Keen watchers of the UN climate talks are used to turning their eyes to Bonn each June for the mid-year negotiating session. But this year, to watch European climate diplomacy in action it’s worth keeping an eye on the grand halls and garden parties in Brussels.
EU summits with Caribbean and Latin American leaders, China and African countries are all scheduled for June and July, following the G7 in Germany. This summer, European leaders can’t avoid joining the conversation on climate.
These summits offer quite a different opportunity to the normal UN climate conferences. Free from the contested policy detail of the negotiation corridors, these high-level discussions allow for more leaders to engage in more candid conversations with other statesmen and women. They are the perfect moment to share visions for the Paris deal and, more importantly, the international climate regime it should establish. The conversations between Heads of State and Government will inevitably focus on questions of national interest, and offer an opportunity to bridge the gap in understanding in motivations and expectations for COP 21.
For the complete article, please see E3G.
Water is a matter of survival and plays a critical role in social, economic and environmental activities as well. With a rise in global demand for water, water crises have consistently featured among the World Economic Forum’s top global impact risks. Water insecurity, i.e., the lack of water availability for basic human needs and socio-economic development, undermines billions of livelihoods and poses significant risks for peace and prosperity by thwarting progress and fuelling displacement and conflict.
Limited access to energy is a significant barrier to development and holds back efforts to improve living conditions in developing and emerging economies. Around the world, 1.1 billion people still do not have access to electricity, and 2.8 billion still rely on animal and crop waste, wood, charcoal and other solid fuels to cook their food and heat their homes.
As the earth’s climate warms, people face mounting threats from rising seas, and more intense and frequent storms, heatwaves, fires, and droughts. When these events hit, people want to understand whether they are connected to climate change. Linking climate change with heatwaves, storms and other events can help us prepare for a changing world, argues Peter Stott.
A recent report by the UNEP focuses on addressing trade in wildlife and forest products across the three sectors of crime prevention and criminal justice, trade regulation and natural resource management. It finds that there is less focus on the legislative means for preventing offenses related to trade in wildlife and forest products and more attention on the means for detecting and punishing such offenses.