The thesis explores environmental rights protection in Nigeria and South Africa. The research questions are: Are the identified elements of environmental rights reflected in the law and policy of Nigeria? What role has regulatory bodies, the judiciary and civil society played in promoting and protecting the right to a healthy environment in Nigeria and South Africa? What are the social, political and economic factors affecting the implementation and enforcement of environmental rights in Nigeria and South Africa? What are the obstacles to using legal processes for environmental protection in Nigeria? The objectives of the thesis include: to find out whether there is promotion and protection of the right to a healthy environment in Nigeria and South Africa; to find out the factors, if any, responsible for inefficient and ineffective promotion and protection of the right to a healthy environment; to find out the greatest obstacles to using legal processes for environmental protection in Nigeria and to proffer suggestions to make the promotion and protection of the right to a healthy environment effective and efficient. The research is situated in the historical context of environmental degradation in Nigeria and South Africa, where patterns of environmental degradation and pollution are rooted in decades and centuries of massive natural resource exploitation that benefitted a tiny minority while adversely affecting the majority of citizens. Nigeria and South Africa are the largest economies in Africa and face major environmental challenges. Both countries share the Common Law tradition and are state parties to the African Charter on Human and Peoples‘ Rights. The different approaches to environmental rights protection in their respective constitutions and legislations also provide a fertile ground for comparison. Doctrinal research (documents), interviews and questionnaires provide the data. Data was analysed via descriptive analysis. This thesis finds that framing the right to a healthy environment as a justiciable fundamental right offers many advantages over directive policy principles and it would not hamper development activities that are guided by environmental laws. The advantages include enlarged access to justice in environmental matters; relaxation of rules of legal standing; entrenching public participation in environmental management; increased accountability and adherence to due process by corporations and government; and increasing the importance of environment in the public consciousness. Other advantages include: an enhanced role for human rights bodies; development of environmental rights jurisprudence; and empowering citizens in implementation and enforcement thereby complementing efforts of environmental protection agencies. Findings from the thesis are that although Nigeria has environmental rights in the African Charter on Human and Peoples‘ Rights (Ratification and Enforcement) Act, the absence of a direct, justiciable environmental right in the Nigerian Constitution has rendered the environmental right ineffectual. Factors affecting environmental law enforcement in Nigeria include ignorance of citizens; lack of capacity of environmental agencies, corruption; and lack of political will. In South Africa, the high economic cost of remediating legacy environmental problems,competing socio-economic challenges and the economic and political clout of large corporate polluters are major factors affecting the enjoyment of the environmental right enshrined in the Constitution. Compared to South Africa, Nigeria is weak in public participation, access to justice, environmental data and the development of environmental rights jurisprudence. Major hindrances to using legal processes to achieve environmental protection in Nigeria include: ignorance by the public of the legal framework; inordinate delay in the judicial system; high cost of litigation and restrictive rules of locus standi. These have contributed to a trend in which oil-producing Nigerian communities adversely affected by environmental degradation are suing multinational oil companies in their parent countries. From the survey, majority of legal practitioners are in favour of amending the Nigerian Constitution to make the right to a healthy environment justiciable. They are also in support of interpreting fundamental rights to life, human dignity and property to encompass environmental protection.

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

1.1       Background of the Study
In an era of looming global environmental crises from climate change and environmental degradation it is indisputable that the quality of human life is tied to the quality of the environment. The quality of life and man‘s existence is adversely affected by various environmental problems, for which man is the major architect. Those who suffer most from environmental disasters and adverse effects of climate change are the poor, disadvantaged and vulnerable segments of the society and these are found mostly in developing and underdeveloped countries.
The sheer scale of environmental issues at the national and global levels means that national action by itself, while important, is insufficient, and that significant international cooperation is required. Thus environmental protection, like human rights, has evolved through a process of national concern to the stage of internationalisation and globalisation.
A significant development in the global development of environmental law is the articulation of the link between the human rights discourse and environmental jurisprudence. The first formal recognition of the link between the environment and human rights is Principle 1 of the 1972 United Nations Declaration on the Human Environment which declared that man has  the  ?fundamental  right  to  freedom,  equality  and  adequate  conditions  of  life,  in  an environment of a quality that permits of a life of dignity and wellbeing…? A healthy environment has thus been internationally acknowledged as a prerequisite to the effective enjoyment of human rights.
