adelphi’s New Publications on Climate Diplomacy
adelphi has released two new publications in an endeavour to illustrate the rationale and results of the joint engagement by adelphi and the German Federal Foreign Office in climate diplomacy activities. The climate diplomacy initiative helps foster a response to climate change that is commensurate with its status as one of the key foreign policy challenges of the 21st century. Hundreds of decision-makers and experts as well as thousands of citizens have participated in regional roundtables from Bogotá to New Delhi, executive briefings and consultations from Wellington to Port of Spain, and events at climate conferences from Durban to Doha. The initiative’s new flagship publication “Climate Diplomacy: New Approaches for Foreign Policy” documents this ambitious political process. As part of the initiative, a touring exhibition “Environment, Conflict and Cooperation” visualises the impact of global environmental change. It is available in English, German, Chinese, and Portuguese. The booklet now published pictures the topics and regions covered in the exhibition.
Linking climate change and peacebuilding in Colombia through land access
Colombia’s long-standing internal conflict and the country’s contribution to climate change share one common root cause: land concentration. Policies to strengthen access to land and to ensure sustainable land use might therefore hold the key to promoting peacebuilding in Colombia, while simultaneously reducing emissions.
Climate-related disasters pose grave challenges to health in South Asia
As disasters wreak havoc all over South Asia, health impacts have increasingly emerged as a major concern for communities and governments in the region. It underscores the need for concerted efforts towards building synergies between the Paris Agreement, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction and the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, particularly now, in the post-disaster reconstruction phase, to ensure “building back better” and future disaster prevention.
Forty years of tree-planting in China: successes and failures
In the Inner Mongolian county of Horinger, Northwestern China, afforestation efforts have transformed a barren, dusty landscape into a pine forest. Planting trees has diminished the sandstorms, boosted biodiversity and improved the environment generally. As the climate emergency worsens, the potential for planted trees to draw carbon out of the atmosphere is being re-examined. What can the world learn from the Chinese experience with afforestation?
Two events in August 2019 underlined the complexity of paving the way to a climate-neutral world: the publishing of the new IPCC report and the Amazon fires. Both events demand that climate diplomats move beyond a narrowed focus on energy in decarbonisation debates.