Decolonising African Soil?

Late 2025 Africa has taken a step towards decolonising African soil for sustainable development, food security, and environmental protection when the Pan-African Parliament (PAP) adopted the continent’s first Model Law (ML) on Sustainable Soil Management. This law shall now provide 55 African Union (AU) member countries with a legal framework and toolkit to safeguard their soils and strengthen resilience to climate change. Grounded in 11 country studies from across the continent, which examined existing soil legislation and governance systems, the ML was designed to guide AU Member States in developing or strengthening national legislation and policies. The ML could even serve other regions of the Global South, offering implementation pathways adaptable to diverse legal systems. Oliver Ruppel, Research Centre for Climate Protection Law (‘Clim:Law:Graz’), University of Graz and professor at Stellenbosch University, South Africa, provides firsthand insights on legal, political and diplomatic challenges of developing, negotiating and implementing such a complex process. The keynote is followed by a panel discussion with distinguished guests […] discussing Austria's relations with the African continent, particularly in terms of the new Africa strategy, bilateral projects, multilateral processes transformative impact, strategic alliances and new ways of investment, especially but by no means exclusively in areas such as agriculture, trade, migration, financial and climate policy.

Programme: 

Official opening AAI

Moderator: Miriam Mona Mukalazi, Africa Policy Programme, VIDC Global Dialogue (confirmed)

Panel discussion keynote: Oliver Ruppel

Panellists:

Harald Ginzky (German Environment Agency)

Oliver C Ruppel (Research Centre for Climate Change Law, Uni-Graz)

Representative from United Nations Environment Programme confirmed

Discussion followed by a book launch: Legislating for the Future: The Pan-African Model Law for Sustainable Soil Management, Oliver C. Ruppel & Harald Ginzky (Eds), Nomos Verlag, Baden-Baden, 2026.

Reception