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Before delving into the legal effects of regional efforts to address climate change, one should first look to the groups that have sought to highlight the regional issue of climate change. Studies have been sponsored by Oxfam, the Asian Development Bank,[6] the World Bank,[7] and think tanks like the Center for American Progress.[8] All of these studies demonstrate that the effects of climate change will be especially significant in South Asia, and there is a need for regional solutions to the problem. Further, there are organizations that address the regional problem of climate change including the South Asia division of the Research Program on Climate Change and Agricultural and Food Security,[9] as well as private groups like South Asia Network for Security and Climate Change.[10]
As such, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) has been quite active in the field of climate change. SAARC was accredited as an Observer with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which means that it can submit reports to the UN noting the progress (or lack thereof) of greenhouse gas reduction in South Asia. In the aftermath of the UNFCCC, the SAARC passed a declaration signed by all south Asian states accepting the convention and further created a Plan of Action for states to follow.[11] This declaration and plan of action were both approved during the Dhaka Declaration of 2008, wherein SAARC members committed to taking steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Since its involvement in climate change, the SAARC has hosted several conferences, bringing scientists, governmental authorities, and activists together to discuss emerging challenges posed by climate change. A recent high level governmental interaction took place during the sixteen SAARC summit in 2010 wherein the heads of South Asian states passed the the Thimphu Statement. Most significantly, this statement called for the creation of a SAARC Convention on Cooperation on Environment, which would be a regional treaty that would place greater legal responsibility on each nation to adopt policies and plans that adequately confront the challenges of climate change.
In the Thimphu Statement, South Asian states further agreed to establish an expert group on climate change that will “develop clear policy direction and guidance for regional cooperation” as set forth in the SAARC Plan of Action on Climate Change. Nations also pledged to increase regional cooperation by establishing intergovernmental programs that will study monsoons, marine and mountain ecosystems, along with a climate change disaster initiative and make recommendations to states according to the findings of those studies. Further, the Statement sought to establish a mechanism for the SAARC to subsidize or fund low-carbon research and development projects.
This treaty is much like the Convention on Biological Diversity, which has also been accepted by all of South Asia’s countries. Instead of controlling the trade of endangered species, this convention focuses on balancing the right of nations to use their resources as part of their development process with their duty to ensure biological diversity. This means that nations must protect certain resources, plants, and animals from overexploitation for commercial purposes.
With regards to climate change, all south Asian Nations are signatories to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, which establishes some standards for climate change reforms. The Convention seeks to “stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic(human) interference with the climate system." Despite lacking enforcement provisions or setting limits on greenhouse gas emissions, this convention has driven many South Asian countries to create appropriate legislation to reduce greenhouse emissions by users and producers.
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REGIONAL EFFORTS