The Climate-Related Obligations under the UNCLOS, the ACHR, and International Law in General

This chapter examines the obligations arising from general international law, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and the American Convention on Human Rights, whose scope can encompass climate change issues. International obligations under UNCLOS already accommodate climate change challenges, as recently demonstrated by the ITLOS in the 2024 advisory opinion on climate change. Less clear is the extent to which the ACHR and general rules of international law can constitute an effective tool to address climate change. The chapter analyses some structural features of obligations arising from these three different contexts, stressing how their due diligence nature along with the interpretative role of judge are key elements for successfully identifying climate-related duties.