Ocean Acidification Post-Paris: Gauging Law and Policy Responses in Light of Evolving Scientific Knowledge

• Main Authors: Engler, Cecilia, VanderZwaag, David, Fennel, Katja
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: Schulich Law Scholars 2019
• Subjects: Paris Agreement; International Ocean Governance; Climate Change and Policy; Environmental Law; International Law; Law; Law of the Sea; Ocean acidification
• Online Access: https://digitalcommons.schulichlaw.dal.ca/scholarly_works/1738; https://dal.novanet.ca/permalink/01NOVA_DAL/ev10a8/cdi_brill_journals_10_1163_9789004395633_009

On 12 December 2015, 195 States agreed on the text of the Paris Agreement, opening a new phase in the global response to the threat of climate change. The Agreement has been lauded as an “historic breakthrough in that it seems to have broken a decade long impasse” in climate change negotiations. The impressive number of ratifications to date and its quick entry into force are indicators of this diplomatic success. The Agreement achieved this remarkable feat by fundamentally changing the approach to climate change cooperation. The Kyoto Protocol, generally considered unsuccessful to influence States’ action, was drafted on the premise of jointly negotiated (i.e., top-down) and binding emission targets with strong consequences in case of non-compliance and rigid differentiation between developed and developing countries. The Paris Agreement, in contrast, is a universal agreement that adopts a managerial approach to climate change cooperation under the premise that “self imposed, voluntary commitments [nationally determined contributions or NDCS] are more likely to be met than those imposed by the global community.” The achievement has not been without its skeptics. Key reasons for concern are the absence of binding obligations to reduce greenhouse gases (GHGS) and the inadequacy of current pledges to limit global warming. Political instability was also introduced by the decision of the United States of America’s President on 1 June 2017 to withdraw from the Agreement. This decision has (so far) not affected the level of participation in the Agreement but may temper other countries’ long-term efforts to reduce GHGS emissions as well as the overall prospects of limiting the impacts of climate change. A further uncertainty is whether the Paris Agreement is an adequate response to “the other CO2 problem” – ocean acidification (OA). The oceans have played an important role in mitigating atmospheric warming by absorbing a significant amount of anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2). An estimated 48 percent of the total CO2 ...