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180 F.SimlingerandB.Mayer
towardsthosemostaffectedbyitsadverseimpacts.Ethicalperspectivesareexplored
in the chapter byWallimann-Helmer et al. (2018) in this book, and the aimof the
present chapter is to takestockof the legal literatureon the topic, to identifypoten-
tial legalapproaches toL&D,andtoexplorepossibledirectionsforfurtherresearch.
While theWarsaw InternationalMechanism is an important institutional develop-
ment,itdoesnotappearastheuniqueentrypointforprovidingredressfortheadverse
impacts of climate change. Inoutlininghowdiversedomesticor international legal
frameworks could approach L&D, this chapter engageswith the relation between
legalargumentsandnecessarypoliticalorscientificdevelopmentsatdifferentscales
of the regimecomplex forclimatechange.
Thechapter isorganisedas follows.Section7.2presentsdifferent approaches to
climatelawlitigationbeforedomesticcourtsandhighlightsthemostprominentcases
relevant to L&D. Section 7.3 briefly discusses whether regional and international
humanrights lawisofavail to thoseaffectedmostbythe impactsofclimatechange.
Section 7.4 highlights the potential of international litigation based on principles
of customary international law. Section 7.5 turns to the developments taking place
under the UNFramework Convention on Climate Change, including theWarsaw
InternationalMechanismonLossandDamage(WIM).Section7.6finallydiscusses
thedifferent legal responsesanalysedandconcludeswithpossibleways forward.
7.2 NationalLaws
Recent years have seen a rapid development of national laws related to climate
change.Fromonlya fewclimate laws in thepre-KyotoProtocol era, there arenow
more than 1,200 laws and policies world-wide (Nachmany et al. 2017). Beyond
a general focus on climate changemitigation, some of these laws have sought to
address thedamagescausedbyclimatechange.
Developmentshavealso takenplacebeforenational courts, oftendrivenby indi-
vidualsorgroupsinterestedinbypassingtheinertiaofpoliticalinstitutions.Generally
speaking, litigation ismore likely in “common law” jurisdictions, as largely based
on the doctrine of precedent—the application of the rule identified by a court in a
givencase to any similar subsequent cases.MostEnglish-speakingcountries apply
asystemof“common law,”whileothercountriesapplya formof“civil law,”based
onextensivecodescovering fundamental areasof law.
Litigationcanbebasedonprivateorpublic law.Throughprivate lawlitigation,a
person (individualorgroup)mayseekacourt’sfinding regarding the responsibility
ofanotherpersonorprivateentityforharmssuffered.Throughpublic lawlitigation,
a personmay seek a court’s finding regarding the obligation of the government or
another public administration to take a particular course of action, for instance to
mitigateclimatechange, toadapt to theimpactsofclimatechange,or tocompensate
for losses and damages.Whether litigation leads to a favourable court decision or
not, it contributes to raisingawareness andcreatingpoliticalmomentumfor further
developments.
Loss and Damage from Climate Change
Concepts, Methods and Policy Options
- Titel
- Loss and Damage from Climate Change
- Untertitel
- Concepts, Methods and Policy Options
- Autoren
- Reinhard Mechler
- Laurens M. Bouwer
- Thomas Schinko
- Swenja Surminski
- JoAnne Linnerooth-Bayer
- Verlag
- Springer Open
- Datum
- 2019
- Sprache
- englisch
- Lizenz
- CC BY 4.0
- ISBN
- 978-3-319-72026-5
- Abmessungen
- 16.0 x 24.0 cm
- Seiten
- 580
- Schlagwörter
- Environment, Climate change, Environmental law, Environmental policy, Risk management
- Kategorien
- International
- Naturwissenschaften Umwelt und Klima