of our survival, our dignity and our shared future. To protect the environment is to protect people. To defend climate justice is to defend human rights.