The growth in the magnitude of environmental problems, increasing awareness of environmental issues, increasing recognition of the importance of the environment to the realisation of the right to life and other human rights, and hence the need to provide for constitutional environmental protection all contributed to the conceptualization of environment in terms of a right.
Recognition of the right to a healthy or safe environment finds expression in regional human rights treaties1 and constitutional guarantees on the environment. It has also resulted in the development of environmental rights jurisprudence. The growing trend of recognition of constitutional environmental rights is illustrated by a recent study that analysed national constitutions. Out of 192 national constitutions, environmental protection was incorporated in one form or the other in 140 national constitutions with 86 constitutions explicitly recognizing the right to a healthy environment.2
Nigeria and South Africa provide valuable material for in-depth national studies on environmental rights jurisprudence. In the past decades Nigeria and South Africa have experienced major developments in the area of environmental protection. The adoption of a new legal order in South Africa has seen the adoption of a national Constitution that provides for a substantive environmental right. It is worthy to note that the Constitution and framework environmental law was the product of wide ranging consultations at all levels of the society. There has also been a dramatic rise in environmental activism and this has been well documented.3
In Nigeria, the return to democratic rule after almost two decades of unbroken military rule (with its attendant human rights abuses), has seen a rising awareness of human rights and some increase in environmental awareness. The national Constitution, introduced in 1999 at the restoration of democratic civilian rule, followed the post-1972 trend of constitutionalizing environmental protection by its inclusion of an environmental objective.4 It is also worth noting that the 1999 Nigerian Constitution was largely imposed by the out-going military administration with minimal public participation.
Both countries have enacted far reaching environmental laws in the past few years and there is the need to assess these laws. The courts in both jurisdictions have also recognised the link between human rights and the environment. The best of laws cannot solve deep-seated environmental problems or guarantee environmental protection in the absence of effective enforcement. There is a need to properly understand the social, economic, political and legal factors responsible for the inadequate enforcement of existing laws and proffer solutions.
It is in this wise that this dissertation examines the development of environmental rights jurisprudence, with particular reference to Nigeria and South Africa, implications of the differences in constitutional environmental protection in Nigeria and South Africa. The study also examines how international environmental law and international human rights law aids the courts in giving effect to the right to a healthy environment. The choice of Nigeria and South Africa is informed by the facts that both are major economies in Africa and share the Common Law tradition. Nigeria and South Africa have major environmental challenges that affect the right of their citizens to a healthy environment. The different approaches to environmental rights adopted in their respective national Constitutions and legislations also provide a fertile ground for comparison.

1.2       Statement of the Problem
Nigeria and South Africa are located in Africa and have economies that are dependent to a large extent on extractive industries. However, Nigeria‘s rate of dependence is far greater. The contribution of the mining industry to South Africa‘s Gross Domestic Product has declined in the past decades and the country has pursued an aggressive policy of industrialisation as a major means of augmenting the shortfall from the mining industry. Instability in the Niger Delta and the volatility of oil prices as well as the dwindling nature of oil and gas reserves have however necessitated policy changes that promote agriculture and manufacturing as alternative sources of revenue for development goals in Nigeria.
Both Nigeria and South Africa have ratified the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights which provides for the right to environment. However, it remains to be examined and documented, the problems in the promotion and protection of environmental rights.
Thus the dissertation seeks to answer the following questions-
(i)         Are the identified elements of environmental rights reflected in the law and policy of Nigeria?
(ii)        What role has regulatory bodies, the judiciary and civil society played in promoting and protecting the right to a healthy environment in Nigeria and South Africa?
(iii)       What are the social, political and economic factors affecting the implementation and enforcement of environmental rights in Nigeria and South Africa?
(iv)       What are the obstacles to using legal processes for environmental protection in Nigeria?

1.3       Justification of the Study
It is expected that the practical outcome of this thesis will be of benefit to the following:
1.         Nigeria‘s policy makers as it could guide them in considering what environmental policies to adopt.
2.         Members of Nigeria‘s legislative houses (federal and state) and other bodies responsible for environmental legislation as they seek to enact or amend laws.
3.         Members of environmental agencies and bodies as they enforce and implement international and municipal laws and standards.
4.         Members of the Nigerian judiciary as they seek to interpret or apply our local laws on the environment together with international law on the environment.
5.         Legal practitioners, students, nongovernmental organizations, people engaged in research and the general public.

