Page 29 - Livre_MOW2018_FR

27 /

Economists and legal experts met to debate and
consider the specific case of Small Island Deve-
loping States (SIDS). All aspects were conside-
red: economic, political, legal... and diverse ex-
periences from various geographic regions were
shared.

All the speakers aimed to review actions which
have been taken, planned or which could be
planned to limit the damage of global warming,
both in terms of high sea and coastal fishing, and
food-producing cultures and destruction of trans-
port or water distribution or electricity equipment.
Negotiations regarding the Paris Agreement in
December 2015, which rounded off COP21, al-
lowed 37 SIDS to become aware of their particular
exposure to the risks caused by climate change,
and to ask for active policies as a result. Nicolas
Imbert, from the NGO Green Cross, introduced
the debate by underlining various challenges for
SIDS from policies decided during COP23, the
latest phase of climate negotiations supported by
the UN.

Albert Maruani, professor emeritus at Nice Uni-
versity, insisted on the various regulatory methods
offered by economic sciences to support actions
to protect the environment, underlining the limits
of systems which solely rely on price effects. San-
dra Cassotta, from Aarhus University in Denmark,
then spoke about the legal implications of climate
change on SIDS. The legal framework is develo-
ping quickly but some basic principles, such as
identifying responsibilities at the source of devas-
tating climate change, are difficult if not impossible
to establish. We therefore need to innovate in legal
matters to define methods to offset the damage
caused.