Bahrain lacks law to address climate change concerns: UoB study

TDT | Manama

Bahrain lacks a comprehensive law to address the climate change concerns, despite being a signatory all major international pacts including the 2015 Paris deal. The Kingdom currently is relying on its environmental protection laws to get the job done, observes a doctoral thesis being reviewed by the University of Bahrain.

These interesting observations are part of a thesis submitted to the UoB by Abdullah Hassan Al-Anzi for a master’s degree in public law. The author highlights that the “current environmental law of Bahrain and the draft of the new law do not include any reference to climate change.”

There is an urgent need to include a new chapter on climate change in the constitution, with references to international climate agreements, including the Paris 2015 agreement in its preamble. The recommendations submitted virtually are before a committee consisting of a member at the Faculty of Law at the University of Bahrain, Dr Muhammad Abdullah Numan, a supervisor, and a faculty member at the same college, Dr Mahmoud Al-Sayed Hassan, an internal examiner, and an assistant professor at the Faculty of Law At Sultan Qaboos University in the Sultanate of Oman, Dr Abdullah Ammar Al Mahjoub, an external examiner.

The study further observes that all the commitments of the Paris 2015 agreement are obligations of conduct and action and not to achieve a specific result, noting that the strongest commitments are related to emission reduction and that the majority of the text is not strictly binding