1.4       Aim and Objectives of the Study
This thesis, which builds upon existing works on environmental rights protection, aims at assessing the promotion and protection of the right to environment in Nigeria and South Africa. Thus the objectives of this thesis include:
1.         To find out whether there really is a right to environment in Nigeria and South Africa.
2.         To find out whether there is promotion and protection of the right to a healthy environment in Nigeria and South Africa.
3.         To find out the factors, if any, responsible for inefficient and ineffective promotion and protection of the right to a healthy environment.
4.         To find out the greatest obstacles to using legal processes for environmental protection in Nigeria?
5.         To proffer suggestions to make the promotion and protection of the right to a healthy environment effective and efficient.

1.5       Scope of the Study
This study focuses on the promotion and protection of environmental rights in Nigeria and South Africa. It also considers relevant international instruments which strengthen and add vigour to the laws of the two countries.

1.6       Research Methodology
The first methodology is doctrinal. This includes surveying international initiatives and instruments and national instruments on environmental rights. Data is sourced from primary sources such as the laws of the federation and other domestic legislations, and secondary sources such as journals, textbooks, law reports, reports and newsletters of environmental and civil society groups, reports of regulatory bodies, official statistics, and bulletins. The study analyses the relevant texts from the perspectives of human rights and the environment.
The empirical method of the research consists of interviews with host communities in the locations of research as well as questionnaires administered to target groups in the six geo- political zones of Nigeria. This enabled the researcher to obtain data directly from those most affected by industrial pollution. This also enables the researcher to get different perspectives  on the subject matter of the research. Persons who were interviewed are acknowledged accordingly and the sample copy of the questionnaire is attached as appendix A.

1.7       Literature Review
Environmental protection and human rights is a major area of scholarly interest today and a considerable amount of research has been devoted to the subject. A considerable number of books, articles and scholarly writings exist on the area. Several literature and scholarly writings would be relied upon in this proposed study, such as books, law reports, journals and articles. In the main, the major area of concern will be environmental law. In some cases, it will be international environmental law, in others it will be international human rights law, while in others it will relate to the national environmental law of particular states.
Environmentalists are divided on the need for an international declaration or covenant on substantive environmental rights. Shelton argues in favour of giving substantive content to environmental rights as a supplement to procedural rights which have their limitations in securing environmental protection.5 She notes that instances of legal texts proclaiming the existence of a right to a safe and healthy environment as an independent substantive human right are found predominantly in national constitutions and regional human rights treaties and that there is a need for similar measures at the international level. This is based on her view that rights based approaches are preferable in achieving environmental protection because human rights are maximum claims on society and elevate concern for the environment above a mere policy choice that may be modified or discarded at will. Shelton, in another article,6 opines that environmental quality standards, precaution and principles of sustainability can establish the limits of environmental decision making and continue to give specific content to environmental rights in law. Shelton‘s articles, while relevant for their treatment of environmental rights jurisprudence, are focused mostly on the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights and other regional treaty monitoring bodies and do not deal specifically with Nigeria or South Africa.
Boyle, in contrast, suggests that environmental rights are imprecise and incapable of definition, and are anthropocentric by nature.7 In a latter work8 he argues that even in the absence of a clear text articulating the link between human rights and the environment, the existing national and regional human rights instruments, as interpreted by regional and domestic courts, are already going a long way in achieving environmental protection. According to Boyle what is more important is for each society to determine what constitutes sustainable development and an acceptable environment according to its own values and choices, albeit within the confines of internationally agreed rule to some degree and principles and subject to some degree of international oversight. To this extent, Boyle is aligned with the proceduralists‘ who view environmental rights basically in terms of procedural rights.
Boyle, similarly, focuses more on the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights and how it has interpreted the core rights to life, privacy and human dignity to encompass the right to live in a healthy environment. Its gap lies in its failure to discuss the situation in African countries. It should also be noted that the definitional dilemma is not peculiar to environmental rights but is applicable to many legal terms.9
The conceptualization of environmental rights in terms of procedural rights seems to find wide support in the writings of distinguished scholars like Ebbeson, Du Plessis, Pallemaerts and Sands. In the article titled ?Participatory and Procedural Rights in International Matters: State of Play‘10, Ebbeson identifies the support in international law for participatory and procedural rights in environmental matters. He notes that the recognition of these rights has developed essentially from both environmental law and human rights law and that while there is support for these rights in international law; the greatest developments have taken  place at the regional level. The shortcoming of the work lies in its focus on participatory and procedural rights in the European Union whereas the instant research is focused on Nigeria and South Africa.
