November 2011
“Neoliberal, capitalist economics is bankrupt, morally and intellectually, but nothing changes,” were the opening words of Neal Lawson from Compass at a debate Putting the Green Economy on Trial.
He described the infrastructure of consumerism and marketing that has developed under the current system as difficult to escape; a seductive new vision of what it is to be human is needed, he said.
With the dusk of the International Year of Forests fast approaching, reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, sustainable forest management, conservation and enhancement of carbon stocks (REDD+) has the potential to bring positive changes to the lives of people who are dependent on forests for their livelihoods. But this can only happen if REDD+ is implemented in a way that ensures their participation in the process.
We need to talk about ketchup. We all love the red stuff. But we really need to talk about it. Analysis of the steps involved in processing ketchup – from farming the tomatoes through to packaging – to transporting and retailing that symbol of American mass consumerism reveals an alarming fact. To produce it requires a mind-boggling 150 separate processes, across several continents, according to research cited in a new book by the International Institute for Environment and Development.
The UN climate conference has officially opened and the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) is here in Durban, out in force. We’re not in prominent negotiating positions, but we play an important role behind the scenes helping support least developed country negotiators and southern partners engage with the process.
The first video update from the UN Climate negotiations, IIED’s Senior Fellow in the Climate Change group, Saleemul Huq, outlines the two major issues to be discussed at the COP17.
In his second video update Saleemul Huq, IIED’s Senior Fellow in the Climate Change group, comments on the UN climate change opening ceremony with President Jacob Zuma and on hopes that South African political leadership “can bring [together] what seemingly look like very different points of view”.
Saleemul Huq, IIED’s Senior Fellow in the Climate Change group, reports from Durban on "theatre from the Canadians".
I was one among the many sleep-deprived observers present at the birth of the Kyoto Protocol, during the early hours of a cold December morning in 1997. I cannot claim to have formed an immediate emotional attachment. Along with many others, I despaired already at the weakling’s lack of ambition, and numerous defects (politely called loopholes) that rendered it a joke on the planet. It was optimistically proclaimed a “first small step”, implying that better would follow once the world “warmed up” to the idea of living in a carbon-constrained world.
A year ago, ‘Turn REDD on its head!’ seemed like a good title for a blog. Now it seems like an essential way forward if REDD is going to work.