The role of international law in enhancing urban climate resilience

Abstract

The reality of decentralised governance structures in many States means that action to respond to today's most pressing international challenges is increasingly taking place at the sub-national level. Contemporary constitutional arrangements mean that sub-national governments are often responsible for devising, resisting or enforcing laws and policies that implicate matters of international concern. This includes responsibility for responding to the effects of natural disasters, environmental degradation, and climate change. Yet, sub-national governments are virtually invisible from formal processes for international law-making on these topics. They are also excluded from playing a role in processes designed to ensure accountability for the breaking of international law on these matters. This means that sub-national governments are almost entirely absent from international law's conceptual, theoretical and practical frameworks. The reality of sub-national engagements with topics of international concern has nonetheless prompted many sub-national governments to demand a greater role in the development and enforcement of international law. This practice creates a significant normative and practical problem, the resolution of which requires new understandings of how, when and why sub-national governments are – and should be – involved in the making and breaking of international law. This Chapter canvasses these issues by investigating the hidden role of cities and other local authorities ('sub-national governments') in the making, implementation, and breaking of international laws relevant to climate change. It explores these issues to consider how States could adapt international law's negotiation, implementation, and compliance frameworks to better account for and encourage a growing role for sub-national governments in climate change action.