Achieving Effective Law and Policy Frameworks for Access to Sustainable Energy in Africa— A Multidimensional Effort

This chapter highlights some common themes which the editors see as significant research findings. The ubiquitous nature of energy is at once the most obvious and yet the most surprising realization. Not only are there clear linkages with water and renewable energy, but also with areas such as intellectual property and arbitration and, no doubt, the law in these areas can enhance or impede access. Access to energy so far falls short of the status of a realizable human right and this amounts to a denial of energy justice for affected persons. The lack of modern energy erodes and in some instances amounts to a denial of the rights of women, children, and the vulnerable. Electricity access has suffered, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa because of a combination of factors, chiefly the absence of legal provisions or failure to either reform or comply with legal provisions.