Climate Change

The United Nations has determined that nature is declining globally at rates unprecedented in human history, with grave impacts upon animals, people, and the environment. A landmark report from the United Nations Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystems Services (IPBES) found that approximately 1 million animal and plant species are now threatened with extinction, many within decades, due to climate change. Reversing these trends is impossible without addressing climate change. Our work on climate change ranges from representation of some of the countries most vulnerable to the devastating impacts of climate change to using other international legal tools to highlight the threat of climate change to animals and the environment. Additionally, we work to ensure that international treaties consider and take into account the impacts of climate change on wild animals.

Relevant Work

The Global Law Alliance is at the forefront of fighting against climate change. For example:

• We have provided legal support in the ongoing negotiations for some of the countries most vulnerable to the devastating impacts of climate change.
• We work creatively outside the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (CNFCCC) process to progress global action on climate change.
• We petitioned to declare Glacier National Park as a World Heritage Site in danger due to climate change and explored whether the World Trade Organization’s rules restricting subsidies could be used to phrase out fossil fuel subsidies.
• Global Law Alliance Director, Erica Lyman, served as an advisor at climate change meetings in Morocco and continued to support the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) as a legal advisor to the Maldives, which currently serves as the Chair of AOSIS, at the climate change meeting held recently in Marrakech, Morocco.