Event Title
Rio +20 and the Right to Water: A South African Perspective
Location
Room 302
Start Date
2-7-2012 1:30 PM
End Date
2-7-2012 2:50 PM
Description
Recent multilateral negotiations within the framework of the UNFCCC treaty process have brought little significant progress in meeting the objective of mitigating global climate change. There is even doubt that the mitigation goals that are on the table for agreement will lead to the reduction of temperature rise that is necessary to avoid serious adverse consequences. In this paper, I aim to explore the obstacles, both structural and political, in international law efforts to bring about climate change mitigation. I propose that a prerequisite for meaningful greenhouse gas reduction is lifestyle change and that many of the mechanisms that have found support (albeit not universal) in the climate change arena thus far are little more than stalling tactics postponing the inevitable hard choices that have to be made. The paper will examine whether international law is suited to stimulating the necessary change in lifestyles and consequent climate change mitigation, or whether international efforts would better be focused on adaptation and addressing international legal challenges that will be faced by a future climate-changed world, such as sovereignty issues facing states that are likely to be inundated by sea level rise and similar concerns. In the course of the paper, I will consider whether mitigation could be encouraged by alternatives to multilateral agreement such as litigation.
Rio +20 and the Right to Water: A South African Perspective
Room 302
Recent multilateral negotiations within the framework of the UNFCCC treaty process have brought little significant progress in meeting the objective of mitigating global climate change. There is even doubt that the mitigation goals that are on the table for agreement will lead to the reduction of temperature rise that is necessary to avoid serious adverse consequences. In this paper, I aim to explore the obstacles, both structural and political, in international law efforts to bring about climate change mitigation. I propose that a prerequisite for meaningful greenhouse gas reduction is lifestyle change and that many of the mechanisms that have found support (albeit not universal) in the climate change arena thus far are little more than stalling tactics postponing the inevitable hard choices that have to be made. The paper will examine whether international law is suited to stimulating the necessary change in lifestyles and consequent climate change mitigation, or whether international efforts would better be focused on adaptation and addressing international legal challenges that will be faced by a future climate-changed world, such as sovereignty issues facing states that are likely to be inundated by sea level rise and similar concerns. In the course of the paper, I will consider whether mitigation could be encouraged by alternatives to multilateral agreement such as litigation.