Many African countries have included provisions relating to the environment in their national constitutions. While some confer a justiciable environmental right, others provide for environment as a directive principle. The research by Bruch, Coker and Van Arsdale11  explores how African constitutional provisions can be utilized to create real, enforceable environmental rights. The report highlights relevant provisions from the constitutions of 53 African countries that could be used to protect the environment. The authors note that although most African states have constitutional provisions that could be expansively interpreted to further environmental protection, there is a marked dearth of cases interpreting and applying them. Various reasons proffered for this include the novelty of the subject matter of these provisions; a general lack of public interest environmental litigation; and a lack of judicial familiarity with public interest litigation.
While the research provides enlightenment on the state of environmental rights in Africa, it is in several respects prone to generalizations; an unsurprising fact given the scope of the research. Moreover, several states in Africa have since implemented constitutional reforms. On-going developments internationally and globally are influencing the perception of the judiciary and this is reflected in decisions increasingly giving effect to environmental rights.
C.S. Ola‘s Town and Country Planning and Environmental Laws in Nigeria12is one of the earliest works on environmental law in Nigeria. The author focuses on the use of town planning laws to regulate the use of the environment and various laws pre-1988 laws relating  to pollution. The limitations of the work lie in the fact that it was published in 1984, before the enactment of more relevant laws on the environment and before the articulation of environmental rights. Nevertheless, the work is helpful for an understanding of the historical origins of environmental and town planning laws in Nigeria and forms a basis for more recent studies on the environment.
Sada and Odemerho‘s book titled Environmental Issues and Management in Nigeria‘s Development13 examines a wide range of issues including the pre-1988 legal and institutionalframework for environmental management. This was written prior to Nigeria‘s first framework legislation on the environment and provides an understanding of the early history  of environmental management. The authors identified the conflict betweenindividual human rights and the operation of the environmental sanitation task forces setup by past administrations. The major highlight of the work was the identification of the need to respect the fundamental rights in the enforcement of environmental sanitation laws. In assessing the legal framework for environmental protection and enforcement, the authors strongly asserted that the legal protection of the environment depends on the technological development attained by Nigeria. The work, to the exclusion of recent environmental legislation, focuses mainly on common law, criminal law, and the environmental sanitation edicts of the various states as tools for environmental management. Since the publication of the book, environmental jurisprudence in Nigeria has highlighted the limitations of the Common Law and Criminal Law in protecting the environment.
Ajomo and Adewale‘s Environmental Law and Sustainable Development in Nigeria14examines the relevance and essence of environmental law from the perspective of sustainable development. In it, the authors point out that the problems that hinder the enforcement of sanctions on violators of the environment are political, social, and economic. They asserted furthermore that the environmental laws themselves are products of an environmental paradigm and a state apparatus that are biased in favour of narrow technist views, and the interests of the rich and powerful elements in the society. According to the authors, environmental laws would be effective and achieve sustainable development only if they are integrated with popular environmental management to become participatory environmental management. The gap of the book lies in its failure to provide empirical evidence of the socio-economic factors affecting the effectiveness of Nigeria‘s environmental protection laws.
On its own part, Omotola‘s15 work emphasises the role of private citizens as a compliment to state enforcement of environmental laws. The work also provides measures that should guard against abuse of citizen suit ?provisions‘ in environmental legislations. The text contains a critical examination of the role of FEPA as well as stresses the need to educate the public about the dangers of environmental pollution. On the need for preventive action to protect the environment, Omotola asserts that the post injury compensation approach is of limited utility when resources of life or its quality which cannot sometimes be replaced are involved. The book did not provide empirical evidence of the socio-economic factors affecting the effectiveness of Nigeria‘s environmental protection laws.
Ladan, in his recent work, Trends in Environmental Law and Access to Justice in Nigeria16, examines the statutory role of the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA), the principal agency responsible for environmental protection at the federal level as well as some of the environmental regulations made pursuant to the NESREA Act. He discusses some decided Nigerian cases on the environment in analysing the barriers to accessing environmental justice in Nigeria. The work did not provide evidence based research, by way of factors affecting the enforcement of the existing environmental laws and regulations.
In another work17 taken from the perspective of water pollution, emission control, waste disposal, and the protection of plant and animals, Ladan examines the use of criminal law sanctions for environmental degradation and non-compliance as a tool for environmental protection. According to him, sanctions alone cannot curb pollution. Rather, pollution abatement is dependent upon a number of other features, amongst which are technology, finance, and political support for industries complying with the standards. The work did not provide evidence based research, by way of factors affecting the enforcement of the existing environmental laws.
