Routledge Natural Resource Sovereignty and the Right to Development in Africa (Earthscan Studies in Natural Resource Management)

This book explores the nexus between natural resources ownership and the right to development in Africa. The right to sovereignty over natural resources and the right to development are recognised and protected in an extensive framework of international, regional and domestic instruments. They guarantee people's entitlement to fully and freely utilise their natural resources as a means of subsistence and for economic, social and cultural development. Yet, despite the abundance of natural resources in Africa a majority of the people on the continent remain largely impoverished. This book articulates the central argument that to achieve the right to development in Africa requires appropriate governance of the continent’s natural resources to which the people of Africa are guaranteed sovereign ownership. With case study illustrations from Zimbabwe, Ghana, Ethiopia and the Democratic Republic of Congo, chapters explore the normative measures, specific guarantees and community entitlements to natural resources for the realisation of the right to development. The book will be an invaluable guide to scholars and postgraduate students of Natural Resources, Development and African studies as well as policymakers and practitioners in these areas. About the Author Carol Chi Ngang is a Researcher at the Free State Centre for Human Rights, University of the Free State, South Africa and Senior Lecturer at the National University of Lesotho, and is also the editor of Insights into Policies and Practices on the Right to Development (2020) Serges Djoyou Kamga is a Professor of Law at the Thabo Mbeki African School of Public and International Affairs, University of South Africa and is the author of The Right to Development in the African Human Rights System (Routledge, 2018)