Author(s): Mimidred Bih Fru Nji

Abstract: Soil security plays a critical role in determining whether a country successfully mitigates, effectively adapts to, or tragically exacerbates climate change through its own legal, institutional and administrative oversights. The soil beneath our feet has, over the years, been overlooked and treated as a passive element of the land. However, today, there is an urgent need to recognise it as a subject of environmental regulation, as it is a critical determinant of climatic stability and instability. Using the content analysis approach, the article analyses the legal, policy, and institutional frameworks, along with relevant theories, concepts, and principles underpinning soil security under Cameroonian law. The content analysis also shows that soil stewardship has always depended on the exercise of land rights under the 1974 Land Tenure Ordinances, which, by the way, do not recognise customary land ownership, leaving their lands insecure. Analysis reveals that soil protection has been timidly enforced under national environmental legislation, leaving it at the mercy of both statutory and customary tenure holders. Despite significant national policy efforts, current governance frameworks on soil security reveal that tenure insecurity, coupled with timid regulation of soil and insufficient integration of soil protection into national land and environmental legislation, permits soil carbon emission, posing a serious threat to climatic stability. The study recommends enacting a comprehensive soil regulatory instrument that recognises soil as an active subject of environmental and climate regulation rather than just an incidental concern of land.

DOI: 10.22271/civillaw.2025.v5.i2d.176

Pages: 332-343 | Views: 169 | Downloads: 68

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