Editors' Note

• Author: Braunson Virjee - Chelsea Tu
• Pages: 2-2

resources. The group of nations comprising the East African

Community, and their struggle with water management, provides

a further example of how regional action is a fundamental asset

in the f‌ight against global climate change.

So too does this issue address the domestic front. It examines

the role of the nation’s courts in achieving progress in climate

law. As cap-and-trade gains traction, the issue advocates that

such frameworks should be structured in a way that promotes

and ensures environmental justice in vulnerable communities.

It also calls for carbon sequestration governance to honor the

polluter pays principle and maximize liability for potentially

responsible parties.

At each level, this issue seeks to advance climate change

law and policy. While this year may have seen global awakening

and an all-inclusive commitment toward uniform global action,

the climate regime still has much room for growth. As the inter-

national community embarks on this arduous process, the fate

of the climate regime and, in turn, the planet lies in the hands of

climate scientists, policy makers, and lawyers.

2SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT LAW & POLICY

In many ways, the year 2011 represents a global awakening.

As the Arab spring swept across Northern Africa and the

Middle East, one state after another overthrew its regime

in hopes of gaining the freedoms of choice and expression.1 In

the wake of the Japanese Fukushima Nuclear Disaster, the world

learned that energy development ought not only work to satisfy

demand and national security, but should take equal account

of long-term sustainability and safety.2 Against this back-

drop, the year ended with 195 State Parties attending the 17th

Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Convention

on the Framework for Climate Change.3 The resulting Durban

Package will bring all greenhouse-gas emitting nations under a

new legal regime by 2015, with the purpose of cutting emissions

no later than 2020.4 And while the unprecedented agreement

takes a f‌irst step toward a future, comprehensive, and binding

agreement, ultimately, the Durban outcome also leaves much

to be desired.

This annual SDLP Climate Law Reporter once again takes

stock of climate change law and policy in an attempt to provide

the ever-growing climate community with a central source

of relevant and vanguard articles. This issue dives into the issue

at each level, surveying the progress and prospects of climate

change governance on the international, regional, and domestic

levels.

On the international stage, included articles reveal that the

course forward from Durban needs to unequivocally def‌ine the

obligations of each nation, take the issue of equity into account,

and improve mechanisms to ensure commitment accountability.

As the international community sets out on this new path, the

focus of climate law and policy practitioners must be mindful

of this global effort.

However, as outlined by other selections in this issue,

regional governance is equally important in this effort. As

Himalayan glaciers face alarming melting rates, states ought

to adopt regional mechanisms to better monitor and manage

the fallout. In the vulnerable coral reefs of the South Pacif‌ic,

regional knowledge sharing and management between govern-

ments could be the key to protecting these fragile, rich marine

EDITORS’ NOTE

FEATURES:

15 | AN UN-CONVENTIONAL APPROACH: ECUADOR’S

YASUNÍ-ITT INITIATIVE IS IN DISCORD WITH THE

UNFCCC

by Ryan Haddad

25 | THE MONTREAL PROTOCOL:

FIT FOR HYDROFLUROCARBONS

by Veronica Kennedy

32 | RECOGNITION OF PROPERTY RIGHTS IN CARBON

CREDITS UNDER CALIFORNIA’S NEW GREENHOUSE

GAS CAP-AND-TRADE PROGRAM

by John Monterubio

38 | OFFSETTING PROGRAMS: STRUGGLING TO FIND

AN EQUITABLE SOLUTION INTERNATIONALLY

by Silvia Fejka

45 | AN ALTERNATIVE APPROACH FOR ADDRESSING

CO2-DRIVEN OCEAN ACIDIFICATION

by Verónica González

1 Harriet Barovick et al., Revolution Meets Reality, TIME, Mar. 28, 2011.

2 Sonia Kolesnikov-Jessop, Southeast Asian Nations Look at Nuclear Power,

N.Y. TIMES, Nov. 27, 2011.

3 UNFCCC, Durban Climate Change Conference - November/December

2011, http://unfccc.int/meetings/durban_nov_2011/meeting/6245.php (last

visited May 1, 2012).

4 UNFCCC, Establishment of an Ad Hoc Working Group on the Durban

Platform for Enhanced Action, U.N. Doc. FCCC/CP/2011/L.10 (Dec. 10, 2011).

Braunson Virjee Chelsea Tu