Driving climate justice through legal channels

 
Driving climate justice through legal channels 


UN Assistant Secretary-General and UNDP Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific 

Nature is taking the stand as courtrooms worldwide become battlegrounds for Earth's rights. The rise in climate litigation demonstrates how the environment can take center stage as a plaintiff, demanding justice and accountability, which benefits everyone. 

On October 23, 2024, India's Supreme Court declared a pollution-free environment a fundamental right, highlighting the government's responsibility to provide clean air and water. In April 2024, the European Court of Human Rights ruled against the Swiss State for inadequate climate action, affirming that climate change is a human rights issue. 

Since 2017, climate change court cases have surged, particularly in the United States, but increasingly worldwide. The number of cases tripled from 884 in 2017 to 2,540 in 2023, with about 17 percent now occurring in developing countries, including small island developing states. The legal landscape is evolving, with significant rulings in Asia and the Pacific driving change. This is an area where UNDP is providing essential support. 

Early and groundbreaking work 
For an example of pioneering climate justice, we can look to 2010 with India's National Green Tribunal and the Philippines' Writ of Kalikasan (Kalikasan means Nature in the Filipino language). This unique legal instrument—designed with support from UNDP—enables citizens to protect environmental rights by filing swift, accessible court petitions addressing ecological damages affecting multiple regions. It allows for immediate judicial intervention to safeguard balanced and healthy ecosystems. For instance, it has been used to close dumpsites and illegal landfills, prompt the rehabilitation of Manila Bay, and order the listing of non-environmentally friendly plastic products. 

Similarly, courts in Pakistan have adopted a "climate justice" perspective, forming a climate change commission. A notable case involved seven-year-old Rabab Ali, who challenged plans to expand coal production in the Thar desert, emphasizing intergenerational equity in climate actions. Pakistan was also one of the main proponents of the Loss and Damage concept when it was first introduced. 

What are the emerging trends in climate litigation we are observing now? 
Following the landmark Paris Agreement in 2015, activists and citizens worldwide are increasingly turning to courts for climate solutions, encouraging innovative legal approaches and rethinking the meaning of climate justice. Key trends include: 

Human rights related to environmental assets and protections: Courts are recognizing the connection between climate change and human rights, enhancing protections and accountability. Many courts now interpret constitutional rights to encompass environmental protections. 
Intergenerational equity: Cases brought by youth highlight the unequal impact of climate change on future generations and how climate justice is a primary advocacy issue for youth globally. 
Corporate accountability: Courts are extending climate obligations to businesses. 
Innovative legal concepts: New principles such as "water justice" and the recognition of nature's legal rights are gaining traction, for example, treating trees as living beings. 
"Activists and citizens worldwide are increasingly turning to courts for climate solutions, spurring innovative legal approaches and rethinking what climate justice means." 
Thanks to the leading role of the Pacific Island State of Vanuatu at the UN General Assembly, the International Court of Justice is currently hearing a landmark case on climate justice—its largest case ever—to determine what countries and companies are obliged to do under international law to protect the climate and environment from human-caused greenhouse gas emissions and to ascertain the legal consequences for governments when their actions or inaction have significantly harmed the climate and environment. The court's advisory opinion is expected to influence climate-related legal actions and policies for decades to come. 

These legal advances compel both public and private sectors to consider and define more ambitious climate goals, offering citizens and activists new avenues to enforce accountability. 

What's next for UNDP? 
For UNDP, this is not only an area that requires urgent action but also a natural point of thematic convergence that integrates two of our areas of expertise: climate action and governance. UNDP is actively supporting courts in addressing these novel cases. 

For example, our global strategy for environmental justice (2022) aims to enhance accountability and protection of environmental rights for current and future generations, as well as to promote environmental rule of law. The strategy is based on a three-pronged approach: establishing enabling legal frameworks, supporting people-centered, effective institutions, and increasing access to justice and legal empowerment. UNDP's Nature Pledge has a key target of strengthening environmental justice frameworks in 50 countries. 

This is yielding concrete results. For instance, in Thailand, UNDP partnered with the Judicial Training Institute to provide climate justice training, equipping judges with insights on climate impacts. By supporting innovative legal concepts, we assist justice actors in advocating for new legal principles such as "water justice," aiding courts in novel environmental cases. UNDP has also supported ASEAN countries with an Environmental Justice Needs Assessment. 

Through its Justice Futures CoLab, UNDP promotes the right to a healthy environment and addresses injustices, supporting courts in climate justice efforts. 

Judicial systems are becoming key players in climate action, with the potential to address issues of climate migration, Indigenous rights, financing, and extreme weather liabilities. 

Climate justice will also be a crucial factor under the proposed loss and damage mechanism, where UNDP, in collaboration with national and international partners, supports countries with taxonomy, valuation of natural assets, damage assessments, and strengthening the capacities of the courts to hear and manage these cases. Raising social awareness and encouraging citizens' participation in climate justice issues is another line of engagement. 

As our climate and nature-related events intensify, so too will this trend towards seeking justice, legal, and financial recourse. Ensuring that the systems and people involved are well-prepared and discerning in this relatively new arena will benefit everyone, including the environment as a plaintiff in the midst of it all.

Source@UNDP
Edited:Bosman