The climate crisis threatens the survival of future generations and nature. The planet already feels its impacts. Disastrous weather effects wreak havoc on communities globally. Small island States face forced migration as sea level rises. If States do not take immediate action, mitigation and adaptation will become impossible.

The international community has discussed the climate crisis for over three decades, yet there is a gap between policy and action. International agreements, such as the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement, call on States to mitigate the crisis through actions, like emissions reductions. But these agreements have no enforcement mechanism. Unless States are bound to enforceable emissions reductions, the climate crisis will destroy the planet.

National legislation and litigation are the path to enforcing emissions reductions. Activists in their respective countries must do this work. IUCN has a major role to play as a source of high-level intellectual research. IUCN has paved the way to further its work on the climate crisis through its previous resolutions and work on the subject. Activists often have limited access to resources and information to legislate or litigate for climate action. IUCN may provide guidance and access to resources for activists.

The toolkit will develop legislation that is easily adapted to individual jurisdictions. This will require creating multiple pieces of legislation to accommodate different legal systems, particularly common and civil law jurisdictions. Additionally, the IUCN must draft legislation adaptable to different ecosystems when addressing adaptation and nature-based solutions. In using the pieces of legislation, activists would first select their appropriate jurisdiction and form of central government, then select dominant ecosystems. For example, an activist in Gabon would need legislation for a unitary civil law system with rainforest as its dominant ecosystem. This type of variation within the model legislation allows for activists to compile legislation for their respective States.

The litigation portion of the toolkit will provide access to climate crisis cases, organized by jurisdiction (common law or civil law) and legal theory taken. Because legal research is expensive and difficult, this compilation and organization of cases will aid litigation on behalf of climate action.

In creating the toolkit, the IUCN should work with relevant existing research databases, such as InforMEA and ECOLEX. The IUCN should also partner with the Global Judicial Institute on Environmental (GJIE) to work on the Judicial Portal, which is developing an open database on global environmental case law. IUCN may compile climate litigation cases through the Judicial Platform once GJIE has established it.

• Center for Environmental Legal Studies [United States of America]
• Center for Large Landscape Conservation [United States of America]
• Centre international de droit comparé de l`environnement [France]
• Environmental Law Program at the William S. Richardson School of Law [United States of America]
• SYLVIA EARLE ALLIANCE (DBA MISSION BLUE) [United States of America]