Addressing climate change: global vs. local scales of jurisdiction?

This chapter discusses the benefits of local action often emphasized by activists, nongovernmental organizations, and environmental lawyers, and then contrasts their views. It assesses the advantages and disadvantages of tackling climate change through local, bottom-up strategies as well as global, top-down approaches, arguing that each has distinct costs and benefits. The chapter also explores how local and global scales might be integrated into a single and effective policy framework, incorporating the advantages of decentralization and local action along with the advantages of centralized and national action. Actions at local and global scales bring different sets of costs and benefits. Local action fosters diversity, which encourages innovation and experimentation.