In 2011 Thailand was hit by unprecedented monsoon rains far above the average rainfall of the previous 30 years. Two million people across 26 provinces were affected. During the crisis, hundreds of civilians took it to the streets to protest discrimination by the Flood Response Operation Centre and the unfair distribution of water, electricity supply, shelter and food. Civilians were so angry that they broke a sandbag wall in Bangkok which was protecting a wealthy district from water surges. Public unrest and discontent with the government continued until a military coup in 2013.
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.
For the last two decades, climate talks, and their top-down multinational approaches, have largely failed to curb rising temperatures. Since then, a number of subnational actors (provinces, cities, businesses, and civil society organizations, among others) have sought to tackle climate change from the bottom 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."
EU delegations and EU Member State Embassies all over the world join forces to emphasise the importance and benefit of climate action on the second Climate Diplomacy Day, 17 June 2015.
Protecting our environment is the big challenge of our times, not just of one day. Still, each and every day matters. And this Climate diplomacy day is an opportunity we cannot miss.
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 leaders started their annual meeting Sunday during which Prime Minister Stephen Harper was expected to face discussions on a topic he has been repeatedly criticized for not doing enough about -- climate change.
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.
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.