"I'm interested in the topic of climate change and governance, but I don't have a legal background, so it was a big surprise to win a bronze award for my essay," explains second-year MPA student Hanh Nguyen. Successful finalists of the legal essay competition, including Nguyen, were invited to attend CISDL's (the Centre for International Sustainable Development Law) Conference of the Parties (CoP22) in Marrakesh, Morocco on November 11. Nguyen also took part in a special moot and the Legal Experts Roundtable. "It was a terrific networking opportunity for me," said Nguyen. "I also learned a lot from the other participants many of whom were lawyers."
In her paper, "Harmonization of domestic policies with international agreements on climate change mitigation," Nguyen focuses on the Paris Agreement using it as a case study to highlight some of the challenges that states face in implementing climate change policies. She explains that states are reluctant to act for many reasons including the fact that they do not feel they were consulted when international agreements were being drawn up; resource constraints; and skepticism about what other states will do. Nguyen says that in many countries there is also a pressing need for legal expertise, capacity building, and advice on how to design climate change policies. "The Paris Agreement is a super-powerful agreement, but it won't make any difference unless it is ratified – and implemented – by individual countries," she says.