{"id":7711,"date":"2021-12-16T11:58:45","date_gmt":"2021-12-16T16:58:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\/climatechange\/?p=7711"},"modified":"2021-12-21T10:43:33","modified_gmt":"2021-12-21T15:43:33","slug":"workshop-on-global-south-climate-litigation-a-first-step-in-a-broader-discussion-on-climate-litigation-in-the-global-south","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\/climatechange\/2021\/12\/16\/workshop-on-global-south-climate-litigation-a-first-step-in-a-broader-discussion-on-climate-litigation-in-the-global-south\/","title":{"rendered":"Workshop on Global South Climate Litigation: A first step in a broader discussion on climate litigation in the Global South"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Workshop on Global South Climate Litigation: A first step in a broader discussion on climate litigation in the Global South<\/strong><\/p>\n

By Maria Antonia Tigre and Melanie Murcott<\/em><\/p>\n

Climate litigation is rapidly becoming a global phenomenon<\/a>, making courts essential players in the movement towards employing climate governance to advance and protect human rights, and vice versa. Climate litigation in the Global South, in particular, is utilizing human rights to push for greater ambition in adaptation and mitigation efforts, especially where governments\u2019 responses to the causes and myriad impacts of climate change have been inadequate or inconsistent with applicable laws and policies. To help further the dialogue, on December 2nd<\/sup>, 2021, the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law and the Global Network for Human Rights and the Environment (GNHRE) hosted the workshop<\/a> Climate Litigation in the Global South: A Transnational Global South Perspective. The full program is available here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The relevance of the workshop is clear. As of December 2021, 68 climate change cases have been identified in 19 Global South jurisdictions (38 cases were filed in jurisdictions in Latin America and the Caribbean, 20 cases in Asia, and 10 in Africa). With this growing trend, scholars are shining a light<\/a> on the influence of the Global South in transnational climate litigation. Recent scholarship includes chapters dedicated to jurisdictions in the Global South in recent edited books focused on global perspectives (here<\/a> and here<\/a>), as well as books or special journal issues focused explicitly on a Global South region (i.e., for the Asia-Pacific<\/a> and Africa<\/a>). However, more work needs to be done to identify the transnational issues that commonly cross national boundaries and understand these critical issues from the perspective of the Global South.<\/p>\n

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The December workshop was organized by myself and Dr. Melanie Murcott (Univ. of Pretoria), and represents the first step in an ongoing project by the Sabin Center and GNHRE that highlights advancements in, and obstacles to, climate litigation in the Global South, from the perspective of scholars and practitioners in the Global South,<\/em> particularly in relation to the application and implementation of human rights. The project intends to provide a space<\/a> for Global South scholars and practitioners to share experiences and perspectives about the advances, opportunities, limitations, and challenges in this area, while gaining insight from an expert editorial team of established scholars with expertise in global\/regional climate litigation and\/or climate change law.<\/p>\n

The workshop included ten authors from Africa, five from Asia, and 18 from Latin America. (See the complete list of authors here<\/a>. The editorial team is listed here<\/a>.) The workshop was organized into thematic sessions:<\/p>\n