Title of the Book: Human Rights and Climate Change: The Law on Loss and Damage
Editor: Linnéa Nordlander
Publisher: Routledge
Publication Year: 2024
The book Human Rights and Climate Change: The Law on Loss and Damage consists of seven chapters, focusing on key international human rights treaties, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and human rights within the framework of customary international law. It also examines reports from the Human Rights Council (HRC), the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), treaties, mandates, and special procedures.
Chapter One introduces the book’s topic, provides an overview of the content, and presents a practical definition of loss and damage tailored to the book’s objectives. Chapter Two lays the conceptual groundwork, offering an overview of how loss and damage have been interpreted in contemporary literature.
Chapter Three addresses the first subsidiary question: Why is adopting a human rights perspective on loss and damage essential, and on what legal grounds can this approach be justified? This chapter begins by explaining how human rights have been integrated into international climate change laws and how climate considerations are incorporated into international human rights law. It then explores the interaction between loss and damage and human rights law, particularly regarding the impacts of climate change. Building on this analysis, the subsequent chapter examines how these two legal systems can be interpreted through the principle of systemic integration and highlights the advantages and disadvantages of the human rights approach. Ultimately, it concludes that the benefits of this approach outweigh its limitations, emphasizing its supportive role in clarifying laws related to loss and damage.
Chapter Four examines the subsidiary question: What obligations does Article 8 of the Paris Agreement impose concerning loss and damage within the framework of international climate change law? This chapter evaluates the legal implications of loss and damage in international climate change law, distinguishes between adaptation and loss and damage, and investigates how the latter is incorporated into nationally determined contributions (NDCs). It also analyzes Article 8 of the Paris Agreement and its related issues.
Chapter Five builds on the findings of Chapter Four, analyzing the relationship between Article 8 of the Paris Agreement and existing provisions in international climate change law. Guided by subsidiary questions such as the obligations Article 8 imposes regarding loss and damage and the influence of human rights perspectives on interpreting its concepts, this chapter moves beyond a mere examination of laws. It incorporates a human rights perspective to understand the relationship between Article 8 and Articles 4 and 7 of the Paris Agreement, as well as Articles 2 and 4(8) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
The analyses in Chapters Four and Five emphasize the need for developing new measures within the framework of international climate change law to address loss and damage and identify existing potential solutions to meet this need. Building on these analyses, Chapter Six addresses the third subsidiary question: From a human rights perspective, when should compensation for loss and damage occur, and who should be responsible? This chapter examines this issue and proposes recommendations identifying the relevant actors and the conditions under which harm caused by climate change impacts should qualify for compensation.
Finally, Chapter Seven concludes the book by summarizing its key findings.
The book’s primary goal is not to answer how all legal domains, at national and international levels, address or should address the harms caused by climate change. Instead, it aims to analyze damages exclusively covered under the international climate change regime and independently linked to international human rights law. However, the book also considers the impacts of climate change within states, providing examples of the types of harms and legal challenges that arise.
Given the absence of a dedicated international court for addressing climate change or human rights issues and the fact that related cases have seldom been adjudicated in the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the book underscores the importance of innovative approaches to tackling loss and damage challenges.
