Climate change, legal governance and the Pacific Islands: an overview

The Pacific island region is comprised of a number of nations spread across a large ocean area. The region is also biologically and culturally diverse, nevertheless the countries share some commonalities. Relevantly, each of the countries is legally pluralist creating a complex context for law- and policy-makers charged with developing legal strategies to address environmental challenges such as climate change. Increasingly, regional approaches are being sought both in terms of the implementation of international law and development of domestic legal frameworks. In particular, there are several well established regional institutions with a strong interest in capacity building through the development of model legal frameworks. This chapter introduces this important region of the world, its people and the post-colonial legal context. The regional approaches taken to address climate change and the development of domestic law are examined and the remaining challenges explored.