Sustainable Development, International Law, and a Turn to African Legal Cosmologies

‘This book offers a constructive critique of contemporary sustainable development narratives, unveiling overlooked complexities, challenging assumptions, and urging for nuanced and contextualised reassessments. Emphasising inclusivity, it prompts transformative thinking that redefines sustainability by exploring other legal realities and alternative cosmologies, often neglected but very pertinent. It is an important resource for academics, policymakers and all seeking grounded and innovative solutions for people and the planet.’ Patricia Kameri-Mbote, Director, Law Division, UNEP, and Professor of Law, University of Nairobi

‘African perspectives on global environmental governance remain underexplored in the literature. Dr Dzah’s study achieves a tour de force in bringing to bear, on the mainstream - including TWAIL - discourse, African eco-legal philosophies not only to criticise but to reconceptualise sustainable development.’ Jorge E. Viñuales, Professor of Law and Harold Samuel Chair of Law and Environmental Policy, University of Cambridge

‘Sustainable development as a proposition seems unassailable; and yet the notion is fundamentally intertwined with many of the problematic legacies of a Western-centric international law. Godwin Dzah invites us to a brilliant reimagination of what an Afro-centric and pluralistic conception of the notion would entail. His intellectual voice is powerful and distinctive, and it will resonate with those concerned that reform merely repeats in the context of a planetary ecological crisis.’ Frédéric Mégret, Professor of Law and Hans & Tamar Oppenheimer Chair in Public International Law, McGill University

‘Legal scholars have critiqued sustainable development as a greenwashed version of the growth-oriented development paradigm that has destabilized the planet’s ecosystems while increasing poverty and inequality. In this groundbreaking book, Godwin Dzah presents a radically different conception of sustainable development grounded in African legal philosophies yet applicable globally. This book is a must-read. It demonstrates the importance of taking seriously the knowledge and cosmologies of the Global South. I highly recommend the book to scholars, students, and practitioners.’ Carmen G. Gonzalez, Morris I. Leibman Professor of Law, Loyola University Chicago School of Law

‘Dzah’s thought-provoking book investigates the actual and potential contributions of Africa and its peoples, including through their rich worldviews, to the making and doing of international law, treating sustainable development as a microcosm.’ Temitope Onifade, Afronomics Law