Search

One of the key purposes of the international climate change regime is to prevent greenhouse gas emissions from reaching levels that adversely affect food production. Climate-smart agriculture is a concept that links food production with adaption and mitigation and has been identified by the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change as a concept where more knowledge is needed. This chapter illustrates that the implementation of international climate law does not end with the decisions and activities of the state, and instead its goals must necessarily be translated and further developed at the farm and community level. We examined Mkulima Young, an online farming platform for farmers in Eastern Africa, as a case study to explore how progress towards international goals occurs through bottom-up governance mechanisms. Equally, this chapter illustrates the unique role of networked and informational governance models for contributing to the realisation of international emissions reductions objectives.

This chapter explores how the UN Climate Regime governs climate displacement. One of the gravest injustices of climate change is the distribution of negative impacts upon the poor and vulnerable in society. It is fundamentally unjust that people who are most likely to be displaced by climate change are the ones that have contributed least to global emissions. Such innocent people stand to lose their home, their connections with land, community, language and family and face the challenge of starting life again in a foreign place with a potential hostile reception from host communities. As such it has been recognised that climate displacement is a multifaceted challenge which has generated debate about the most appropriate international institution to respond to this issue. Rather than revisiting the merits and pitfalls of international environmental, human rights and refugee law regimes to deal with climate displacement, this chapter will instead explore how the UN Climate regime has responded to the issue. It is argued that the UN Climate regime will be play a critical role in assisting those displaced by climate change for two reasons. Firstly, the UN Climate regime can create a moral argument on the basis of historical and current emissions contributions as to why Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) must assist those must vulnerable to climate change. Secondly, the UN Climate regime has the ability to generate financial assistance, separate and additional from any other existing international funds for displaced/refugee populations. The UN Climate regime therefore plays a key role in governing climate displacement by recognising the moral issues associated with excessive greenhouse gas emissions and by providing a governance structure to provide financial and other support to those displaced by climate change.

The Paris Conference of Parties (COP) has sought to initiate a global regime for the mitigation of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and, where necessary, adaptation to them. The governance challenges are immense – in the governance of the negotiations, in the governance of the complex set of mechanisms that those negotiations are generating, in the integrity mechanisms to ensure as far as possible that those mechanisms fulfil their functions (leading to a rudimentary Global Carbon Integrity System/Regime). 1 In the light of the dynamic relations between state and non-state actors within the climate negotiations, there is a growing recognition that more research is needed to explore the social dimensions of governance quality in climate mechanisms, particularly around decision-making processes. These take note of the social-political nature of climate governance and explore governance quality by looking at the participatory structures, deliberative processes, substantive products, and longer-term outcomes as the determinants of regime effectiveness. 2 Effectiveness is understood as the measure of institutional performance against a set of desired objectives. 3 and constitute a ‘thick’ set of governance values, as outlined late in this chapter and more extensively in Chapter 2 . Following the approach delineated there, the governance quality of the climate regime is not attributed to any single institutional arrangement, such as transparency, even though this is, of course, important. Evaluating the performance of an institution on the basis of a restricted set of values would constitute a somewhat ‘thin’ assessment; consequently this volume explores some of the broader parameters affecting quality of governance and institutional integrity and their possible impacts on the policy responses to climate change.

In the past few years a range of scientists have argued that in geological terms planet earth has reached the end of what is known as the Holocene epoch. This epoch is a stage in the Cenozoic era that, generally speaking, stands for the flourishing of mammalian life. The name given to this new geological epoch is the Anthropocene epoch. It is defined in terms of the significance of the anthropogenic impact that human beings have had on earth’s subsystems. A perspective that the Anthropocene epoch forces on us is the idea that, as a species, the significance of our footprint raises questions about fairness and justness of who we are as a species because what we do is no longer local but truly global in terms of its impact on planet earth. The idea of entering the Anthropocene epoch raises concerns about our capacity as a collective force at the international level to achieve long-term environmental or ecological justice. ‘Ecological justice’ as compared to environmental justice is a term used to describe the justness of the kind of relationship that humans have with the natural world. The term ‘environmental justice’ is more commonly used as a way of describing the distribution of interests that humans have in relation to each other when it comes to their use of the natural environment. As such, ecological justice and access to it, as opposed to just environmental justice, raises important intellectual concerns going forward in the Anthropocene epoch.