Ladan, in Biodiversity, Environmental Litigation, Human Rights and Access to Environmental Justice,18 raises the need for an attitude of judicial activism by the Nigerian judiciary in environmental matters as is the trend in other jurisdictions. He examines the relationship between environmental protection and human rights and how the protection and enforcement of basic rights such as the right to life, right to health and right to privacy have formed a foundation for the articulation of the right to a safe and healthy environment. This work was mostly based on the environmental rights jurisprudence of the Indian courts and the European Court of Human Rights and not the courts in Nigeria and South Africa, a gap which this thesis intends to fill.
Thornton and Beckwith‘s work titled Environmental Law19 considers environmental law from domestic, European Union and International Perspectives. According to the authors, coherence in a legal regime may be said to come from the fact that the everyday rules are underpinned by a set of principles, and that these principles are in turn underpinned by an ethical philosophy. There, however remains some difficulty in arriving at the precise definition of some of the principles of environment law. This is a critical issue in view of the fact that the courts apply the concepts of sustainable development and precautionary principle when adjudicating matters relating to environmental rights.20 The limitations of the work lie in the fact that it tackles the issue of enforcement of environmental law minimally and fails to  address the growing role of individuals and groups in the enforcement of environmental law and standards.
Bell and McGillivray21 address extensively the role of judicial review in the development and enforcement of environmental law. On the issue of standing in judicial review actions, they are of the view that there is still a degree of uncertainty as there have been cases where the courts have required a special interest in the subject matter of the challenge. A major gap of the book is that its primary focus is United Kingdom law. Okorodudu-Fubara‘s work22 is a detailed legal study of environmental issues in Nigeria. The main focus of work is the legal measures for the protection of the environmental media, namely, air, water and land. However, the work adopted the strict legal approach in analysing environmental issues and failed to relate the law to the socioeconomic rights of those affected by industrial pollution. The proposed dissertation seeks to fill this vacuum by placing the law within its social context. Furthermore, the laws analysed in the work have been supplanted by the enactment of legislations that lay down a new legal framework with regard to industrial pollution. The proposed dissertation purposes to critically examine these issues both from a rights perspective and from the perspective of international law.
These texts by Nigerian authors all highlight the importance of environmental issues and how they are no longer viewed as the exclusive preserve of the rich but as issues that affect daily existence of all categories of people. Furthermore they are now global issues that transcend national borders. However there is a marked failure to critically examine the concept of environmental rights as a means of securing environmental protection.
Usman‘s very recent work titled Environmental Protection Law and Practice23 covers a wide range of environmental protection law issues in Nigeria ranging from analysis of environmental legislations to environmental litigation. He opines that the Nigerian Constitution fails to create any right in favour of citizens to a sound environment and the failure to insert the constitutional provision dealing with environment in the part dealing with fundamental rights points to an intention by the Constitution framers to exclude the right to a sound environment from the fundamental rights of citizens. He argues that the constitutional provision on the environment is not justiciable but a mere policy statement whose breach by the state is unattended by legal consequences. Thus the only useful purpose to be served by the provision is one of fostering a favourable normative climate for environmental protection. Usman‘s book, like most other Nigerian texts on environmental law only mentions environmental rights, if at all, in passing. There is a failure to mention or discuss how the right to life has been interpreted by the Nigerian court to encompass the right to a healthy environment.24 He also fails to mention or discuss the environmental right provided for in the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights. This treaty which has been domesticated into Nigerian law has formed the basis of several litigations in domestic and regional courts.
The Law of Oil Pollution and Environmental Restoration: A Comparative Review25 by Fagbohun addresses the issue of restoration and remediation. The work examines the existing legal and policy framework for compensation and environmental restoration in Nigeria and attempts a comparison of the existing legal and policy frameworks with those of other jurisdictions involved in oil exploration and production and faced with similar challenges of environmental restoration with regard to oil pollution. Environmental restoration is a pertinent issue in the Nigerian context where oil pollution has wreaked much havoc on the environment and any discussion of environmental rights must tackle this burning issue. The work, however, did not examine the practice of environmental restoration in Nigeria and factors affecting the practice.
