South Asia and Global Climate Law: Duties, Rights, and Justice Frameworks

• Muhammad Faiq Butt

  Lecturer Law Department of Law University of Okara

  Author

The region of South Asia, which is among the most environmentally vulnerable parts of the world (e.g.: eco-sensitive / climate-vulnerable), is facing growing environmental threats in terms of rising sea levels (increased sea-level rise), intensified monsoons (unpredictable monsoon patterns), glacial retreat (glacial recession), and extreme heat waves (prolonged heat events) all of which are threatening the ecosystem and developmental direction of the area. The area is a contributory source to the historical greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (carbon footprint / cumulative emissions), but experiences the brunt of climate change, casting serious challenges of fairness (equity / distributive justice), legal responsibility (obligation / accountability) and climate justice in the context of international law. The paper analyses the relationship between the international climate law (global climate governance / transnational environmental law) and the theory of climate justice, addressing especially the vulnerable status of South Asia in the current global climate regime. Based on the Paris agreement, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) as well as the applicable jurisprudence, the paper examines the legal obligations (obligations / commitments) of South Asian states, especially their mitigation obligations (commitment to cut emission), entitlement to climate adaptation financing (access to climate adaptation funding), and the obligation to protect climate-displaced peoples (protection of climate migrants / climate induced displaced persons) in the region. It critically reviews how the principles of equity (fairness / distributive balance) and common but differentiated responsibilities (CBDR) are working and the structural obstacles which prevent effective South Asian involvement in the global climate governance. Also, this paper addresses climate justice as a normative theory (ethical paradigm) and as a legal ideal (emerging legal norm / new legal objective) -disproportionate harm of vulnerable populations (marginalized populations / at-risk communities): women, rural people, and indigenous people. It further investigates the new home climate jurisprudence (national climate litigation / environmental case law) in the area, the rising popularity of international climate litigation and the rise in the need to have enforceable obligations (binding commitments) to deal with loss and damage. To sum up, the paper posits that the international legal procedures should be converted into a model based on justice (equity-based model / fairness-based regime) that is more attuned to the local weaknesses, the historical disparities in emission rates, and the timely necessity of a sense of accountability in the Anthropocene.

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