188 2.1 What conceptions of justice have African states advocated within the various climate change treaties. 192 2.4 To what extent does the distribution of rights and responsibilities under the Paris Agreement address the conflict between climate change and the need for development in Africa.
INTRODUCTION
It has also become apparent in recent years that even within developing countries there are varying interests and priorities, further dividing views on the meaning and implication of equity in climate agreements. Specifically, it examines the conceptions of equality adopted by African states and the extent to which these conceptions are reflected in climate change treaties.
THE CLIMATE CHANGE PROBLEM
Contribution of Working Group I to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2021) 6;. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 'Summary for Policymakers' in Hans-Otto Pörtner, Debra Roberts, Elvira Poloczanska, et al (eds) Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability.
PROBLEM STATEMENT
Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. For the latter group of countries, climate action represents an additional burden to existing development challenges.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
METHODOLOGY
43 Report of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development Rio de Janeiro, 2.-14. June 1992 Vol. 45 Submission of Like-minded Developing Countries on Climate Change (24 September 2013) https://unfccc.int/files/documentation/submissions_from_parties/adp/application/pdf/adp_lmdc_workstream_1_.
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
It seeks to outline the precise meaning and implications of justice in the climate change regime. This thesis is therefore an important addition to the literature as it enhances our knowledge of African countries' concept of equity in the climate change regime.
LITERATURE REVIEW
This was the period between the Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol. Most attempts to understand the climate change regime and treaty-making process have focused on the wider Global South.
CHAPTER OUTLINE
It examines the concept of justice adopted by African countries in the negotiations for the Paris Agreement and examines the extent to which the agreement reflects this concept. It also offers some recommendations for the use of justice in the further growth of international climate change law.
EQUITY: A BRIEF HISTORY
Equity under the Roman law
Equity in the civil law system
Equity under English common law
By doing this, stare decisis also addressed a major lack of fairness; its vulnerability to the impulse of the decision-maker. Within the various legal systems, Roman, civil or common law, equity was recognized as a tool to mitigate the rigidity of the law to ensure fairness in individual decisions.
THEORIZING EQUITY IN INTERNATIONAL LAW
Equity as discretionary justice
- Definition and justification
- Historical origin and gradual development
- Critical appraisal
The development of equity in international law was further promoted by its inclusion in the Statute of the Permanent Court of International Justice (PCIJ Statute). Much of the discussion centered around the differentiations of equity contra legem (against the law), infra legem (within the law) and paetra legem (outside the law).
Equity as distributive justice
- Definition and justification
- A critique of the applicability of distributive justice within the international
- Interim conclusion
Even then, his conception of distributive justice within the international system is very limited compared to the application of the same principle within the domestic system. Some scholars, as seen above, have objected to the use of distributive justice within the global community.
Equity as corrective or restorative justice
- Definition and justification
- Interim conclusion
To understand the concept of restorative justice in the context of climate change, it is necessary to restate the nature of the problem of climate change. First, crime is seen primarily as a conflict against the victim, and the victim must remain at the center of the justice process.
CONCLUSION
This chapter continues the conversation by examining the use of equality in the evolution of international climate change law. The chapter concludes with an examination of the UNFCCC and the concept of equality, which is reflected in this text.
THE NEED FOR GLOBAL REGULATION OF THE ENVIRONMENT
THE NEED FOR GLOBAL REGULATION OF THE ENVIRONMENT The environment consists of an abundance of natural resources such as air, water, soil, fauna. This reality led to efforts, under the responsibility of the UN, to formulate a global framework for the regulation of various aspects of the environment.
EQUITY AND INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL LAW: FROM
Preparatory works of the Stockholm Conference
65 In addition, the UN Secretary-General had set up the Panel of Experts on Development and Environment. Some of the environmental problems facing developing countries were a direct result of poverty and economic underdevelopment.
Equity and the global South at the Stockholm Conference
In addition, the representatives of the developing world emphasized their historically disadvantaged position compared to most of the developed world. The priorities of states in the Global South, the existing imbalance between developed and developing countries, and the blame of developed states for environmental damage.
Developing countries and the Stockholm Declaration
- Economic development and environmental action
- Financial and technological support
- Equity in the Stockholm Declaration
Specifically, the argument of developing countries regarding their development challenges and its relationship with the environment was captured in the preamble of the Stockholm Declaration. An examination of the Stockholm Declaration reveals an agreement that recognizes the disparity between developed and developing states.
The Brundtland Report
80 World Commission on Environment and Development Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development: Our Common Future (1987) 3 (hereinafter the Brundltand Report). The Brundtland Report, however, was new in the kind of connection it made between development and the environment.
Interim conclusion
The Brundtland Commission therefore succeeded in establishing a foundation for equity in the climate change regime. 83 The North and poverty in the global South; an issue that quickly became central to climate change negotiations.
