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Public Participation in International Climate Change Law: Analysis of the Impacts of Uncertainty Related to Climate Response Measures on the Public

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Abstract

Climate change harmfully affects social and natural systems. These outcomes adversely affect the human and natural systems, resulting in adopting related-response measures whose implementation yields similar outcomes, especially when poorly designed. Climate-related projects, actions, and policies cause harmful environmental impacts, even though the United Nations Convention on Climate Change and its subsequent instruments urge parties, when dealing with climate change, to employ methods that preserve the quality of the environment. Few studies have established the effects of these environmentally, economically, culturally, and socially unsound mechanisms on public participation, although research usually proves that ecological and environmental citizenship can enhance climate action. The study also highlights gaps in the common understanding of public participation in climate action. This reflection analyses the relationships between public participation and climate response measures and concludes that uncertainty related to response measures could affect the perception of climate action by the public. The reflection, therefore, shows that many international environmental law legal instruments, policies, and scholarships attempt to address the issue.

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Notes

  1. Escrihuela stresses that the concept environmental citizenship is plurivoque as many other terms are used to refer to the same reality. Among these concepts, one may register ‘green citizenship’, ‘sustainability citizenship’, ‘environmentally reasonable citizenship’, and ‘ecological stewardship’.

  2. Escrihuela believes that ecological or environmental citizenship is too individualistic which is not compatible with environmental issues as they require collective actions.

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Acknowledgements

I would like to thank my supervisor, Professor Ke Jian of the Research Institute of Environmental Law (RIEL) of Wuhan University. I am grateful to the RIEL Director, Professor Qin Tianbao and his staff for all their support and to manuscript reviewers for their comments and suggestions.

Funding

Wuhan University Scholarship, Beneficiary: Dieudonné Mevono Mvogo

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  1. Research Institute of Environmental Law (RIEL), School of Law, Wuhan University, Wuhan City, Hubei Province, 430072, People’s Republic of China

    Dieudonné Mevono Mvogo

  2. Independent Research Centre for African Studies (IRCAS), Yaoundé, Cameroon

    Dieudonné Mevono Mvogo

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Correspondence to Dieudonné Mevono Mvogo.

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Mevono Mvogo, D. Public Participation in International Climate Change Law: Analysis of the Impacts of Uncertainty Related to Climate Response Measures on the Public. Jus Cogens (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42439-023-00086-9

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