Ubuntu and the blue economy in Uganda: towards an African jurisprudence of ecological justice, human dignity, and sustainable development

Abstract

This book was born of two convictions: that African philosophy has something irreplaceable to offer the world's environmental crises, and that Uganda's extra ordinary aquatic wealth is being slowly destroyed by governance frameworks that have no soul. Together, these convictions animated what has become one of the most urgent jurisprudential conversations of our time. For too long, discussions surrounding the Blue Economy have been dominated by technocratic, capitalist, and ocean-centred narratives that systematically exclude Africa's indigenous philosophical foundations. In global policy discourse, water is treated primarily as an economic resource —a commodity to be exploited for industrial growth, commercial fisheries, energy production, and regional trade. Yet within African thought systems, particularly Ubuntu, water possesses a far deeper meaning: it is life itself, heritage, community, and continuity between the living, the departed, and the unborn.1 This book seeks to reconceptualise the Blue Economy in Uganda through the lens of Ubuntu jurisprudence. It argues that Uganda's lakes, rivers, wetlands, and aquatic ecosystems must not merely be treated as economic assets but assacred communal trusts held on behalf of present and future generations.2 Ubuntu teaches that humanity survives together — or perishes together. And nowhere is this truth more visible than in the waters upon which civilization itself depends. The choice before Uganda is not between development and conservation. Under Ubuntu, it is a choice between two visions of survival — one that consumes the future for present gain, and one that honours ancestors, serves communities, and protects generations yet unborn.