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Investigating the Animal Welfare Strategy for Africa

Mo Esan

(Re)constructing Africa’s stance on animal protection by reading the Animal Welfare Strategy for Africa and other related AU-IBAR policy through the lens of Third World Approaches to International Law (TWAIL)


People


Researcher

  • Motunrayo ("Mo") Esan


Background 


This research project starts from a simple but under-explored observation: although Africa is often positioned as a target of global animal welfare initiatives, Africa’s own stance on animal protection is rarely theorised, reconstructed, or taken seriously within global animal law. Emerging global animal law scholarship and practice remain heavily shaped by Western assumptions, export-oriented standards, and technocratic ideas of “best practice”, with African states and institutions typically cast as recipients rather than co-authors of animal protection norms.


At the same time, the African Union Interafrican Bureau for Animal Resources (AU-IBAR) and its Animal Welfare Strategy for Africa (AWSA) articulate a continental framework intended to guide animal welfare policy and law reform across the region. AWSA is therefore a crucial, yet largely unexamined, site for understanding how Africa imagines animals, people, environment and development together.


This project brings AWSA and related AU-IBAR instruments into conversation with Third World Approaches to International Law (TWAIL) and decolonial animality scholarship. It investigates how colonial histories, development agendas, funding structures and epistemic hierarchies shape Africa’s animal welfare strategy, while also illuminating the distinctively African, communitarian and relational commitments that emerge from the text and its implementation. In doing so, the project aims to reposition Africa not as a “beneficiary” of global animal law, but as a generator of normative insight for both regional and global debates.


Aims/Objectives


This research has two overarching objectives:

  • To identify and reconstruct Africa’s normative stance on animal protection as it emerges from the history, text and implementation of the Animal Welfare Strategy for Africa and related AU-IBAR instruments.

  • To evaluate how that stance can reshape global animal law debates in more inclusive, decolonial and context-sensitive directions.

More specifically, the project:

  • Traces the historical and political trajectory of AWSA and AU-IBAR’s animal welfare work, including the role of donors, international organisations, and civil society.

  • Undertakes a close textual analysis of AWSA and associated policy documents to uncover how animals are framed (for example as sentient beings, “animal resources”, or components of livelihoods and ecosystems).

  • Examines the implementation and reception of AWSA through selected case studies (including states such as Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa, alongside religious and customary contexts).

  • Assesses how Africa’s reconstructed stance sits within and against global animal law, asking where it challenges, complements or is constrained by dominant global frameworks.


Methods


The project uses qualitative, doctrinal and critical methods, organised in several interconnected strands. Doctrinal and documentary analysis of AWSA, AU-IBAR policy documents, African Union decisions and regional/continental instruments referencing animal welfare, livestock, wildlife and “animal resources” have been selected. It also includes a mapping of how AWSA interacts with other regional frameworks (such as livestock, food security, climate and biodiversity instruments) and key international standards. Both methods are analysed through a close reading of AWSA’s sentience language, “animal resources” framing, and development narratives using TWAIL, decoloniality, critical race theory and critical animal studies.


The research also adopts case studies and implementation analysis in selected African countries and in specific cultural/religious settings, examining how AWSA norms are taken up, transformed or resisted in domestic law and policy. It involves analysis of legislation, policy documents, judicial decisions, NGO reports and, where possible, interview material with key actors (subject to ethics approval).


Outcomes


Publications

  • Motunrayo Esan, 'Overview of Nigerian Animal Law' in Joan Schaffner (ed), Elgar Concise Encyclopedia of Animal Law (Edward Elgar 2022)

  • Motunrayo Esan, 'Challenges of Global Animal Law' (2022) Global Journal of Animal Law

Presentations

  • Motunrayo Esan, 'The Lagos State Animals Law 2022: Progressive Legislation or Paper Tiger?' (Animal Welfare Group Nigeria Monthly Presentation Series, March 2025)  

  • Motunrayo Esan, 'The African Union and Animal Protection' (Animals, Nature, and Society PhD Workshop, June 2025)  

  • Motunrayo Esan, 'Exploiting the Interafrican Bureau for Animal Resources to Increase Animal Protection in Africa' (Animal and Vegan Advocacy Summit Nairaobi, Kenya, July 2025)  

  • Motunrayo Esan, 'Between Welfare and Rights: Interrogating the African Union’s Animal Welfare Strategy as a Legal Framework for Animal Rights' (European Animal Rights Law Conference PhD Workshop, Cambridge Centre for Animal Rights Law, September 2025) 

  • Motunrayo Esan, 'The Animal Welfare Strategy for Africa' (Socio-Legal Studies Association PGR Conference, January 2026)


Get Involved


This research project is currently in its main analytical phase. If you would like to learn more, share relevant policy documents or practice insights, explore collaboration, or invite a talk or workshop on African animal law and AWSA, please contact Motunrayo Esan at mae403@student.bham.ac.uk.


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