Dickinson to Durban » Entries tagged with "IPCC"
Kyoto As A Symbol
Claire Tighe ’13 Anyone with common sense at this conference would agree that signing on to the Kyoto Protocol would not mitigate enough GHG emissions to prevent catastrophic climate change. Even though, as Dr. Pachuari of the IPCC stated during our breakfast yesterday, science and the COP negotiations have become ever disjointed, most parties present here understand that attempting to mitigate, is not enough. So why are different groups, such as CAN, YOUNGO (see their interesting Ode to Kyoto video), and AOSIS holding on so tight to pushing through a second committment period of the Kyoto Protocol (hereafter referred to as KP2)? Because it’s a symbol. To anyone without the financial means to mitigate and adapt to climate change, agreeing to a KP2 means that they are committed to the UNFCCC process. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Climate Change, Environmental Justice, Environmental Politics, Featured, Key COP17 Issues, Mosaic Action, Student Research
The Home Stretch
“Climate change will not be incremental; it will be transformational.” These are tyhe inspiring words heard from Minister of the Maldives, Mohammed Aslam, a man whom I had the pleasure of hearinf speak yesterday in the Vulnerable Climate Forum’s discussion at King’s Park in Durban. This simple phrase uttered by a man whose country will be threatened by the effects of climate change before many other countries was both a sentiment of despair and promise. For me, it was important to remember that in these last few days of the COP in Durban, that moralistic and concise words such as these can drive the UNFCCC process towards an agreement or not; either “transforming” our global relations in reagrds to climate change or continuing the “incremental” progress we have seen at previous … Read entire article »
Filed under: Key COP17 Issues
Key Contention: North/South Divide
by Claire Tighe Rates of climate change and strategies for mitigation are not the only sources of contention amongst states in the climate change negotiations. One of the largest social justice issues regarding the global governance of climate change is the relationship between states of the” global North,” and the global “South”. What Bulkeley and Newell name in their book Governing Climate Change as the “North-South politics,” regarding the “poverty of climate governance” can be understood as tension between developed countries (“North”) and the developing or least-developed countries (“South”). Contention between these two global groups relies on the assumption that “while climate change has been largely caused by wealthy industrialized parts of the world, it is the least developed areas of the world that will suffer its worst consequences” (Bulkeley & Newell … Read entire article »
Filed under: Climate Change, Key COP17 Issues
Who’s Got the Power?
Climate change is an expansive issue that needs reform on many levels from the individual choices we make to the framework of world politics. Bulkeley and Newell argue in Global Institutions: Governing Climate Change that on the political level the nation state is not as important as it is perceived to be and that there are other important actors in climate change politics. Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO), the IPCC, and large corporations do have significant influence on climate politics, but are they more important actors than nation states? NGOs did help shape negotiations for the Kyoto Protocol through the Climate Action Network (CAN) and the European Union. The UNFCC does have measures to check the parties who signed the treaty and the IPCC’s reports do have influence among the leaders, but what … Read entire article »
Filed under: Climate Change
Recent Comments