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November 30th 2009

Abe Fellowship Colloquium - "An International Framework for Climate Change: Perspectives from International Law"

The December Climate Conference in Copenhagen was expected to reach a new agreement to replace the Kyoto Protocol. That now appears hopeless as countries scramble to set their own emission reduction targets. Abe Fellow Shinya Murase (2003) discussed efforts to establish an international institution and procedures to deal with climate change from a long-term perspective. Murase contends that the role of international law is essential because the proposed framework will only be meaningful if adopted into a treaty or protocol. In the search for an agreement that is both binding and flexible, he suggests that the GATT/WTO system could be a useful model. Murase teaches law at Sophia University, is a member of the International Law Commission. and served as a lead author of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2004-7). Toshihide Arimura, Sophia University, was the discussant and Ambassador Sadaaki Numata was moderator. Abe Fellowship Colloquia are jointly sponsored by the Social Science Research Council Tokyo Office and the Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership.

Location: The Japan Foundation, Tokyo http://www.jpf.go.jp/j/about_j/access03.html