Environmental Law and Climate Change Adaptation in West Africa: Legal Frameworks, Implementation Gaps, and Community Resilience Strategies

Abstract

West Africa faces severe environmental challenges including deforestation, desertification, coastal erosion, biodiversity loss, and increasingly severe climate change impacts threatening food security, water resources, and livelihoods. This research paper examines environmental legal frameworks across West African countries and their effectiveness in addressing environmental degradation and facilitating climate adaptation. The study analyzes constitutional environmental rights, national environmental legislation, sectoral laws governing natural resources, regional environmental agreements, and compliance with international environmental conventions including the Paris Agreement and Convention on Biological Diversity. Through comparative analysis of countries including Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal, Burkina Faso, and Sierra Leone, this research identifies common patterns of comprehensive legal frameworks undermined by weak enforcement, inadequate institutional capacity, conflicts between development imperatives and environmental protection, and limited integration of traditional ecological knowledge. The paper examines specific environmental challenges including Sahel desertification, Niger Delta oil pollution, coastal zone management, forest conservation, water resource management, and wildlife protection. Particular attention is devoted to climate change adaptation legal frameworks, analyzing national adaptation plans, disaster risk reduction legislation, and community-based adaptation strategies. The research employs doctrinal legal analysis, empirical case studies of environmental litigation, and assessment of participatory natural resource management initiatives. Findings reveal that while legal frameworks increasingly recognize environmental rights and sustainable development principles, implementation suffers from institutional weaknesses, corruption, inadequate funding, and tensions between environmental protection and poverty reduction. The paper concludes with recommendations emphasizing ecosystem-based adaptation approaches, strengthening environmental institutions, enhancing community participation in resource management, improving environmental justice mechanisms, integrating indigenous knowledge, and increasing climate finance for adaptation in this highly vulnerable region.