Enforcing Climate Obligations in Failed States, with Special Reference to the Sahel Region

Abstract

Can climate obligations be effectively enforced in States where the rule of law is not strictly implemented? In the light of international practice and doctrinal studies, this chapter aims to analyse the complex conjunction between state weakness or failure and insecurity, on the one hand, and the enforcement of climate obligations, on the other. The study specifically focuses on the Sahel region as a test case, partic-ularly Central Sahel, including Burkina Faso, Chad, Niger, and Mali. Indeed, climate change adds to the problems of the Sahel, a vast semi-arid region in Africa that is currently facing a multidimensional crisis as a result of armed conflicts, extreme poverty, severe socioeconomic crises, food insecurity, population growth without education perspectives, youth unemployment, and political and social fragility, so much so that to varying degrees the States of the Sahel generally occupy the lower end of international indexes ranking stability and development such as the UN Human Development Index.