The role of law and legal systems in climate change adaptation policy

Wenta, Joseph; McDonald, Jan

doi:10.4337/9781786432520.00011

Cited by 4 publications

(7 citation statements)

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“…Improving the precision and binding nature of legal obligations for adaptation remains a key challenge for the international climate regime. While none of these instruments contain binding legal obligations, they establish the institutional architecture for the development of adaptation initiatives at the international level and the normative framework for incorporation in national and subnational laws (Wenta & McDonald, 2019).…”

Section: Developments In International Adaptation Lawmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While most climate litigation is still focused on driving higher mitigation ambition, the number of adaptation‐oriented cases is growing (Peel & Osofsky, 2020; Setzer & Vanhala, 2019). Indigenous and vulnerable groups are invoking constitutional and other legal rights to a healthy environment to demand stronger action on adaptation (Wenta & McDonald, 2019). Public interest groups and individuals are using administrative law remedies to ensure that the policies and decisions of spatial planners, resource, and infrastructure managers account for the impacts of climate change.…”

Section: Trends In the Role Of Lawmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There is also only superficial focus on removing legal barriers to adaptation. Barriers are often noted in generalities (see, e.g., McDonald, 2011; Wenta & McDonald, 2019) but it is fair to say that most laws introduced to date have effected incremental adjustments to business as usual activities, rather than attempting transformational shifts (Noble et al, 2014, p. 839). This is not surprising, given that the institution of law provides a foundation of stability and predictability which is hard (and potentially undesirable) to dismantle (Wenta & McDonald, 2019).…”

Section: Trends In the Role Of Lawmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Barriers are often noted in generalities (see, e.g., McDonald, 2011; Wenta & McDonald, 2019) but it is fair to say that most laws introduced to date have effected incremental adjustments to business as usual activities, rather than attempting transformational shifts (Noble et al, 2014, p. 839). This is not surprising, given that the institution of law provides a foundation of stability and predictability which is hard (and potentially undesirable) to dismantle (Wenta & McDonald, 2019). Similarly, some legal barriers, such as the role of tenure and property rights, have deep structural, philosophical, and historical foundations, and the potential for reform rests with political influence not legal analysis.…”

Section: Trends In the Role Of Lawmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Rethinking the role of law in adapting to climate change

McDonald

McCormack

2021

WIREs Climate Change

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The article evaluates the role of law in adaptation over the past decade. We track the emergence of international adaptation law within the climate and non‐climate regime, alongside increasingly dire extreme events and strident scientific consensus. Examining the growth in national and subnational laws for adaptation, we reflect on the role of framework legislation and legal mechanisms used in sectoral laws. Based on progress over the past decade, we outline how the role of law can be enhanced and accelerated in the decade ahead. We identify important trends in adaptation law and consider the potential for these innovations to drive future adaptation: the sheer growth in priority and volume of laws directed towards adaptation; the intersection of adaptation with other policy domains, especially disaster risk reduction; the need for improved architecture for funding adaptation; and the important role of strategic litigation. Largely absent from the past decade of adaptation law reform is evaluation of effectiveness, or examples of systemic reform that addresses underlying causes of vulnerability. With slow progress in implementing transformational adaptation law reform, we identify five design principles for adaptation laws. The design of laws must (1) be responsive to change; (2) address equity dimensions of climate change; (3) implement innovative solutions; (4) maximize co‐benefits; and (5) establish processes for managing trade‐offs. This article is categorized under: Vulnerability and Adaptation to Climate Change > Institutions for Adaptation

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Section: Developments In International Adaptation Lawmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Trends In the Role Of Lawmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Trends In the Role Of Lawmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Trends In the Role Of Lawmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Rethinking the role of law in adapting to climate change

McDonald

McCormack

2021

WIREs Climate Change

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“…In this context, how the state expresses efforts to protect vegetation cover through legal norms becomes relevant [21,22]. Also relevant is how it granted the hierarchy of standards, and the issuer of these legal norms gives them a binding force to influence the treatment of deforestation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Legal Risk in the Management of Forest Cover in a River Basin San Juan, Cuba

Borges

Montero

Tejera

et al. 2023

Land

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The protection of forest cover in Cuba is a state priority. It is part of the state plan to deal with climate change. The purpose of this paper is to assess the legal risks associated with the protection of forest cover, which is essential to ensure the sustainability of hydrological watershed management in Cuba. The qualitative method of social research was followed. Techniques of content analysis, semi-structured interviews, and legal exegetics were applied. Geographic information system (GIS) and remote sensing techniques were also used to triangulate data and results. This article provided a robust analytical framework for generating innovative laws for land planning through a three-phase methodological design associated with configuring, interpreting, and applying tools for stopping deforestation processes based on watershed management. As a result, it was demonstrated that limitations reveal a deficient legal application with risk in the river basin, and a significant causal relationship between institutions and communities. Furthermore, the study indicated that although there are legal norms that regulate the protection of forest cover in the studied basin, its vulnerabilities generate uncertainty about the foreseeable results in management of forest cover. It is recommended that the Provincial Council of Hydrographic Basins include the design of legal risk indicators for forest cover management into the sub-plan for forest area increase. These recommendations constitute a set of related actions to improve the sustainability of the above-mentioned management.

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Sixteen ways to adapt: a comparison of state-level climate change adaptation strategies in the federal states of Germany

King

2022

Reg Environ Change

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Climate change adaptation (CCA) to reduce or prevent negative climate change impacts and, in some cases, maximize potential benefits is a complex challenge demanding multi-level policy action. In federalist systems, sub-national governments are among key actors for enabling adaptation and their clear commitments can increase collaboration and innovation at the local level. Germany serves as a particularly insightful case for observing the variance among sub-national approaches due to its role as a “leader” in CCA at the national level. This paper provides the first systematic assessment of all sixteen state adaptation strategies in Germany and examines how German states are fostering adaptation, the extent to which their approaches vary, and which patterns have emerged. Based on a qualitative document analysis of over 30 documents, this assessment focuses on five indicators synthesized from literature climate policy analyses and on barriers and facilitating factors of adaptation. Results find that German state strategies are often non-committal sets of recommendations and identify three clusters displaying different degrees of institutionalization and guidance. While federalism allows for flexibility among state responses, the absence of federal mandates and policy standards allows some states to fall behind while others continue to develop their strategies to foster adaptation. These sixteen diverse approaches each have implications for adaptation governance at other levels.

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The role of law and legal systems in climate change adaptation policy

Cited by 4 publications

References 0 publications

Rethinking the role of law in adapting to climate change

Rethinking the role of law in adapting to climate change

Legal Risk in the Management of Forest Cover in a River Basin San Juan, Cuba

Sixteen ways to adapt: a comparison of state-level climate change adaptation strategies in the federal states of Germany

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