Transcript Bridging the North-South Divide

The North-South Divide in
International Environmental Law:
The Problem of Climate Change
Prof. Carmen G. Gonzalez
Seattle University School of Law
October 4, 2016
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International Environmental Law and the Global
South (Cambridge University Press, 2015)
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Welcome to the Anthropocene
Human economic activity has exceeded ecological limits,
including the following four planetary boundaries:
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Climate change
Deforestation
Species extinction
Phosphorus and nitrogen runoff from agriculture
Source: Will Steffen et al, Planetary Boundaries: Guiding Human Development
on a Changing Planet, 347 Science 1259855 (2015)
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Economic Inequality
• 20% of world’s populations consumes 80% of
the planet’s resources and owns 95% of
planet’s wealth
• In 2015, just 62 individuals were as wealthy as
the planet’s poorest 3.6 billion
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Billions struggle to satisfy basic needs
• Nearly 750 million lack clean drinking water
• 2.5 billion lack sanitation
• Nearly 800 million suffer from chronic
undernourishment
• 2.8 billion lack access to modern energy for
cooking, lighting, transportation and heating
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Climate Debt: polluter pays principle
Between 1880 and 1990, the global North
generated
• 84 percent of the planet’s fossil fuel-based
carbon dioxide emissions and
• 75 percent of deforestation-related carbon
dioxide emissions.
The North’s current per capita emissions dwarf
those of the South.
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Common But Differentiated
Responsibilities (CBDR)
1992 Rio Declaration on Environment and Development,
Principle 7:
“States shall cooperate in a spirit of global partnership to
conserve, protect and restore the health and integrity of the
Earth's ecosystem. In view of the different contributions to
global environmental degradation, States have common but
differentiated responsibilities. The developed countries
acknowledge the responsibility that they bear in the
international pursuit to sustainable development in view of the
pressures their societies place on the global environment and of
the technologies and financial resources they command.”
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United Nations Framework Convention
on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
• Preamble notes “that the largest share of
historical and current global emissions has
originated in developed countries, that per
capita emissions in developing countries are
still relatively low and that the share of global
emissions originating in developing countries
will grow to meet their social and
development needs.”
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United Nations Framework Convention
on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
Preamble acknowledges “that the global nature
of climate change calls for the widest possible
cooperation by all countries . . . In accordance
with their common but differentiated
responsibilities and respective capabilities and
their social and economic conditions.”
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United Nations Framework Convention
on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
Article 3 (1):
“The Parties should protect the climate system
for the benefit of present and future
generations of humankind, on the basis of
equity and in accordance with their common
but differentiated responsibilities and respective
capabilities. Accordingly, the developed country
Parties should take the lead in combating
climate change and the adverse effects thereof.”
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UNFCCC and Kyoto Protocol
• Differentiate between developed and
developing countries
• Obligate the North to take the lead in
addressing climate change
• Impose binding emission reduction obligations
only on developed countries
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Environmental Justice
• Distributive justice
• Procedural justice
• Corrective justice
• Social justice
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Climate justice
• Distributive justice
• Procedural justice
• Corrective justice
• Social justice
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Critique of North-South binary
• Ignores diversity among “developing
countries”
• State-centric approach excludes
vulnerable communities in both the
North and the South
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Indigenous peoples and climate
change
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Reside in vulnerable geographic locations
Cultural and spiritual ties to land
Legal connection to land
Climate solutions grounded in indigenous
environmental knowledge
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International law & indigenous
peoples
• 1989 -- International Labor Organization’s
Convention Concerning Indigenous and Tribal
Peoples in Independent Countries (ILO 169)
• 2007-- United Nations Declaration on the
Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP)
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Bridging the North South Divide
• The Paris Agreement – more nuanced
conception of common but differentiated
responsibilities
• Litigation – access to justice, public
awareness, shift to renewable energy
• Energy justice– win-win solutions to climate
change mitigation and poverty alleviation
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Common But Differentiated
Responsibilities under the Paris
Agreement
• Preamble, Arts 2.2, 4.1, 4.3, 4.4, 4.19.13.1,
14.1, 15.2
• Wording differs from UNFCCC: “principle of
equity and common but differentiated
responsibilities and respective capabilities in
light of different national circumstances.”
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Key elements of Paris Agreement
• Objective: hold global average temperature
increase to well below 2°C above preindustrial levels; strive for 1.5°C
• Mitigation: Nationally Determined
Contributions (NDCs)
• Adaptation
• Loss & Damage
• Finance
• Transparency, Stocktaking & Compliance
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Litigation in the Inter-American Human
Rights System by Indigenous Peoples
• Petition by the Inuit Circumpolar Conference
to the Inter-American Commission on Human
Rights (2005)
• Petition by the Arctic Athabaskan Peoples to
the Inter-American Commission on Human
Rights (2013)
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Potential Litigation by Small Island
Developing States
• Claims regarding ocean acidification under the
UN Convention on the Law of the Sea
• Efforts to obtain an advisory opinion from the
International Court of Justice “on the
responsibilities of States under international
law to ensure that activities carried out under
their jurisdiction or control that emit
greenhouse gases do not damage other
States.”
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Litigation in the United States
• Litigation to retire coal-fired power plants,
address waste and emissions, and prevent
coal mining and coal exports
• Public trust litigation to require state and
federal government action to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions
• Potential litigation against the fossil fuel
industry for knowingly deceiving the public
and investors regarding climate change
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Energy Poverty & Black Carbon
• Indoor air pollution: 4 million premature
deaths per year
• Second most significant contributor to climate
change
• Deforestation
• Cheap and immediate mitigation
• Decentralized, renewable energy for the
energy poor
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Further reading
• Paris Agreement: http://newsroom.unfccc.int/parisagreement/
• U.S. climate litigation tracker:
http://web.law.columbia.edu/climate-change/resources/usclimate-change-litigation-chart
• Non-U.S. climate litigation tracker:
http://web.law.columbia.edu/climate-change/non-us-climatechange-litigation-chart
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Further reading
• International Environmental Law and the Global South
(Cambridge University Press, 2015)
https://www.amazon.com/International-Environmental-LawGlobalSouth/dp/1316621049/ref=mt_paperback?_encoding=UTF8&
me=
• International Energy and Poverty: The Emerging Contours
(Routledge, 2015) https://www.amazon.com/InternationalEnergy-Poverty-emergingRoutledge/dp/1138792314/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qi
d=1475024259&sr=11&keywords=international+energy+and+poverty
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