“Tackling climate change in fact represents one of the greatest opportunities to benefit human health for generations to come”, according to the co-chair of the Commission on Health and Climate, Professor Anthony Costello, director University College London Institute for Global Health. The Commission, a group of scientists convened by The Lancet journal, has published its second report on 22 June 2015.
No-one could have predicted in 2008 that seven years later Islamic State militants would be terrorising eastern Syria and destroying ancient shrines. Nor could they have foreseen how many Syrians would drown in the Mediterranean as they made a desperate bid for Europe. But as the country entered its third year of drought – a symptom of climate change – the warning signs for conflict were mounting up.
"There has been a tragic rise in the number of migrants seeking to flee from the growing poverty caused by environmental degradation. They are not recognized by international conventions as refugees; they bear the loss of the lives they have left behind, without enjoying any legal protection whatsoever."
Reducing greenhouse emissions calls for a truly global alliance. […] Everyone can do their part. And everyone must do their part, for this is not just something that concerns cabinets and institutions. It is the battle of all present and future generations. It is a matter of survival.
The G7 Foreign Ministers can take a leading role in avoiding the increased weakening and even total collapse of states and societies threatened by fragility challenges. Resilience - understood as the existential ability of a nation or society to cope with major crises - has to become the compass for foreign policy.
This is one of the key recommendations of the recent report commissioned by interested G7 Foreign Ministries and authored by an international research consortium from Germany, France, Great Britain and the USA, led by think tank adelphi. These recommendations also fed into the final communiqué of the G7 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Lübeck on 14-15 April 2015.
As a result of Chinese Premier Li Keqiang's ongoing visit to Brazil, China and Brazil Tuesday signed a joint statement on addressing the climate change issue together for a common vision of sustainable development.
Developed countries must lead emissions curbs and make good on finance pledge say emerging economies key to climate pact.
Rich countries need to take the lead in cutting greenhouse gas emissions, the leaders of India and China have said in an unusual joint statement.
Policy-makers are often wary of the large investments and efforts a sustainable transformation of the economy requires. But it can provide significant opportunities for economic growth and new jobs, as most recently the Global Commission on the Economy and Climate has highlighted. What are the main opportunities in terms of job creation?
Sustainable development has fallen under the climate change agenda but most recently it has emerged as a unifying force for all environmental security issues. It is thus necessary to provide the context from where, how and what sustainable development is envisioned by action leaders. On 21 November 2014, five distinguished action leaders – two city mayors, a climate negotiator, a clean energy entrepreneur and a civil society leader – along with more than 60 representatives from Singapore government ministries, universities, think tanks, embassies, civil society organisations and the private sector in Singapore gathered for a Policy Roundtable jointly organised by the German Embassy in Singapore and the RSIS Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies. It was part of the RSIS-NTS’ joint series of events on climate diplomacy with the German Embassy in Singapore on exploring the theme of Securing our Sustainable Future: Bringing Sustainable Development Back In.
From Each According to His Capability... As the 20th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 20) to the UNFCCC closed in mid-December 2014 in Lima, Peru, some returned to their homes feeling cautiously optimistic regarding the potential for a strong, ambitious outcome at the Paris Climate Change Conference in 2015. Despite slow progress, the Lima conference was conducted in an overall positive spirit, and some advances were made on the crucial and controversial issue of differentiation through recognition of the special needs of vulnerable States, and the compromise language on the differentiation of countries' responsibilities, both included in the key conference outcome, the Lima Call for Climate Action.