In Conversation: Professor Tommy Koh and Laura Clarke OBE on using law and diplomacy to address climate change and biodiversity loss
17 May 2023
Temasek Shophouse
Climate change and biodiversity loss are quintessentially global problems. Consequently, some of the best attempts to tackle these issues have been global in nature. Indeed, cross-jurisdictional collaboration is essential to avoid climate and biodiversity catastrophe. Law and diplomacy are therefore critical dimensions to the solutions needed to resolve these crises. How nations reach consensus on what to do, and how they then implement that consensus at a domestic level, become the lynchpin for meaningful action.
Against this background, the Asia-Pacific Centre for Environmental Law (“APCEL”) hosted a dialogue between Ambassador-at-Large Tommy Koh, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Laura Clarke OBE, former British diplomat and CEO of the environmental law organisation, ClientEarth, to speak about the role of law and diplomacy in tackling climate and biodiversity issues. In providing their views, experiences, and take on the key challenges in decarbonisation and nature protection, this dialogue promises to be a rich and insightful one.