Domestic Water and Disaster Management Legislation: A Key Tool for the Implementation of the Paris Agreement in LDCs

Abstract

Least developed countries (LDCs) are at the forefront of the impacts of climate change although they have contributed little to it. Climate change will most likely result in more extreme weather events such as floods, droughts, and tropical storms. These water-related disasters account nowadays for approximately 90% of the thousand most devastating events, and around 95% of fatalities from such events occur in LDCs. An adequate domestic legal framework in LDCs is thus crucial to address the issues of climate change and water-related disasters as they set the baseline to implement mitigation and adaptation measures. Contemporary water and disaster management legislation reform has been inspired by climate change concerns – overtly or covertly. These concerns translate into a panoply of responses, mostly regulatory, which have no ostensible, direct connection to climate change as such yet serve the purpose all the same. By examining LDCs’ water and disaster management domestic laws and policies, and Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), this article aims to critically assess whether LDCs’ legal framework facilitates an adequate response to the primary impacts of climate change and thus support the implementation of the Paris Agreement.