The Pilex Centre for Civic Education Initiative (People’s Advocates), Rivers State and the Renevlyn Development Initiative (RDI) will conduct a participatory assessment of the implementation of environmental rights in Nigeria, with a focus on how local communities access environmental information and seek justice when their rights are violated.
The assessment is part of a 20-country Environmental Rights Case Study launched on July 1, 2026, by the Environmental Rights in Africa (ERA) Coalition to evaluate environmental rights protection and access to justice across the continent.
The study will be carried out alongside similar research in Senegal, Sierra Leone, Côte d’Ivoire and Guinea in West Africa; Uganda, Tanzania and Malawi in East Africa; Cameroon, Chad, the Central African Republic and the Republic of the Congo in Central Africa; Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia and Zimbabwe in Southern Africa; as well as Egypt, Morocco, Sudan and Tunisia in North Africa.
According to the organisers, findings from the national studies will be consolidated into a continental report to identify regional trends, highlight best practices and provide recommendations to support advocacy, policy reforms and future environmental rights initiatives across Africa.
The initiative, supported by the Open Society Foundations (OSF), forms part of ERA’s five-year strategic programme aimed at advancing a continental environmental rights agenda and promoting the adoption of a regional framework for environmental rights in Africa.
Using a common research methodology, the studies will combine desk reviews with key informant interviews and focus group discussions to capture both existing legal and policy frameworks and the lived experiences of communities, environmental defenders, women, youth, Indigenous Peoples and other marginalized groups.
Speaking on the initiative, ERA Steering Committee Chair, Ahmad Abdallah of the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms, said the research goes beyond academic inquiry and seeks to amplify the voices of communities affected by environmental challenges.
He noted that many African communities continue to defend their lands, forests, rivers and livelihoods under increasingly difficult conditions, adding that documenting both progress and ongoing challenges would strengthen national advocacy and contribute to a shared continental vision for environmental rights.
The ERA Coalition also called on governments, civil society organisations, academia, development partners, Indigenous Peoples, local communities, environmental defenders and the private sector to cooperate with the research teams to generate evidence that will advance environmental justice across Africa.
