Climate change has become one of the most pressing concerns of the 21st century. Major scientific findings have confirmed that the impacts of climate change on biodiversity are already real and happening – from the ecosystems to the species level. At the same time, climate change is intrinsically linked with the question of energy production and supply, which has recently emerged at the forefront of sustainable development. Integrating biodiversity into the energy sector has become increasingly important.
The Environmental Law Programme (ELP) as well as IUCN in general have taken up climate change and energy actively during the last years. The ELP works on climate change and energy issues through its Commission on Environmental Law (CEL) Specialist Group on Energy Law and Climate Change, the IUCN Academy of Environmental Law and the Environmental Law Centre (ELC).
Climate change and biodiversity
Global climate change is an increasingly significant driver of biodiversity loss; on the other hand, conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity can contribute both to mitigation and adaptation measures. As a cross-cutting issue the inter-relationship of climate change and biodiversity receives increasing attention by international environmental legal regimes. Coherent implementation of the relevant international obligations and commitments under the different regimes is a crucial but challenging task for states. To facilitate this implementation, the ELC has developed the Biodiversity and Climate Module under the UNEP Issue Based Modules project.
Energy
The CEL Specialist Group on Energy Law and Climate Change is engaged in research activities on various levels and in policy work on energy, inter alia by supporting IUCN’s participation in the Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) of the UN ECOSOC. Currently, energy forms part of the CSD’s thematic cluster.
Energy was also the research focus of the IUCN Academy of Environmental Law at its inaugural Colloquium in 2003.
Rights-based approach to access to energy
The ELP contributes to the newly established IUCN Energy and Biodiversity Leveraging Initiative and to the Conservation for Poverty Reduction Initiative (CPRI). One of ELP’s aims is to develop and promote a rights-based approach as a tool for poverty reduction and sustainable development. With respect to energy, this approach could be used to better combine efforts to further equal access by all people to energy services, which are reliable, economically viable, socially acceptable and environ-mentally sound.
Publications
- The Law of Energy for Sustainable Development and its companion volume Compendium of Sustainable Energy Laws
- Energy Law and Sustainable Development, EPLP No. 47
- Legal Aspects in the Implementation of CDM Forestry Projects, EPLP No. 59.
Further links
For IUCN’s work on Climate Change click here.
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