Governing Climate Adaptation Innovation in Africa: A South African Case Study

• Citation: (2024) IPLJ 81
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.47348/SAIPL/v12/a4
• Published date: 27 January 2025
• Pages: 81-104
• Author: Oriakhogba, D.O.
• Date: 27 January 2025

81

https://doi.o rg/10.4734 8/SAIP L/v12/a4

GOVERNING CLIMATE

ADAPTATION INNOVATION IN

AFRICA: A SOUTH AFRICAN



 

Associate Professo r, Department of Private Law, Universit y of the Western Cape,

South Africa

ABST RACT

Despite contr ibuting little t o global warmi ng, Africa cont inues to be adver sely impacted

by climate change i n multifaceted ways includi ng in agriculture a nd food systems, human

health, water a nd ocean system s, transpor tation, ene rgy and indust rialisatio n. Global

efforts to mit igate the climate crisis are wo efully inadequate and A frica-driven init iatives

to tackle the se challenges are i ncreasingly focu ssed on regional an d national climat e

adaptation st rategies ai med at reducing cli mate risk, helping s ociety adjust and b uilding

resilience to t he present and fut ure impact of cli mate change. The se strategies i nclude

developing innovat ion and technology systems e specially for climate adap tation in Africa.

To be effective, such strat egies must be guided by evidence of the i nnovation capabilities

and require ap propriate governance syste ms at the regional and n ational levels in Af rica.

Conducted by way of desk re search, as par t of a broader resea rch project involving t wo

other Afr ican countries, this c ase study focuses on South A frica and examines t he climate

adaptation i nnovation of LiquidGold Af rica (Pt y) Ltd to demonstrat e Africa’s capacity

to innovate cli mate adaptat ion solutions. The res earch also exami nes the potenti al of the

innovation gover nance systems in Sout h Africa, such as intel lectual proper ty (IP) regimes,

to harness e xisting climat e adaptation i nnovation for subst antial impact . In this regard ,

       

and access to a daptation in novation from the pe rspective of inte rnational cli mate change

negotiations. It the n undertakes a survey of Sou th African climate change c hallenges, the

legal, policy and in stitutional fr ameworks on climate ad aptation, and the cli mate adaptation

    

KEYWORDS: Clim ate Change, Climat e Adaptation, In novation Governan ce, Intellectu al

Propert y, South Africa

   

of Cambridge Univer sity and the Op en African I nnovation (Open AIR) part nership and was

funded by the U K Engineering and Physical Sc ience Research Co uncil’s Impact Accelerat ion

Account (EPSRC-IA A) Strategic Impact Par tnerships Fund as well a s the Policy Support Fund

at the Universit y of Cambridge. The author a cknowledges the input of Pr ofessor Caroline Ncube

DSI/NR F/SA RChI Chair on Intellectu al Property, Innovation a nd Development, University of

Cape Town, GOCIA te am members and p articipant s at various con ferences and work shops where

the work was prese nted as well as the ISHT IP Workshop Travel Grant by B oston University

College of Law, Boston Universit y, USA which supported t ravel. The author takes r esponsibility

for all argum ents, stateme nts and error s in the paper and n one of the funder s and support ers

accept any lia bility in this rega rd.

    

(2024) IPLJ 81

© Juta and Company (Pty) Ltd

https://doi.o rg/10.4734 8/SAIP L/v12/a4

  

The African Un ion (AU)’s Climate Cha nge and Resilient Development Strategy

and Action Plan (2022–2032) is a continental effort to meet the challenges

posed by the prevailing climat e crisis, which is dispropor tionately borne by

Africa, despite t he continent’s relatively low contribution to the creation and

compounding of the crisis.1 Like other Af rican states, South Africa’s National

Development Plan 20302 and National Climate Change Adaptation Strat egy3

both highlight the st ate’s prioritisation of climate action through supp orting

climate adaptation i nnovation that will bri ng transformative change. Clim ate

adaptation in novation is understood here as encompa ssing technical and

non-technical solutions – in formed by indigenous, infor mal, formal and

tech-based knowledge sources – t hat contribute to adjust ing to the current

and expected impact ( process factor), while building resil ience, moderating

harm and exploiting the opp ortunities of climat e change (capacity factor).4

Climate adaptat ion innovation provides solutions for waste management

and sanitation, soil moist ure conservation a nd irrigation, water st orage and

         

improvements, natura l water retention and land restor ation, wetlands

           

management, sustai nable food production and food storage system s, green/

blue infrastr ucture production, among others.5

Knowledge governance mechanism s, such as intellectual p roperty (IP)

regimes including patent , trademark, i ndustrial designs, a nd Indigenous

knowledge systems, contribut e to harnessing climate adaptation te chnologies

for substantial impact. From the l iterature, different theoret ical underpinnings

that can be clustered into mor al, economic, development and decolonial

theories have emerged to justif y IP.6 Discussion of the theories is b eyond the

scope of this article. However, the theories collectively speak t o the point that

IP ought to incentivise i nnovators by providing mechanisms for the prot ection,

management, and comme rcialisation of their innovation, while promoting the

1 African Un ion Climate Change a nd Resilient Dev elopment St rategy and Act ion Plan (2022–2032)

3, available at https://au.int/sites/default/files/documents/41959-do c-CC_Strategy_and _Action_

Plan_2022-2032_0 8_02_23_Single _Print_Rea dy.pdf (accessed 12 May 2024).

2 National Planning Com mission (N PC) 2012 National Develo pment Plan 2030 Our

future – mak e it work, Pretoria , SA The Presidency, pp 197–216, available at htt ps://www.

nationalplan ningcommission .org.za/National _Development_Plan (acce ssed 12 May 2024).

3 Department of Env ironment, Forest ry and Fisherie s, Republic of South Afr ica, National Clim ate

Change Adapta tion Strateg y 2019, available at https://www.dffe.gov.za/sites /default/files /docs/

nationalclim atechange_ada ptationstrateg y_ue10november2019.pdf (accessed 28 Octo ber 2024).

4 Based on climat e adaptation a s defined by the I ntergovernm ental Panel on Clim ate Change

(IPCC). See IPC C Climate Change 2001: Synthe sis Report (2001) 365 and 383, available at

https://www.ipcc.ch /site/assets/uploa ds/2018/05/SYR_TAR_fu ll_repor t.pdf (accessed 12 May

2024).

5 IPCC Climate Change 2023: Synthe sis Report (2003) 55, available at htt ps://www.ipcc.ch/repor t/

ar6/syr/downloa ds/report/ IPCC_AR6_SY R_LongerRepor t.pdf (accessed 12 May 2024).

6 Generally, see P Drah os A Philosophy of Intelle ctual Proper ty (2016); W Fisher ‘Theories

of intellectu al propert y’, available at https://cyber.har vard.edu/p eople/tfisher /iptheory.pdf

(accessed 23 Octob er 2024); CB Ncube ‘Decolonising i ntellectual pr operty in pur suit of Africa’s

development’ (2016) 8(1) WIPO Journal 34– 40.

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