Of The Principle Of Common But Differentiated Responsibilities "

Global climate change is the most serious challenge facing human development, and may be a major issue threatening human survival, therefore it is a great weight of responsibility of each nation to pay due attention to it. A great deal of scientific research proved that greenhouse gases from human activities are the main cause of global climate change, hence how to control greenhouse gas emission has become an key issue in international climate negotiations and policy setting. United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and Kyoto Protocol are two major legal documents signed in the course of addressing global climate change by the international community.. United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change established a fundamental principle of "common but differentiated responsibilities" for the international negotiations to face the challenges from the climate change. Ecological Environment has the characteristics of entity; hence each country has a shared responsibility for the protection of environment. Since the industrial Revolution, large amount of GHG has been created in the course of economy development in the developed countries, from which they benefit a lot. As a result, they should bear the primary responsibility.In this thesis, I will research how the principle of "common but differentiated responsibilities" from the International Environmental Law became a fundamental one in the field of International climate change beginning from United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and Kyoto Protocol in 1992.This thesis falls into 5 chapters.The first part is an introduction. It introduces the research background and the significance, the development and the achievements in the related studies, major research methods, innovation, etc.The second part is an overview of the doctrine of "common but differentiated responsibilities". It briefly introduces the concept, implications, and the development of the principle, followed by its embodiment in the International legal documents of United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and Kyoto Protocol, and the different interpretation of the principle by the developed countries represented by the United States.The third part mainly discussed the implementation and the practical significance of the doctrine in the area of global climate change with the three representative UN climate conferences held respectively in Montreal, Canada, Bali, Indonesia and Copenhagen, Denmark as examples out of the 15 negotiations. From the origin and the tendency of the strengthening of the "differential responsibilities" to the weakening of it, I believe that such a tendency goes against the legislative purposes of the doctrine of "common but differentiated responsibilities" and the value proposition of justice. Hence, it is high time for the international community to attach great importance to and strengthen the control of it in case the principle of "common but differentiated responsibilities" evolves into that of "common responsibilities".The fourth part mainly discusses the fulfillment of the principle of "common but differentiated responsibilities" in each signatory state. The representative legislations, major policies and the specific measures to combat climate change of the countries implementing the Kyoto Protocol such as the EU, Japan, Australia, etc, will be explored.Part Five explains Chinese position towards the principle of "common but differentiated responsibilities" and how to face the challenges in the climate change negotiations in the future. From my perspective, in sticking to the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities in the future negotiations, China should not deviate from this principle in the future negotiations, meanwhile strengthen the former while weakening the latter, or even evolve it into the principle of "common responsibilities", which will not only meet the needs of Chinese people, but also the common interests of the universe.