Distinguished experts from all over the world share their views and their specific take on climate diplomacy. Its political and societal ramifications are diverse, and so are the topics covered by the interviews. Uttam Sinha emphasizes the respective importance of transboundary resource management and development policies. Regarding international efforts to tackle climate change, Geoff Dabelko advocates an all-of-the-above strategy including, but not limited to, ongoing UNFCCC negotiations. Cleo Paskal and Alexander Carius highlight the geostrategic and security implications of climate change, while Dr. Hinrich Thölken specifies the priorities of German climate diplomacy.
Resource consumption has grown exponentially over the past: between 1970 and 2010, the quantity of extracted materials has tripled. Not only the overall amount of resources extracted and consumed has risen rapidly, but also the diversity of resources has grown. While half a century ago, only a few materials such as wood, brick, iron, copper, and plastics were in high demand worldwide, today products are more complex and require a wide range of materials.
Times of war can result in rapid environmental degradation as people struggle to survive and environmental management systems break down resulting in damage to critical ecosystems. For over six decades, armed conflicts have occurred in more than two-thirds of the world’s biodiversity hotspots thus posing critical threats to conservation efforts. [...]
More than 4,700 delegates, including environment ministers, scientists, academics, business leaders and civil society representatives, met in Nairobi for the UN Environment Assembly, the world’s top environmental body whose decisions will set the global agenda, notably ahead of the UN Climate Action Summit in September.
Mid february, the EU's foreign affairs ministers welcomed the Commission’s strategic long-term vision for a climate neutral Europe. Ministers also called for urgent and decisive action to strengthen the global response on climate change and restated the EU’s determination to lead the way on accelerated climate action on all fronts.