Ebeku‘s work titled Oil and the Niger Delta People in International Law: Resource Rights, Environmental and Equity Issues26 offers a fresh perspective on environmental issues related to Oil and the Niger Delta people. The work examines issues of oil pollution, resource rights and equity from a ?group rights‘ perspective. The work examines how the control and ownership of land has been vested in the government by means of legislation such as the Land Use Act thereby depriving the indigenous people of control over the land. The rights of indigenous peoples are treated in detail in this work as well as how their rights under international law have been adversely affected by oil exploration and production in the Niger Delta. The work is a good study of the socio-economic impacts of oil pollution. Since the emphasis of the work is on oil pollution and resource control, there is a total failure to examine pollution from manufacturing industries, which is a gap that the proposed dissertation purposes to fill.
The issue of environmental rights has attracted scholarly attention in South Africa most especially in the context of socio-economic rights which are expressly recognized in the South African constitution. Kotze and Du Plessis provide an insight into the important role of environmental rights jurisprudence in South Africa27.They argue that environmental rights jurisprudence is important for an improved understanding and subsequent strengthening of the environmental protection afforded by section 2428 of the Constitution; and that the courts‘ interpretation and application of section 24 may, by virtue of the status of the Constitution, be of significant theoretical value for the subsequent design, amendment, implementation and interpretation of South African environmental law, generally. They note that the elusive wording of section 24(a) and the ambiguity of the positive duties listed in section 24(b) still leave room for speculation about the scope of protection afforded by the environmental right. In this regard, the possibilities and options are legion; the courts have a clean slate since no court has yet attempted to expound on the meaning of a significant part of the environmental right. They conclude that notwithstanding several opportunities presented to the courts to expound on the nature and scope of the right, the role that the courts have played in the development of constitutional environmental rights jurisprudence since 1996 has been minimal. However, given the impact that environmental rights-based decisions could have, the potential role that the courts could play in the future is significant.
The authors failed to explore possible underlying factors that may be responsible for the alleged underutilization of the environmental right such as the role of social movements in environmental litigation and the influence of environmental education and awareness. These issues are addressed in the thesis.
In another work,29Kotze examines the history and development of constitutional environmental provisions in the South African Constitution tracing how the environment has evolved from being regarded as the concern of white elitists to an issue of national concern. He discusses how the environmental right can be related to other human rights such as the right to life, the right to human dignity, right to property, procedural rights, among others, noting the relevance of these to environmental protection in South Africa. He concludes, from the wording of section 24 that the environmental right constitutes the primary source of constitutional entitlements relating to the environment, while various other rights play a supplementary role in giving effect to the substantive elements of the environmental right. A shortcoming of the work is the inability to include recent developments in environmental rights jurisprudence.
Feris and Tladi similarly adopt a strictly legal approach in ?Environmental Rights‘30. They note that most of the problems on the formulation of the right that exist under international and regional systems are absent under the domestic South African system as its constitution expressly and unequivocally provides for the existence of the right. They argue that a regulatory framework needs to be in place to give effect to the right and that, to the extent that present legislation does not meet constitutional requirements, section 24 imposes an obligation on the state to bring current legislation in line with the environment. A shortcoming of the work is the inability to include recent developments in environmental rights jurisprudence, a gap this thesis intends to fill. We examine how the courts have practically interpreted section 24 to give effect to the environmental rights of individuals and groups affected by pollution from manufacturing industries, more particularly their right of access to environmental information.
The historical background of South Africa‘s environmental problems as well as the role of social movements in environmental protection is well documented in several texts. Going Green: People, Politics and the Environment in South Africa31,edited by J. Cock and E. Koch, is a collection of articles on the environment in South Africa as well as the role played by social movements. The work analyses the environmental problems of South Africa from a historical background and traces the roots of the environmental decay and pollution to the apartheid policies which promoted environmental racism. It shows how the apartheid‘s environmental policies focused on conservation while fostering industrial policies that adversely affected the blacks and coloureds.
The work covers several environmental issues ranging from air and water pollution, biodiversity, ozone depletion to topical subjects like asbestos waste and environmental racism. A major feature of the work is the divergent definitions given to environment including the definition of ?environment‘ to include the working conditions of workers. Improved socio- economic conditions for black South Africans are seen as issues that environmental policies must necessarily take into account. A shortcoming of the work is the differing, and sometimes contradictory viewpoints of the various authors who are preoccupied with different aspects of environmental protection Ramphele and McDowell‘s text32 follows a similar trend. It traces the historical basis of South Africa‘s environment challenges and examines how they are rooted in the injustices of the past. The work provides vivid illustrations of the socio-economic effect of industrial pollution on the lives of hitherto marginalized South Africans as well as the linkage between poverty and environmental degradation.
