TY - JOUR
T1 - Ancient and new Legal landscapes
T2 - Customary law and climate change, a Vanuatu case study
AU - Davies, Kirsten
PY - 2015
Y1 - 2015
N2 - Legal landscapes are changing as the unprecedented threat of global climate change calls for more responsive and adaptive approaches to the law. This paradigm shift requires adaptation of legislative approaches to sustainable development focused on securing the future for generations dependent on viable ecosystems. As we address the perverse legal problems surrounding the impacts of climate change, looking to localised approaches, traditional ecological knowledge and customary law may help to inform future pathways surrounding the protection of coupled human and nature systems. Parallels can be drawn between domestic customary law and contemporary approaches in pedagogy, such as socio-ecological legal resilience. As one of the most vulnerable nations to the impacts of climate change, The Republic of Vanuatu and its practice of customary law together with French Civil and English Common Law, offers the critical attributes as a case study location. Through examining Vanuatu case law, the following questions are raised: is customary law integrated with Western law? And if so, how is customary law treated by the judiciary, as law or fact? A shift in thinking can be seen through the landmark Bob v Mala [2015] case where the court concluded that questions of custom will involve fact and may also involve questions of law. As the planet struggles to adapt to the impacts of climate change, practices of customary law will assist processes of restoring human-nature relationships and informing the construction of new legal landscapes.
AB - Legal landscapes are changing as the unprecedented threat of global climate change calls for more responsive and adaptive approaches to the law. This paradigm shift requires adaptation of legislative approaches to sustainable development focused on securing the future for generations dependent on viable ecosystems. As we address the perverse legal problems surrounding the impacts of climate change, looking to localised approaches, traditional ecological knowledge and customary law may help to inform future pathways surrounding the protection of coupled human and nature systems. Parallels can be drawn between domestic customary law and contemporary approaches in pedagogy, such as socio-ecological legal resilience. As one of the most vulnerable nations to the impacts of climate change, The Republic of Vanuatu and its practice of customary law together with French Civil and English Common Law, offers the critical attributes as a case study location. Through examining Vanuatu case law, the following questions are raised: is customary law integrated with Western law? And if so, how is customary law treated by the judiciary, as law or fact? A shift in thinking can be seen through the landmark Bob v Mala [2015] case where the court concluded that questions of custom will involve fact and may also involve questions of law. As the planet struggles to adapt to the impacts of climate change, practices of customary law will assist processes of restoring human-nature relationships and informing the construction of new legal landscapes.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84979656501&partnerID=8YFLogxK
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:84979656501
SN - 1385-2140
VL - 18
SP - 43
EP - 67
JO - Asia Pacific Journal of Environmental Law
JF - Asia Pacific Journal of Environmental Law
ER -