The inaugural Mary Robinson Climate Conference took place on 6 and 7 July in Ballina, Co Mayo.

The law and climate justice were among a wide range of climate-related topics and policy areas discussed at the conference.

William Fry's environmental and planning law team held two panels for the conference, in conjunction with UCC’s Centre for Law and the Environment, and NUIG’s School of Law and Irish Centre for Human Rights.

Rights and migration

Both were strongly focused on climate change as a human-rights issue.

At a session entitled ‘Climate Change and Rights within Legal Systems’, Conor Linehan SC (head of environmental and planning at William Fry) spoke on the integration of rights into the UN's Climate Regime.

Katie Mannion (managing solicitor at the Irish Refugee Council) spoke on the issue of climate-related migration and displacement at a session on ‘Rights as Absolute Minimum Protections for Climate Vulnerable Groups’.

Linehan is also vice-chair of the Law Society’s Environmental and Planning Law Committee.