Pope Francis’ Encyclical Letter “Laudato Si”, published on 18 June 2015, is a moral plea for action against climate change and environmental degradation. Besides laying out the Pope’s critical stance on the ecological, spiritual and economic motives to ‘save our common home’, it also sends a central message to policy makers that: international political climate action is more important now than ever.
In Chapter Five the Pope outlines the building blocks of the “Dialogue on the Environment in the International Community”. Climate change has to be seen in the context of global interdependence. Local and regional developments linked to climate change have a global effect and entail a responsibility towards those who are and will be most affected. Hence, solutions need to be multilateral and considered from a global perspective.
“Diplomacy”, according to the Pope, “takes on new importance in the work of developing international strategies which can anticipate serious problems affecting us all.” A determined international process built on the mutual respect of sovereignty is central to supplement action by local authorities.
This strong case for climate diplomacy can fall on fertile ground. Indeed, on the occasion of the second European Climate Diplomacy Day - the day before the Papal Encyclical was presented - the EU’s High Representative and Vice-President Federica Mogherini made a clear statement that: tackling climate change is both a national security as well as a moral imperative.
As the pressure for a new international climate agreement to be reached at the Paris COP 21 in December is high, the Pope’s Encyclical with its strong moral rationale can assist policy makers as an added, convincing narrative in making the case for decisive and timely action.
Linking the Atlantic and Pacific oceans across the Latin American landmass has often been presented as one of the holy grails of development for the region. While China’s idea of a ‘Nicaraguan Canal’ has made headlines globally, another major infrastructure project is in the works further south: the Bi-Oceanic Railway. The idea has already spurred transboundary environmental cooperation, but the public is still in the dark.
Using a progressive environmental security concept can help to tackle a range of environmental issues related to armed conflict, such as deforestation, loss of biodiversity, tensions over natural resources, conflict pollution, and damage to ecosystems. The environment can actually play a role in peacebuilding. This article briefly outlines why such an inclusive and environmental protection approach is needed and how it could be implemented.
Climate action and free trade have been perceived as contrary agendas for a long time. Despite more and more governments seeing tremendous potential for win-win outcomes, aligning trade and climate has become harder. This is due to changes in our current geopolitical landscape, as Christian Hübner explains in light of the upcoming G20 summit.
Human activity has caused the temperature of the Earth and its atmosphere to rise by about 1°C above pre-industrial levels, triggering fundamental changes to the planet’s physical and social landscapes. On 8 October an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warned that temperatures were rising faster than expected, and that 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels could occur as early as 2030.