The works are invaluable for an understanding of the very roots of South Africa‘s environmental problems. However, they are treated mostly from a social-science based perspective that lays emphasis on the role of social movements without a corresponding analysis of the role of the state in formulating environmental policy. Furthermore, a lot of developments have taken place in South Africa since the publishing of these books. There has been the emergence of a new legal order; a constitution which explicitly provides for environmental rights; increased role of social movements in environmental protection and the enactment of comprehensive environmental legislations and aimed at industrial pollution control. In an era of increasing regional integration, the works fail to properly assess its impact as well as that of international law.
Environmental Justice in South Africa33 provides a critical review of environmental justice in the post-apartheid years particularly how they relate to environmental issues. Written by leading activists and academics in the field of environment, it examines environmental issues from the conceptual framework of environmental justice and traces developments that have taken place since the emergence of a new legal order. It also identifies those areas that are yet to significantly change. The book relates environmental issues to issues of poverty, race, and class. A part of the book is devoted to concrete explorations and illustrations of environmental injustice in the country as well as real-life stories of struggles by workers and communities for environmental change.
The Bottom Line: Industry and the Environment in South Africa34edited by Bethlehem and Goldblatt comprises of articles written from various perspectives- legal, economic, social and by authors from a wide range of disciplines. It is aimed primarily at incorporating environmental considerations into industrial strategy in Post-Apartheid South Africa. It recognizes the environmental injustices and problems inherent in apartheid South Africa as well as the state‘s complicity in these problems. An analysis of the Thor Chemicals Case (one of the events that gave impetus to the environmental movement in South Africa) provides a case study of the role played by trade unions in environmental protection. The work is, admittedly, written from the perspective of industry and therefore fails to treat issues primarily from the perspective of environmental rights. Issues relating to the influence of internationalization and globalization on environmental issues in South Africa are treated primarily from the perspective of international trade.35 It therefore fails to tackle environmental issues from a rights based perspective as its (admitted) objective is industrial development which takes the environment into account.
Du Plessis‘s thesis titled Fulfillment of South Africa‘s Constitutional Environmental Right in the Local Government Sphere,36 questions the extent to which the South African legal framework facilitates local government progress in the decentralised fulfilment of the section 24 environmental right in the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996. From a critical review of key international human rights and environmental laws, she identifies a number of generic elements required for the fulfilment of constitutional environmental provisions by governments. These elements are: public participation in environmental governance; collection and dissemination of environmental information; development and implementation of environmental laws, policies and programs; compliance and enforcement of environmental laws and standards; provision and maintenance of environmental infrastructure; establishment of environmental partnerships; and environmental education. The focus of the work is local governments or municipalities - government at the grassroots - in South Africa, Germany and Namibia. It therefore did not address the situation in Nigeria nor how environmental jurisprudence has developed in Nigeria and South Africa.
A comprehensive, detailed and innovative work is to be found in Environmental Change and International Law: New Challenges and Dimensions edited by E. Weiss37. It is one of the earlier works to extensively articulate the link between human rights and the environment. It addressesnew directions in international environmental law including the growing acknowledgement of rights of future generations in international environmental law. Rights of participation, access toinformation, freedom of speech, among others, are highlighted as important for theeffective management of the environment.
Antonio CançadoTrindade, in his contribution titled ?The Contribution of International Human Rights Law to Environmental Protection," examines the interrelationship between human rights protection and environmental protection. He notes that in both human rights law and international environmental law the trend has been first towards internationalization (i.e., a recognition of human rights and environmental problems that require limits on state sovereignty) and then towards globalization (i.e., a reflection of the indivisibility of fundamental human rights and of the global nature of environmental threats).  CançadoTrindade analyses the emergence of absolute or objective obligations based on the "common good of mankind," framing the discussion in terms of the most fundamental of human rights, the right to life, being added to the right to health.
Cançado Trindade traces the right to a healthy environment to the right to health, which in turn follows from the right to life, with each of those fundamental rights serving to define more fully the broader right, the right to a healthy environment. He further illustrates the interrelatedness of human rights and environmental law by examining recent developments in international human rights law, international humanitarian law, and international refugee law, which encompass environmental concerns and thus provide support for the concern for human rights protection found in the realm of international environmental law.
