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Now showing 1 - 5 of 11

Recent Submissions

Aligning Ghana’s carbon credit regulation with international climate commitments: legal gaps and institutional imperatives
(SOAS University of London, 2026) Akeba, Patrick Atiawin; Abubakar, Al-Amin Sharrif
Ghana’s Environmental Protection Act 2025 (Act 1124) establishes the first statutory framework for carbon market participation in the country’s history. This comment argues that the Act creates a formally adequate but structurally incomplete regime: it builds an international trading architecture on top of an unresolved property rights question generated by Ghana’s pluralist land tenure system. Approximately eighty per cent of Ghana’s land is held under customary tenure by stools and skins, yet the Act defers the definition of carbon rights and ownership to future regulations. This deferral is not a technical gap alone; it reflects a fundamental tension between the Article 6 market logic, which presupposes clear, state-authorised, tradeable entitlements, and the customary legal order in which land and resource rights are communally held and fiduciarily administered. Drawing on doctrinal analysis of Act 1124 and Ghana’s updated Nationally Determined Contribution (2021), this comment contends that durable carbon market governance in Ghana requires not merely supplementary regulations but a coherent mediation of two normative orders. Legal pluralism provides the analytical lens for this diagnosis and for the reform framework the article proposes.
Geotechnical appraisal of abandoned borrow pits as potential landfill sites in Abuja and Environs, North Central, Nigeria
(Nigerian Mining and Geosciences Society, 2025) Gata, T.B; Momoh, Abuh; Opuwari, Mimonitu; Ayuba, Rufai; Abalaka, E. I
Abandoned borrow pits pose significant environmental hazards such as landslides, gully erosion, road failure and groundwater contamination if not properly reclaimed. This study investigates the geotechnical features of abandoned borrow pits with a view to converting suitable sites to a modern sanitary landfill. Twelve abandoned borrow pits were assessed using geotechnical parameters such as particle size distribution, Atterberg limits, bulk density and permeability. Results showed that the sites are underlain by gneisses, migmatites and granites, which are fresh to provide enough support for the conversion of these borrow pits to a modern sanitary landfill. Geotechnically, the soils at these sites are predominantly sand with a gradual increase in clay content. Sand is 55 – 75%, clay is 12 – 16% and silt is 12 – 30%, respectively. Values of plasticity range from 12 – 26%, liquid limit ranges from 40 – 48%, shrinkage limit ranges from 14 – 22%, bulk density ranges from 1.75 – 1.95 g/cm3 and permeability ranges from 9.00 x 10-6 to 1.8 x 10-5 Cm/S. Some of the borrow pits possess favourable features such as high bulk density and well-graded soils that are suitable for the construction of an engineered landfill. The majority of the pits exhibit significant challenges that could affect their use for waste disposal.
Climate change and migration: a call for a continental-level research agenda
(Adonis and Abbey Publishers Ltd, 2025) Mazani, Perfect; Dinbabo, Mulugeta Fitamo
Climate change is manifested through increased rates of droughts, heat waves, and storms that raise global temperatures and eventually affect populations. These are accompanied by increased migration, reduced productivity in agriculture, water shortages, and losses in fishing yield that spur people to look for better economic opportunities. The present study discusses some identified trends in environmental variation, their influencing factors of migrations, and emerging policy implications through secondary analyses based on academic journals, government papers, and other sources. Sea-level rise, desertification, and the slow processes and sudden flooding and storm surges are discussed therein. The results indicate clear trends, gaps, and priorities for further research in comprehensive data collection, interdisciplinary methods, and collaborative frameworks. The present study attempts to contribute to enabling policymakers, researchers, and practitioners to deal more effectively with the intractable problems posed by climate-induced migration by providing a comprehensive overview of existing knowledge and suggesting priority research areas.
A confirmed new record of the fiddler crab Cranuca inversa (Hoffmann, 1874) (Decapoda: Brachyura: Ocypodidae) in South Africa
(Oxford University Press, 2026) Miranda, Nelson Augusto Fernandes; Rajkaran, Anusha; Peer, Nasreen
he distribution of Cranuca inversa (Hoffmann, 1874) in the Western Indian Ocean is well-documented from the Red Sea to Mozambique. Its occurrence in South African estuaries, however, has long been questioned due to biogeographical uncertainty. Historical records dating back to the 19th century have been regarded as doubtful due to the ambiguity of the type locality (indicated as ‘Natal’), with both mid-20th century and recent (2014–2016, 2019 and 2023) surveys in northern KwaZulu-Natal failing to locate extant populations, leading to the species being considered as absent from the region. We report on a new record of the species in Durban, South Africa, establishing the southernmost verified contemporary record and discussing the implications for regional biogeography and potential range expansion.
The African court on human and peoples’ rights’ power to review its decisions [le pouvoir de révision des décisions de la cour africaine: l’article 28(3) du protocole à la charte africaine portant création de la cour africaine des droits de l’homme et des peuples en pratique] [o poder do tribunal Africano dos direitos humanos e dos povos para rever as suas decisões]
(Pretoria University Law Press, 2025) Mujuzi, Jamil Ddamulira
Article 28(2) of the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Establishment of an African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights provides that ‘[t]he judgment of the Court decided by majority shall be final and not subject to appeal’. However, article 28(3) states that ‘[w]ithout prejudice to sub-article 2 above, the Court may review its decision in the light of new evidence under conditions to be set out in the Rules of Procedure’. Rule 78 of the Rules of the Court (2020) provides that the Court may review its decision ‘in the event of the discovery of a new fact or evidence which, by its nature, has a decisive influence and which, when the decision was delivered, was unknown to the party and could not with due diligence have been known to that party’. Since its establishment (2013 to 2022), the Court has dealt with nine review applications. In this article, it is argued that Rule 78(1) is contrary to article 28(3) because it empowers the Court to review a decision based on new facts, yet article 28(3) limits the Court’s power for review to the discovery of new evidence; the Court can review its decisions ex mero motu (although the jurisprudence of the Court suggests otherwise); the requirement that for new evidence to be admissible before the Court reviews its decision should have been unknown to the Court and the party is contrary to Rule 78(1); and that the six-month period should start running when the applicant obtains the new evidence as opposed to when they become aware of its existence (provided for in the Rules).