DEVELOPMENT OF THE CLIMATE CHANGE REGIME
Africa and the Rio Summit
- Developmental needs and climate change action
- Unfair global trade practices
- The transfer of finance and technology
- Interim conclusion
121 Report of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development Rio de Janeiro, 2-14 June 1992 Vol. 91 In their joint submissions with the G77, African states pointed out that the inclusion of equity within the climate change agreement would serve as a recognition of the development needs and priorities of developing states.
THE UN FRAMEWORK CONVENTION ON CLIMATE CHANGE
- Preamble to the UNFCCC
- Differentiation: bedrock of equity under the UNFCCC
- Emission reduction targets and timetables
- Obligation to transfer finance and technology
- Transfer of finance
- Transfer of technology
- Assessing equity under the UNFCCC
The transfer of finance and technology represents one of the central ways in which the concept of equality is reflected in the UNFCCC. In conclusion, the provision for the transfer of finance and technology from developed to developing countries serves as an expression of the principle of equality in the UNFCCC.
CONCLUSION
The treaty recognizes the historical responsibility of developed countries for climate change and imposes on them obligations aimed at helping developing countries. This chapter examines the evolution of the concept of justice in African countries after the adoption of the UNFCCC.
EQUITY IN THE KYOTO PROTOCOL
Introduction
Where climate change commitments exist, African states insist that they must be accompanied by the necessary financial and technological support. This ultimately led to the collapse of the Kyoto Protocol and the attempts at another binding legal instrument that, states parties hoped, would better resolve the disagreements over the distribution of rights and responsibilities within international climate change law.
The Kyoto Protocol
This process culminated in the adoption of the Kyoto Protocol at the Third Conference of the Parties held in Kyoto, Japan in 1997. Instead, it encourages developed states to fulfill their obligations to developing states under Article 4(1) of the UNFCCC.16.
The Clean Development Mechanism
- Africa and the CDM
- Equity in the Kyoto Protocol
Instead, it ensures that the solutions to climate change provide developmental benefits that will benefit these developing countries. By ensuring that action on climate change also meets some of the development needs of host states.
AFRICAN COMMON POSITION POST-CDM
- The Nairobi Declaration
- The Common African Position on Climate Change 2009
- Conference of the parties (COP) 15
- Copenhagen Accord
- Conference of the Parties (COP) 17
- Interim conclusion
This section looks at the Nairobi Declaration and its contribution to the African stance on equality within the global climate discourse. It was also another opportunity for African states to put forward a common position on climate change.
THE PARIS AGREEMENT
Introduction: Why another protocol?
Other major emitters such as Japan, Russia and New Zealand refused to adopt new targets after the first commitment period expired. Equally, the application of the principle of restorative justice had become less clear with these developing economies.
Negotiating history of the Paris Agreement
- General framework
- Climate finance and technology transfer
- Emission reduction targets
- Adaptation
South Africa is also a member of the BASIC group (Brazil, South Africa, India and China). 7 Ibid., paragraph 4; Submission by Swaziland on behalf of the African Group under work stream I of paragraph 7b of the ADP.
Interim conclusion
150 Not only that, but the new agreement must ensure that the obligations imposed on African countries must be backed up by adequate financial and technological support to fulfill those obligations. This means that an unequal distribution of rights within a climate change regime is not only desirable, but a prerequisite for justice in international climate change law.
EQUITY IN THE PARIS AGREEMENT
Climate finance under the Paris Agreement
- Developed state parties’ obligation
- African state parties’ obligation
- Implications for equity
It is important to restate some of the important changes of the Paris Agreement regarding climate finance. In other words, securing climate finance is not a prerequisite for developing countries to fulfill their commitments under the Paris Agreement.
Transfer of technology
- Developed state parties’ obligation
- Implications for equity
Nevertheless, the provisions of the UNFCCC on the transfer of climate technology from developed to developing countries remain in force, as they are consistent and compatible with the Paris Agreement. Unfortunately, the Paris Agreement does not create any clear obligation regarding the transfer of technologies from developed to developing countries.
Mitigation (emission reduction targets)
- Developed state parties’ obligations
- African state parties’ obligations
- Implications for equity
In short, the Paris Agreement places the responsibility of ensuring a reduction in the average global temperature on all contracting states. In conclusion, an examination of the distribution of emission reduction obligations of the Paris Agreement reveals the concept of fairness of distributive justice.
Loss and damage
- Developed state parties’ obligations
- Implications for equity
In general, no clear conception of equity is apparent in the loss and damage provision. The Paris Agreement therefore does not set out equitable principles in the loss and damage provision.
FROM RIO TO PARIS: CHANGING CONCEPTIONS OF EQUITY
The Paris Agreement also departs significantly from the leadership paradigm seen in the UNFCCC and the Kyoto Protocol. An examination of the Paris Agreement therefore shows a clear departure from the UNFCCC and Kyoto Protocol model of equity.
AN ALTERNATIVE APPROACH TO EQUITY
The application of equity within climate change treaties must be consistent with principles of distributive justice. However, the application of distributive justice within international climate change law must have a limit point.
