Legal and institutional frameworks for combating climate change and promoting sustainable development: An African perspective

Africa faces two interconnected challenges which stem from climate change and systematic corruption, which together destroy environmental protection, sustainable development, and social equity. The research investigates how effectively the legal and institutional framework controls the two challenges. The study evaluates how institutional structures between the two challenges create environmental degradation and socio-economic inequality while diminishing institutional strength and obstructing law enforcement through a doctrinal research method which uses Governance theory as its framework. The study analyzed treaties, statutes, policy instruments, and key case law, and found that there is fragmentation of laws, weak enforcement, and limited coordination among institutions. These challenges reduce the effectiveness of climate governance and anti-corruption interventions. The study recommends that there should be a holistic, context-sensitive approach that integrates climate and anti-corruption frameworks, strengthens regulatory oversight, enhances transparency and accountability, and promotes multi-level institutional coordination. Such reforms are essential for breaking the mutually reinforcing cycle of climate vulnerability and governance failure, thereby advancing sustainable development and safeguarding the rights, livelihoods, and well-being of present and future generations in Africa.