Climate change blogs

Can international law break the deadlock in climate talks?

An international lawsuit on greenhouse gas emissions could help create the political pressure and third-party guidance needed to revive global climate negotiations.

Mother Brazil: a way forward for the rainforest?

Dubbed “mother of the nation”, Dilma Rousseff was elected as Brazil’s first female president this month. But this has been an election of two women. Taking the reins at a time of increasing growth, prosperity, and public works expansion in Brazil, will one woman’s touch alone be enough to bring new ways of combating destruction of the Amazon?

A question of time

I have been thinking a lot about ‘time’. It’s been prompted by three things which remind me that, while we need to be realistic about how fast we can build a fairer, more sustainable world, there are some signs of progress.

Storm watch for Cancun climate talks

Striking a deal at this month’s UN climate talks in Cancun, Mexico will largely depend on negotiators’ ability to settle stormy disputes, particularly between the developed and developing world, over six key issues.

Tianjin climate begotiation through the CLACC lens

In their last meeting before the UN Climate Change Conference in Cancun, Mexico at the end of November, the Ad Hoc Working Group on Further Commitments for Annex I Parties under the Kyoto Protocol (AWG-KP) discussed emissions reduction commitments for the 37 developed countries that have ratified the Kyoto Protocol beyond 2012.

Less erosion, less warming

I recently met with a Member of the Bangladesh Parliament to discuss the potential for mitigation in the agricultural sector under IIED’s work on the economics of climate change in the agricultural sector. Agriculture produces 10–12 per cent of total global emissions but also has considerable mitigation potential — 70 per cent of which is in developing countries — and I expected the Honourable Member, a well known climate change champion, to back the cause. But he did not seem entirely convinced. Why should decision makers listen? What’s in it for them?

Renewables, why bother?

For much of the developing world producing clean energy that also mitigates carbon emissions is a very low priority. After all, why should countries that haven't significantly contributed to climate change worry about reducing their relatively tiny carbon emissions? In any case who would pay for it all?

REDD: does governance really matter?

With concerns over climate change rising, there have been several initiatives aimed at reducing the impacts and contributing factors of climate change. But with millions and potentially billions of dollars at stake, how successful will these initiatives be in mitigating climate change?

Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation - REDD (and REDD+, which includes conservation, sustainable forest management and enhancing forests’ carbon stocks) is an international initiative that seeks to reduce CO2 emissions. The United Nations REDD collaborative programme that has generated $8.7 million for the carbon stored in forests.

What would sustainability in the North mean for development in the South?

Everyone agrees that developed countries need to undertake a radical transformation if they are to assume their responsibilities for mitigating climate change. But what consequences would this have for the global South? Will climate change mitigation in the North undermine economic development in developing countries, or provide them with new opportunities?

New left = new extractivism in Latin America

It was clear at the recent Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of the Mother Earth in Cochabamba that Latin America´s leftist leaders are taking strong positions on issues of environmental sustainability and respect for indigenous people. But is that rhetoric actually borne out by their domestic policies?

Silver or grey linings?

Back in January, Due South commented on one silver lining of the economic crisis – a fall in CO₂ emissions. With a double-dip recession predicted by some, could this be a double windfall for efforts to combat climate change?

Low2No helps show how to build sustainable cities

‘Low-carbon growth’ seems to be mentioned all the time with regards to environment and development policy. As a theory this is great, but how can the theory be made more concrete? What might the practice of low-carbon growth look like when applied to urban environments?

Ashy exile — and climate consciousness

When Iceland’s unruly volcano Eyjafjallajokull erupted last week, the focus was largely on disrupted flights. But viewed from a different perspective, this is a small reminder that natural disasters can displace people and incur massive costs.

The marriage of an unlikely couple - carbon trading and non-resource extraction - and all in the context of a recession

According to conventional wisdom, there probably never was a great time to pay an unpredictable Latin American country with a doubtful debt

Another look at the slump’s silver linings

Few lobbyists or negotiators at the Copenhagen Climate Change conference advocated one solution to the urgent task of slashing greenhouse gas emissions – a deeper, longer, uglier recession.

Climate worlds: Copenhagen cosmology

A vast blue box dropped onto a tabletop: this is the Koncerthuset, where IIED’s Development and Climate Days came to a close yesterday.

Action stations: vulnerable countries and the talks

‘What we need to do is stop talking,’ said President Nasheed of the Maldives.

Tracking the changes: Teresa Fogelberg takes the climate train

Thousands of people make up a COP, from campaigners, lobbyists, negotiators and journalists to NGO and UN staff, presidents and ministers.

Local heroes: community-based adaptation

‘In finding solutions for climate change, don’t reinvent the wheel.

Moving right along: climate change and migration

Day 2 of Development and Climate Days: Justice, Ethics and Humanitarian Issues
 

Beyond buzzwords: making adaptation a development norm

Day 1 of IIED’s Development and Climate Days: Land, Water and Forests

Finding the plot at COP15

Arriving at any big event in midflow is always disorienting: the play has begun and you’ve come in right after the interval.

Climate refugees of the future

Bangladesh is calling for the rights of environmental refugees to be recognised as the country battles rising sea levels and chronic poverty

Keeping the forests we've got

The conservation of forests in countries like Suriname with high forest cover and low deforestation rates is not a priority for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Yet forest people suffer enormously from the effects of climate change.

Just the beginning

Yvo de Boer, who runs the UNFCCC secretariat, laid out clearly where we are with agreement on the text in his inimitable laconic style: ‘We are near to the end of putting things in and near to the beginning of taking things out.’