Introduction: Understanding Legal Empowerment of the Poor in the Context of Sustainable Development

This introduction situates the contributions to this special issue within the broader legal and scholarly developments that concern the relationship between public participation and climate governance. It begins by discussing the origins and scope of the principle of public participation in international environmental and climate law. It then provides an overview of three broad strands of research that have examined the role and prospects of public participation, collaboration and deliberation in the governance of complex environmental issues such as climate change. It concludes by identifying a number of lines of inquiry that could inform future research on the relationship between public participation and climate governance.