The rule of law is widely seen as the cornerstone of any effective polity and increasingly a vital component of the international political system. If the international rule of law were to be strengthened, it would greatly contribute to trade, security, human rights and global cooperation in a range of fields. Yet, in many areas the rule of law seems almost absent in international affairs. This book explores the institutions that support the effectiveness of the rule of law domestically. It focuses on the extent to which similar institutions already exist at international level and analyses the possibility of their further development. The authors speculate on how the international rule of law might be advanced in the future, thereby suggesting potential strategies for strengthening the international rule of law. Adopting an interdisciplinary approach and combining the fields of international relations, politics and law, this book covers a range institutions including: - UN Security Council - International Court of Justice - Human rights machinery - Regional human rights - International Criminal Court - World Trade Organization - International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea - UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations. It will be of strong interest to students and scholars of international - relations, international organisations, global governance, international law, migration law, international peace and security law, applied ethics, political economy, political science and sociology.

The adoption of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (DRIP) by the United Nations General Assembly in September 2007 has been heralded by many as a major breakthrough in the promotion of Indigenous rights under international law. Many however are sceptical as to whether DRIP actually promotes Indigenous rights or rather limits them in ways that serve the interests of nation states thereby diminishing the universality of human rights with respect to Indigenous peoples. This paper will examine how shifts in global power from the United States to the BRIC nations (Brazil, Russia, India and China) are likely to impact on the realisation of the right of self determination for Indigenous peoples. It will start by outlining the right of self determination as articulated in the Declaration, and in particular how the United States and its allies - the CANZUS group (Canada, Australia, New Zealand and United States) - were influential in shaping its form and content. The paper will then assess the extent to which the right to self determination is realised in Australia, the United States and the BRJC nations to provide an indication of the likely future direction of recognition and realisation of Indigenous rights at a global level.

The chapter examines the current emission reduction obligations within the climate regime. It looks at the formation and rise of the BASIC negotiation group within the international climate COP negotiations and examines the role that BASIC nations are now playing shaping international mitigation policy.

This book explores the impacts of global economic, political and cultural shifts on various international legal frameworks and legal norms. The economic growth of states throughout Asia, South and Central America and Africa is having a profound effect on the dynamics of international relations, with a resulting impact on the operation and development of international law. This book examines the influence of emerging economies on international legal rules, institutions and processes. It describes recent and predicted changes in economic, political and cultural powers, flowing from the growth of emerging economies such as China, India, Brazil, South Africa and Russia, and analyses the influence of these changes on various legal frameworks and norms. Expert contributors drawn from a variety of fields, including international law, politics, environmental law, human rights, economics and finance, provide a broad analysis of the nature of the shifting global dynamic in its historical and contemporary contexts, and a range of perspectives on the impact of these changes as they relate to specific regimes and issues, including climate change regulation, collective security, indigenous rights, the rights of women and girls, environmental protection and foreign aid and development. The book provides a fresh and comprehensive analysis of an issue with extensive implications for international law and politics.

In recent years a growing number of states have chosen to recognise environmental issues in their national constitutions. Some have added declarations about the value of the environment, some have sought to restrict or regulate government’s ability to take action which would potentially harm the environment, while others have proclaimed that citizens possess a right to an environment of a particular quality. A survey of these constitutional provisions reveals that the majority of reform in this area has come from developing states, including a number of states which have been designated as among the least developed countries in the world. The increasing focus on constitutional environmental rights appears to represent a shift in the attitude of developing and emerging economies, which could in turn be influential in setting the tone of the environmental rights debate more broadly, with potential to shape the future development of international law in the area. This chapter examines constitutional environmental rights in an attempt to determine whether consistent state practice can in fact be identified in this area which might form the basis of an emerging norm. It will also analyse some of the potential contributing factors to the proliferation of a constitutional right to a good environment among developing states, and the implications for the development of customary international law.

Female genital mutilation (FGM) is a cultural practice involving the deliberate, non-therapeutic physical modification of young girls’ genitalia. FGM can take several forms, ranging from smaller incisions, to removal of the clitoris and labia, and narrowing or even closing of the vagina. FGM predates and has no basis in the Koran, or any other religious text. Rather, it is a cultural tradition, particularly common in Islamic societies in regions of Africa, motivated by a patriarchal society’s desire to control female bodies and lives. The primary reason for this desire for control is to ensure virginity at marriage, thereby preserving family honour, within a patriarchal social structure where females’ value as persons is intrinsically connected to, and limited to, their worth as virgin brides. Recent efforts at legal prohibition and practical eradication in a growing number of African nations mark a significant turning point in how societies treat females. This shift in cultural power has been catalysed by a concern for female health, but it has also been motivated by an impulse to promote the human rights of girls and women. Although FGM remains widely practiced and there is much progress yet to be made before its eradication, the rights-based approach which has grown in strength embodies a marked shift in cultural power which reflects progress in women’s and children’s rights in the Western world, but which is now being applied in a different cultural context. This chapter reviews the nature of FGM, its prevalence, and health consequences. It discusses recent legal, cultural and practical developments, especially in African nations. Finally, this chapter raises the possibility that an absolute human right against FGM may emerge.