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Redgwell, Catherine --- "Climate Change and International Environmental Law" [2012] ELECD 740; in Rayfuse, Rosemary; Scott, V. Shirley (eds), "International Law in the Era of Climate Change" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2012)

Book Title: International Law in the Era of Climate Change

Editor(s): Rayfuse, Rosemary; Scott, V. Shirley

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781849800303

Section: Chapter 5

Section Title: Climate Change and International Environmental Law

Author(s): Redgwell, Catherine

Number of pages: 29

Extract:

5. Climate change and international
environmental law
Catherine Redgwell

INTRODUCTION
Climate change has been described as `the most significant environmental
challenge of our time'.1 It is a global issue, the effects of which will be felt
far beyond the location at which greenhouse gases (GHG) are emitted. The
key legal agreements underpinning the international climate change regime,
the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
(UNFCCC)2 and the Kyoto Protocol (KP),3 are recognised as important
milestones in the development of international environmental law.4 These
agreements have significantly enriched the corpus of general international
environmental law rules and principles through their further elaboration of,
inter alia, the precautionary principle and the principle of common but
differentiated responsibilities and through the development of innovative
`flexibility mechanisms' for their implementation.5


1
P. Birnie, A. Boyle and C. Redgwell, International Law & the Environment
(3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press 2009), 335 (hereinafter `BBR'); see also
R. Falk, `The second cycle of ecological urgency: an environmental justice
perspective' in J. Ebbesson and P. Okowa (eds), Environmental Law and Justice in
Context (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2009), 39, 39­40 (`greatest
convergence of concern about environmental conditions involves the adverse
effects of climate changing trends').
2
(1992) 31 ILM 851.
3
1997 Protocol to the UNFCCC (KP), (1998) 37 ILM.
4
I.H. Rowlands, `Atmosphere and Outer Space', in D. Bodansky, J. Brunnée
and E. Hey (eds), The Oxford Handbook of International Environmental Law
(Oxford: Oxford University Press 2007), 316, ...