Robert Kibugi

Soil Health, Sustainable Land Management and Land Degradation in Africa: Legal Options on the Need for a Specific African Soil Convention or Protocol

This chapter explores the situation on soil health management, and the responses to land degradation in Africa, and examines whether the current multiplicity of international law instruments is sufficient or whether an Africa-specific legal instrument is required to address soil health in the context of sustainable land management and in response to land degradation. The chapter has drawn its inspiration from the first volume of the International Yearbook of Soil Law and Policy (2016), in which the welcome note from Africa written by Mr. Shem Shikongo from Namibia focused on the continuing prevalence of land degradation across Africa, despite multiple international legal options and in spite of the opportunity for Africa to frame a bespoke legal and policy approach to address land degradation, food security, and related challenges, such as climate change. According to the FAO, in a 2015 report, although Africa has a diverse range of soils and land-use systems, very large areas, particularly in West Africa, experience unsustainable systems of land use and erosion, together with widespread low fertility. Climate change represents a major global challenge to sustainable development and poses a specific obstacle to Africa due to the vulnerability of production systems, including land. Despite participating in various international legal instruments, Africa still faces hurdles in cooperatively addressing land degradation. The emergence of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the concept of Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) present an opportunity for an endogenous African approach to internalize options and mechanism that are unique and responsive to African needs.

Evaluating the Role of Private Land Tenure Rights in Sustainable Land Management for Agriculture in Kenya

Kenya continues to face a challenge of declining quality of land, in a situation where agriculture is a major contributor to the national Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and to rural livelihoods. Land is a complex resource composed primarily of soil, water and biodiversity. Thus the management of such a complex resource sustainably is a challenge for a country like Kenya. International law and policy is useful in providing principles on land stewardship, which can be adapted nationally, through law, policy or development plans. These include international approaches include the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), adopted in 2015, and the Rio + 20 Outcome document. These provide normative support for national law and policy tools, to provide solutions that govern prevention and reversal of land degradation. Importantly, the purpose of land tenure rights is critical, as they provide a direct entitlement to land owners to make choices on how they utilize land. As such these can be enhanced with sustainability obligations, and can complement the role played by land use legal provisions, such as agriculture laws. This paper makes the argument that tenure rights can provide a supplemental incentive for the legal system to require stewardship practices by land owners.

Training lawyers for the sub-Saharan African market: what role for academics? Perspectives from Kenya

Skilled professionals such as lawyers are imperative for any society. Their training is even more critical, as it shapes their eventual role in transforming society. They play an important role since the law influences literally all aspects of our lives. My thesis here is that the “market” for lawyers in sub-Saharan Africa is dictated by the stage of societal development. Thus their training must be focused on the present and projected needs of the particular society. So, what role do academics play in realising this long-term goal? Academics must wear many hats as thinkers and scholars, teachers and mentors. They must influence philosophical paradigms of teaching for local relevance. They must deconstruct the “market” to decipher its meaning – are they training professionals for local service or for emigration? Thus, examining the place of the university academic in the training process, this paper investigates the situation, and makes policy-level remedial proposals.