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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.

Since the mid-2000s, a growing number of governments, international bodies and experts, and courts have increasingly recognized the importance of a rights-based approach to climate decision-making. By focusing on the impacts of climate change on the rights of individuals, communities, and peoples, a human rights lens emphasizes the human dimensions of climate change, recognizes how forms of systemic discrimination engender and exacerbate vulnerability, and focuses attention on the implications of social and environmental justice for climate governance. Moreover, states and private actors' human rights obligations and responsibilities have specific implications in relation to climate change. State and non-state actors are not only obliged to take effective mitigation and adaptation measures that respect, protect, and fulfil human rights, but they must also ensure that these measures do not in of themselves infringe human rights. Finally, rights-based approaches emphasize the importance of public participation, access to information, and access to justice in the development, implementation, and review of climate decisions. Despite its promise, the transformative potential of rights-based approaches for addressing climate change and delivering climate justice remains unrealized.