The Commonwealth Folks’s Discussion board—the most important gathering of civil society within the Commonwealth—convened main local weather specialists from India, Saint Lucia, and Rwanda to debate how the Commonwealth can ship local weather justice the place different mechanisms have failed. Among the many audio system was Dr. James Fletcher, former Saint Lucian local weather change negotiator. Listed below are excerpts from “World Surroundings Court docket proposed at assembly of Commonwealth civil society specialists forward of COP27” (The Commonwealth).
Local weather negotiators, small island determination makers and Rwanda’s Justice Minister got here collectively yesterday on the Commonwealth Folks’s Discussion board to debate how the coalition of 54 Commonwealth member states can advance local weather justice. It’s the primary time civil society within the Commonwealth has convened in 4 years at this scale, owing to the pandemic, with the dialogue spanning how civil society can encourage Commonwealth leaders to construct new agreements for collective motion within the lead as much as COP27.
Specifically, advocates proposed a World Surroundings Court docket, a brand new world dispute decision mechanism to arbitrate negotiations over local weather loss and injury funding.
As Rwandan Minister of Justice and Lawyer Normal Dr Emmanuel Ugirashebuja explains:
‘I’ve been a powerful proponent of a World Environmental Court docket. International challenges want world options. Local weather change doesn’t have borders, it transcends borders. We solely have a really small room of alternative to actually reverse the impacts of local weather change and environmental issues — and I believe the authorized avenues on the multilateral stage are very restricted in the intervening time.’
Dr James Fletcher, former Saint Lucian local weather change negotiator who performed a pivotal function within the adoption of the Paris Settlement at COP21, supported this in precept, however with caveats:
‘I welcome any considered an environmental courtroom however I do know judging from the sort of resistance to loss and injury, we can have issues. That mentioned, civil society may also help — as a result of if we simply go away it to the politicians to argue, compromises might be made and again offers might be made. We will be unable to do it on our personal. We’d like civil society to champion this.’ [. . .]
Dr James Fletcher added that the time for negotiations is now — whether or not that’s in courtroom or one other multilateral discussion board — as small island states can’t afford extra discuss:
‘So many small island growing states are disappearing. There are islands within the Bahamas, within the Marshall Islands, that can disappear. In Jakarta, cities are below menace. There may be nothing you possibly can do to adapt to that. There isn’t a seawall that you possibly can construct to trigger that to alter. Someone has to take accountability for this.’ [. . .]
For full article, see https://thecommonwealth.org/information/world-environment-court-proposed-meeting-commonwealth-civil-society-experts