South Africa revokes exploration rights and Lebanon abolishes death penalty

South Africa’s Constitutional Court – the country’s highest court and final court of appeal – revoked Shell and Impact Africa’s exploration rights on the Wild Coast, thereby halting plans to search for oil and gas along the coast using seismic surveys. The intense underwater noise caused by these surveys raised concerns about potential harm to marine life and ecosystems, particularly as local communities have close cultural and economic ties to the sea.

The court found that both the consultation with local communities and the consideration of key environmental and climate concerns were inadequate. What began in 2021 with six local councils, NGOs and environmental justice organisations has developed into the first climate case to be heard before South Africa’s Constitutional Court and is regarded as a landmark ruling on climate justice. Five key dimensions of climate justice can be derived from the court’s approach, as Angela van der Berg, an expert in environmental and climate law, has outlined in “The Conversation”: procedural justice, recognition justice, distributive justice and intergenerational justice, as well as an understanding of justice that encompasses not only people but also ecosystems and other species.

Lebanon abolishes death penalty

Lebanon has become the first country in the Middle East to abolish the death penalty. After no executions had been carried out in the country for more than 20 years, the Lebanese Parliament passed a law in August providing for death sentences to be replaced by life imprisonment and hard labour.

Amnesty International regards the abolition as a victory for human rights in the country and highlights the role played by Lebanese and international civil society organisations in bringing it about. Lebanon’s decision forms part of a global trend towards the abolition of the death penalty. At the same time, the number of executions in countries that continue to retain the death penalty rose by 78 % in 2025 compared with the previous year.

The D+C editorial team
euz.editor@dandc.eu