- March 3, 2025
Honouring a treasured ancestor of the African Earth Jurisprudence Collective: a courageous advocate for the connection between ecological and social justice
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African Earth Jurisprudence Collective
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The African Earth Jurisprudence Collective is a community of practice reviving Indigenous lifeways
to enhance resilience
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We accompany African communities on journeys of decolonisation, guided by the philosophy and practice of Earth Jurisprudence. Together, we are reviving indigenous wisdom, strengthening food sovereignty, protecting sacred natural sites, restoring nature, and recognising eco-centred governance. Together, we are healing destroyed diversities and enhancing resilience to the polycrisis of our time. Together, we are a uniquely African hope, innovative and ancient.
Trainings for Transformation
The Collective has grown out of a series of courses, held by The Gaia Foundation and Siama, that critically assess the impact of industrial growth society and explore Earth Jurisprudence as a life-sustaining alternative. Graduates go on to mentor trainees, inspired by indigenous practices of intergenerational learning.
"The three-year training course raises the voices of a new generation of African advocates for Earth Jurisprudence.”
Community of Practice
We are a continent-wide constellation of Earth Jurisprudence Practitioners. As a home for graduates and facilitators of the Trainings for Transformation, this community of practice ensures that our endeavours are sustained and sustaining.
"There is great value in applying the same methodology in different regions of this continent. As a community of practice, we provide mutual support to sustain rigour, depth and inspiration.”
Accompanying Indigenous Peoples
As Earth Jurisprudence Practitioners, we return to our roots and create the conditions for Indigenous Peoples to bring their complex cultures back from the brink.
As Earth Jurisprudence Practitioners we are helping communities revive their relationship with the land - whether that is practiced through how they save seed, how they farm, or how they restore sacred natural sites.
Reweaving Resilience
Wherever a community starts their journey of decolonisation, these processes ultimately reweave resilient biocultural systems.
By being embedded in the land communities understand how to maintain the integrity and health of the whole. This enabled our ancestors to sustain themselves for millennia, as coherent biocultural systems, and holds hope for the future.”
The African Earth Jurisprudence Collective has given me a home: among people who are proud of their traditions and come together to share them.
Earth Jurisprudence Explained
‘Jurisprudence’ defines how we govern our lives. Western jurisprudence considers humans to be separate from and superior to nature. Laws stemming from it have legitimised the destruction of our home. Earth Jurisprudence considers humans an inextricable part of the animate world. It is inspired by indigenous cultures that sustained balance for millennia, by centring their governance around their ancestral lands and waters. Described by the UN as “the fastest growing legal movement of the 21st century”, the African Earth Jurisprudence Collective is putting this philosophy into practice with communities and ecosystems.
Stories to inspire
- March 1, 2025
Read Samuel Nnah Ndobe’s story of tracking his way home in the Congo Basin. Originally published in Dark Mountain.
- August 9, 2024
A spirited conversation about rights and responsibilities between Earth Jurisprudence Practitioners, Gertrude Pswarayi-Jabson and Mashudu Takalani. Originally published in Langscape Magazine.
An Initiation into the Elements
The third cohort of Earth Jurisprudence Practitioners have graduated in Benin, through an initiation ceremony rooted in the lore of earth, air, fire and water.