Governing Climate Adaptation Innovation In Africa: A Case Study of Nigeria

• Citation: (2024) IPLJ 105
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.47348/SAIPL/v12/a5
• Published date: 27 January 2025
• Pages: 105-133
• Author: Adebola, T.
• Date: 27 January 2025

105

https://doi.o rg/10.4734 8/SAIP L/v12/a5

GOVERNING CLIMATE

ADAP TATION I N NOVATION

IN AFRICA: A CASE STUDY OF

      



Director, Centre for Commercial Law and Theme Coordinator, International

Intellectual Prope rty and Information Law, Scho ol of Law, University of Aberdeen.

ABST RACT

As part of a project o n Governing Cli mate Innovation i n Africa, t his paper exam ines

Nigeria’s climate adapta tion innovation a rchitectu re. Through com prehensive doctr inal

and desk resea rch, it explores the key laws, pol icies, institut ions and initiat ives shaping the

country’s adapt ation responses t o climate change. The pa per underscore s the intersect ions

of climate adapt ation innovation a nd intellectual p roperty rig hts in the context of Niger ian

realities and p resents notable case stud ies from the food and agricu ltural sectors: Roti mi

Williams (Ke reksuk Rice Farm and Resolute 4.0) and Bab ajide Oluwase (Ecot utu). The

paper is str uctured ar ound three pr imary objec tives. First, it maps t he legal and policy

frameworks gover ning climate change i n Nigeria, addressi ng international com mitments

alongside regional a nd national inst ruments. S econd, it analyse s the selected clim ate

adaptation i nnovations, un packing thei r contribution s and interrog ating the role that

intellectu al propert y rights cur rently play or could pote ntially play in en hancing these

innovations. T hird, it offers strateg ic recommendations to st rengthen climate ad aptation

in Nigeria, in cluding adopting a joined-u p approach to ensure cohe rence across laws and

policies, as well as i ntroducing suppo rtive legal and non-legal me asures to build a re silient

and sustai nable climate innovation e cosystem in Nigeria.

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

Property, Nigeria

  

Climate change denotes the long-ter m alterations in temp eratures and

weather patter ns.1 These alterations can result f rom natural phenomen a,

such as volcanic eruptions and va riations in solar radiat ion, as well as human

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

project of Cambrid ge University and t he Open Afr ican Innovation (Op enAIR) par tnership;

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 ack nowledges the input of GOCIA tea m members,

University of Aber deen Centre for Commercial L aw members, University of Aberde en Centre

for Energy Law memb ers and the two journa l reviewers. The author ta kes responsibility for al l

argument s, statements and e rrors in the pape r and none of the funder s and supporter s accept any

liability i n this regard.

    

1 JT Houghton , Y Ding, DJ Griggs, M Nog uer, PJ van der Linden, X Dai , K Maskell & CA Johnson

‘Climate Chan ge 2001: The Scientific Basis’ (2001) 881(9) Cambridge University P ress 2–5.

(2024) IPLJ 105

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https://doi.o rg/10.4734 8/SAIP L/v12/a5

activities, such as deforestat ion and burning of fossil fuels.2 Niger ia faces

   

        

These environme ntal changes threaten food s ecurity, displace vul nerable

communities, and d amage critical inf rastruct ure. In addition, t he country

struggles wit h high levels of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, industr ial

pollution, and widespread deforest ation, which exacerbate the impa cts

of climate change. These challenges not only u ndermine socio- economic

development but also threaten biodiversity and t he long-term sustainability of

the country’s natural r esources.

Climate adaptat ion refers to the different forms of adjustme nts or changes in

practices, processe s and structures to tack le actual or potent ial consequences

of climate change.3 Climate adapt ation is dedicated to reducing v ulnerability

to the impacts of climate cha nge.4 Stakeholders, including government and

non-governmental organisat ions, regional and multilateral organ isations,

private sector actors a nd local communities, int roduce innovative climate

adaptation mechan isms to prepare for and adjust to t he impacts of climate

change.5 In food and ag riculture, clim ate adaptation measu res include

developing novel locally-appropriate farming te chniques, such as using smart

irrigation syste ms to reduce water use, design ing crop preservation cooler s

to decrease post-har vest loss, creating onl ine digital marketplac es to connect

farmers with buyer s to reduce transpor tation and emissions, u sing sensors

2 T Dietz, RL Shwom & CT Wh itley ‘Climate Change and Socie ty’ (2020) 46 Annual Review of

Sociology 135 136–37; X Yue & Q Gao ‘Contribution s of natural systems a nd human activit y to

Greenhou se Gas Emissions’ (2018) 9(4) Advances in Climate Chan ge Research 243–2 52.

3 G Owen ‘What ma kes climate chan ge adaptation effe ctive? A systematic rev iew of the literatu re’

(2020) 62 Global Environmental Change. B Smith, I Burton , RJ Klein & J Wandel An Anatomy

of Adaptation t o Climate Change and Vari ability (Springe r 2020); M Gbomaga, OA Afi nowi

& N Kumi, ‘Climat e change adapt ation governanc e in Africa: T he legal and inst itutional

frameworks’ i n M Addaney, DB Jarbandh an & W Kwadwo Dumenu (eds) Clim ate Change in

Africa: Adaptation, Resilience, and Policy Innovations (Palgrave Macm illan 2023) 35–54.

4 Climate adaption differ s from climate m itigation. Cli mate mitigatio n refers to the meas ures

underta ken to prevent or reduce GHG emissions . Climate mitig ation measure s seek to reduce

the sources of GHG. Red ucing GHG emission s will decrea se the pace of climat e change

and make its imp acts less severe. For exa mple, transit ioning to renewable e nergy sourc es

like solar, wind a nd geotherma l power to limit the b urning of fossi l fuels for electr icity or

transpor tation, or re storing fores ts to enhance c arbon sink s that absorb and st ore the GHG.

H Fekete et al, ‘A review of successfu l climate change m itigation policie s in major emitt ing

economies and t he potential of globa l replication’ (2021) 137 Renewable and Su stainable

Energy Reviews; S Fawzy, AI Osman , J Doran & DW Rooney ‘Strat egies for mitigatio n

of climate change: A re view’ (2020) 18 Environmental Chemistry Letters 2069–2094;

M Lackner, B Sajja di & W Chen ‘Introduction to cli mate change mitigation a nd adaptation’ in

M Lackner, B Sajja di & W Chen (eds) Handbook of Climate Ch ange Mitigation and Adap tation

(Springer 2022) 3 ed 15.

5 J Nalau & B Verrall ‘Mapping the evolutio n and current t rends in climate change ada ptation

Science’ (2021) 31 Climate Risk Management; N Adger, NW Arnell & EL Tompkins ‘Succe ssful

adaptation t o climate change acro ss scale (2005) 15(2) Global Environmental Change 77–86.

106 South African Intellectual Property Law Journal (2024) 11

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