A legal clinic from Qatar University College of Law (QU-LAWC) is reviewing the current Qatari laws and policies related to climate change with the aim of finding ways to adapt the objectives and terms of the Paris Agreement within the Qatari context.
The legal clinic comprises LAWC Oil and Gas Law Assistant Professor and IRL Editor-in-Chief Dr Talal Abdulla Al Emadi, LAWC Undergraduate Teaching Assistant Basheer AlAhbabi, Georgetown University in Qatar Fellow Dr Fadi Makki, and Assistant Undersecretary for Environmental Affairs at the Ministry of Municipality and Environment and Chair of the National Committee and Team for Climate Change, Engineer Ahmad Al Sada.
The group is studying the trade-related response measures included in the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) and the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and the way these measures are designed, as well as their implications on the economic diversification of the states adopting them. They are also assessing the role of free trade agreements in the mitigation of climate change.
The Paris Agreement, which entered into force last November, under the umbrella of United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) builds upon the Convention and – for the first time – brings all nations into a common cause to undertake ambitious efforts to combat climate change and adapt to its effects, with enhanced support to assist developing countries to do so.
It charts a new course in the global climate effort. The Paris Agreement’s central aim is to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change by keeping a global temperature rise this century well below 2OC above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5OC. In addition, the agreement aims to strengthen the ability of countries to deal with the impacts of climate change.
The Paris Agreement requires all parties to put forward their best efforts through NDCs and to strengthen these efforts in the years ahead. This includes requirements that all parties report regularly on their emissions and on their implementation efforts. Qatar is party to the Paris Agreement and has already started the process of ratifying it.
Dr Talal Abdulla Al Emadi said that Qatar puts environmental issues on top of its priorities, in line with its ongoing efforts towards sustainable development.
As the largest university in Qatar, QU places the environment at the core of its academic programmes and research centres. It is committed to provide high-quality legal research outcomes that are beneficial to society, efficient applicable solutions to issues of national importance such as climate change and the preservation of the environment, aligned with the Environmental Development pillar of Qatar National Vision 2030.
Visit qu.edu.qa for more details about QU-LAWC’s legal clinic.