Cançado Trindade then suggests several lessons to be drawn from the development of human rights law that may be applicable to the implementation of environmental rights. The works outlined above have all contributed immensely to the environmental rights debate as well as illustrating how the concept of environmental rights (initially articulated at the international level) is recognized in national constitutions.
Boyd in his recent work38 examines the growing recognition of the right to a healthy environment and its potential influence on public policy and environmental protection. The work analyses environmental provisions in over 190 national constitutions, surveys 500 environmental law experts, and compares the environmental performance of nations with and without constitutional environmental protection using three comprehensive indices and three time-series. It finds that constitutional environmental protection is incorporated in 140 national constitutions, including 86 constitutions that explicitly recognise the right to a healthy environment. Boyd posits that the constitutional right to a healthy environment has in some states contributed to enhanced enforcement of environmental laws, greater government accountability, a level playing field with other rights, reduced environmental injustice, and improved access to information, public participation in decision-making, and access to justice.
While the preliminary analysis in Boyd‘s work suggests a positive relationship between environmental protection provisions in constitutions and environmental performance, the sheer bulk of the research involved in examining so many states creates the tendency to generalise, leading to a failure to take into account the peculiarities of respective states. Boyd also failed to critically examine factors responsible for the non-implementation and poor enforcement of existing constitutional environmental provisions. Nevertheless, the work remains useful in analysing the increasing recognition of the right to a healthy environment at national and regional levels.
Gaps Identified
A major gap identified in the works reviewed is the absence of empirical evidence to show the social, economic and political factors affecting the enforcement of existing environmental laws and hence the protection of the right to a healthy environment. The works also fail to show how the inclusion or non-inclusion of environmental rights in a national constitution affects protection of the environment and the human rights of those affected by industrial pollution. While Boyd‘s recent work examined the impact of constitutional environmental provisions on enactment of national environmental laws and policies, the sheer scale of his study made it prone to generalisations whereas the instant study is more detailed.
The domestication of environmental rights in a nation‘s legal system may be reflected in its laws and policies on the environment, the judicial attitude towards environmental protection, opportunities afforded for public interest litigation, and the protection of participatory and procedural rights. In line with Boyd‘s opinion that additional quantitative research is needed to further explore the impact of constitutional provisions on environmental outcomes, we build on earlier studies by undertaking an in-depth study of these parameters for the domestication of environmental rights in the two largest economies in sub-Saharan Africa - Nigeria and South Africa. We also present empirical evidence via the use of questionnaires, semi-structured interviews and government statistics to determine the major factors responsible for poor implementation and enforcement of existing environmental laws and policies.
The works highlighted have treated environmental rights from a generalized perspective encompassing climate change, conservation, waste management, pollution, among others. For purposes of in-depth analysis the focus of this work is on industrial pollution in Nigeria and South Africa. Thus, the environmental laws to be analysed and the environmental enforcement agencies examined are primarily in the area of industrial pollution. South Africa  is the most industrialized economy in Africa and industrial pollution is a factor affecting the human rights of individuals and groups living near industrial areas. At the same time South Africa, due to its legacy of apartheid, has to contend with third world environmental problems such as municipal waste, sewage disposal and provision of safe drinking water and other basic amenities for the poor majority.

1.8       Plan of the Study
Chapter one is the general introduction. It sets out the conceptual framework and objective of the research, the research problem, and scope of the research, literature review and the plan of study.
Chapter two provides conceptual clarification of the following key terms: human rights, environment, environmental rights, international law, and domestication, and industrial pollution. We examine the development of environmental rights protection in international law and also discuss the intersection between human rights and the environment.
In chapter three, we examine the nature and scope of environmental rights in international and regional instruments and selected national constitutions. We distil the scope of environmental rights from these instruments and constitutions.
Chapter four examines the legal and policy frameworks for the promotion and protection of environmental rights in Nigeria particularly in the area of industrial pollution control. Chapter five examines the legal and policy frameworks for the promotion and protection of environmental rights in South Africa. Chapter six examines the mechanisms for the promotion and protection of environmental rights under the national legal systems of Nigeria and South Africa including how the courts have developed environmental rights jurisprudence. The chapter analyses the promotion of environmental rights, duties and obligations by states, social movements, and international institutions among others.
Chapter seven is devoted to empirical data presentation, interpretation and analysis of findings. In it we discuss the sources of data as well as analyse the data collected by way of factors affecting the protection of the right to a healthy environment in Nigeria.
Chapter eight is the conclusion of the dissertation. In it we summarize the work, highlight various observations and proffer recommendations.