Legal and Policy Landscapes
Staying on top of developments and trends in climate change and environmental law and policy to inform decision-making and action
What are Legal and Policy Landscapes?
In the expansive realm of climate change and the environment, law and policy concerns can be complex and unwieldy. Addressing climate and environmental issues often involves dealing with multiple pieces of legislation, regulatory issuances, policy proclamations, and the like. The cross-cutting nature of these issues also means that a multi-sectoral approach is often needed.
Legal and policy landscapes pertain to the myriad laws and policies that address particular issues or areas of work, setting out objectives, principles, standards, and procedures that must be obeyed. They are not limited to issuances originating from a single level, sector, or entity – rather, they tend to comprise an amalgamation of instruments coming from multiple levels (from global to subnational/local), and various sectors (government, private sector, civil society).
In addition to laws and policy instruments, legal and policy landscapes include issues and considerations originating from the various contexts wherein they are developed, adopted, and applied.
Why do they matter?
The make-up of a legal and policy landscape is not always easy to understand. It can be challenging to integrate the laws and policies involved into a seamless framework with clearly defined rules and procedures.
An incomplete understanding of the components of, and the context behind, an issue or particular area of work can adversely affect medium- and long-term strategies and outcomes. Included here is the possibility of overlooking benefits, incentives, consequences, and penalties that could have substantial impacts on different actors at various levels.
On the other hand, a robust understanding of the same would allow actors to develop comprehensive plans and strategies that are inclusive, maximize available resources, and produce far-reaching sustainable outcomes.
How can we help?
Parabukas’ familiarity with the broad policy landscapes concerning climate change, the environment, and sustainable development enables us to assist various actors in developing a grasp of these landscapes and understand how these are relevant to their particular sector and/or organization. Through legal and policy research, analysis, writing, and communication, we can enhance decision-makers’ and stakeholders’ understanding of complex legal language, concepts, contexts and processes.
In addition, we can help actors explore and anticipate the possible impacts these landscapes and their components may have on their work, maximize benefits, and minimize risks through the development of policies, plans or strategies that are innovative, improve inclusiveness, and increase participation at multiple levels. We believe there are multiple ways to approach any issue and look forward to exploring these possibilities with our clients.