OVERSIGHT, SCRUTINY AND ACCOUNTABILITY A system of checks and balances on the government is fundamental to any healthy democracy. Parliament is the link that connects the citizen with the government and parliamentarians should hold the government to account on behalf of their constituents. Parliamentary oversight is also one of the means to ensuring that government policies are reaching all corners of society. It is therefore an essential feature in achieving overarching policy priorities such as climate change. Parliamentarians can identify shortcomings and encourage corrective action across a spectrum of government-led action. This includes monitoring the allocation of resources to climate and environmental programmes to ensuring governments meet their national and international climate commitments. Every parliament should have a certain level of authority to scrutinise the work of government, however in small states the political space for oversight may be restricted due to the absence or limited capacity of relevant oversight and scrutiny mechanisms. Many small states have been innovative in countering these disadvantages. To overcome the shortage of personnel, Tuvalu made use of members of the community to conduct oversight through Island Councils. Innovation can also help small states turn limitations to their benefit. Although the close social proximity can stifle pluralism, it can also fulfil many of the functions that costly accountability mechanisms would normally do – i.e. by the mere fact that everyone knows what you are doing, and the consequences of poor policy can be more easily attributed to individuals. Parliamentarians of small states can therefore work innovatively and utilise the political and procedural makeup of their legislature to hold the government to account. To do this, a range of tools and processes parliamentarians, as a group or individually, can utilise to strengthen action on climate change. It is important for parliamentarians to be aware of the tools at their disposal and to use them effectively.
CLIMATE CHANGE AND SMALL STATES
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