Recent Developments in Environmental Jurisprudence Affecting Water in Africa

摘要

The cases analyzed in this Comment are evidence that the legal regime governing protection of the African environment, including water, has over the years significantly improved, and as a result, courts have taken the cue and interpreted the available laws in favor of protection. It is clear from the Nyakaana and Ogiek cases that the courts are increasingly taking the view that where individual property rights are genuinely in conflict with community rights such as a clean environment, the community rights will take precedence--that is, that individual property rights are not absolute.