On May 23-24, 2024, The Policy and Law Center for Environmental Sustainability (PLES) of National Taiwan University College of Law, co-hosted the Eight Melbourne Forum on Constitution-Building in Asia and the Pacific (hereinafter the Melbourne Forum), jointly with International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA) and the Constitution Transformation Network (CTN) of Melbourne Law School. 16 scholars, experts, and practitioners from the Asia-Pacific region, each representing different sub-region or jurisdiction, are invited to share insights on the topic “Climate Change and Constitutions”.
Two Sessions were held in Day 1 of the Melbourne Forum. Session I focused on the issues of representation and democratic decision-making. Speakers and participants vibrantly shared views on the impacts of democracy deficits on state capacity dealing with climate change, the problem of over-representation of institutions and under-representation of local or indigenous groups, as well as different elements often attached to climate change, e.g. development, disaster, green energy, etc., with their possible impacts to the public discourse and participation.
Session II of the Melbourne Forum focused on the international, regional, and domestic intersections reflected by the multilevel governance in climate change. In this session, speakers and participants exchanged views on how states took part in the international and regional regulatory or cooperative frameworks, and how the international or regional commitments have been brought (or have not been brought) into domestic or local levels. The Forum also highlighted the importance of the inclusion of diverse voices to ensure the comprehensiveness of the measures dealing with climate change.