The International Workshop on Law, Governance and Climate Change was held in Lima, Peru, on December 6, 2014, as a parallel event during the 20th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
The Centre for International Sustainable Development Law hosted the workshop, in collaboration with the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú and the Centre for International Governance Innovation, along with numerous other partners. More than 50 scholars, policy makers, experts, practitioners and stakeholders were convened from more than 40 countries to explore emerging human rights, economic and environmental laws, policies and practices linking climate change with sustainable development, and to chart a new international research and education agenda.
The key questions addressed included: How can international law and governance better respond to climate change? What can universal human rights contribute to legal responses to climate change, and how could climate laws promote respect for human rights? How can innovative legal instruments deliver more sustainable landscapes and energy, harnessing trade, investment and technology for the global green economy?
The workshop was an attempt to elucidate the current international research and education agenda on climate law and governance, to lay the foundations for broader collaborative ventures leading up to 2015’s COP 21 in Paris, France, and the agreement of a new climate instrument that can be implemented through innovative laws and policies on the ground in more than 190 countries.
Katherine Lofts is a legal research fellow with CISDL and coordinator of its climate change program. She is also an LL.M. student at McGill University.
