By: Moreblessing Mbire, Programme Officer
The 2025 Midlands State University Law Review (MSULR) Special Issue brings together timely and topical research on climate change, environment and human rights. This Issue is a compilation of eight research papers that address the triple planetary crisis within the Zimbabwean context. These papers are the final, peer reviewed papers from the National Symposium on Climate Change, Environment and Human Rights, held at Cresta Lodge, Harare, Zimbabwe, 2 – 4 November 2024.
The series of research symposia forms part of the Raoul Wallenberg Institute Zimbabwe Human Rights Capacity Development Programme with financial support from the Embassy of Sweden in Zimbabwe. The overall objective of the Programme is: to contribute a just and inclusive society in Zimbabwe through strengthening and deepening existing partnerships to help institutions better promote, protect and respect human rights in accordance with their respective mandates.
The national symposium, which was the tenth in the series, is an annual event under the RWI Zimbabwe Human Rights Capacity Development and is organised by RWI in cooperation with its academic partner institutions (College of Business, Peace, Leadership and Governance and the School of Law at Africa University in Mutare, Zimbabwe; Faculty of Law at Midlands State University in Gweru, Zimbabwe; Herbert Chitepo School of Law at Great Zimbabwe University in Masvingo, Zimbabwe; Faculty of Law at University of Zimbabwe in Harare, Zimbabwe; and the Faculty of Law at Ezekiel Guti University in Bindura, Zimbabwe).
The national symposium is a forum where research funded and conducted during the year is packaged and presented before an audience representing diverse sectors of Zimbabwean society, thereby allowing the presenters and participants to in plenary engage in vibrant discussions around the topics at hand and together deliberate on the way forward with regard to critical human rights reform issues. The participation of government officials from the line ministries, including among others, the land and forestry departments, and the Gender Commission, as well as traditional and political leaders enriched the engagement process remarkably. The feedback and experiences shared during the national symposium are incorporated into the preparation of the final papers for publication and dissemination.
Read the full MSULR special issue.