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472. The Global Arctic: The Growing Arctic Interests of Russia, China, the United States and the European Union
- Author:
- Juha Käpylä and Harri Mikkola
- Publication Date:
- 08-2013
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Finnish Institute of International Affairs
- Abstract:
- With exciting economic opportunities and serious environmental challenges, the Arctic is transforming and re-emerging as a geopolitically important region. Major global players within and without the Arctic are paying greater attention to the region. While Russia is a traditional Arctic state with significant economic and security interests in the region, China, the US and the EU have also expressed their Arctic interests more explicitly. They are keen to tap into the economic potential and have a say in the way the region becomes accessed, exploited and governed. As a result, the Arctic is no longer a spatially or administratively confined region, but is instead taking its new form in the midst of contemporary global politics. The globalization and economization of the Arctic will most likely downplay environmentalism and reduce the relative influence of the indigenous people and small Arctic states in Arctic affairs. Arctic governance is also likely to turn more complex and complicated as the economic and political stakes are raised.
- Topic:
- Security, Foreign Policy, Climate Change, Development, International Trade and Finance, Oil, and Natural Resources
- Political Geography:
- Russia, United States, China, and Europe
473. Science and the International Politics of Climate Change
- Author:
- Cullen S. Hendrix and Idean Selehyan
- Publication Date:
- 10-2013
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- The Journal of Diplomacy and International Relations
- Institution:
- School of Diplomacy and International Relations, Seton Hall University
- Abstract:
- World leaders met in December of 2009 in Copenhagen, Denmark to discuss ways to mitigate climate change through meaningful cuts to greenhouse gas emissions. Leading up to the conference, there was a high degree of scientific consensus that climate change is a very real phenomenon, that human activity contributes to the process, and unless significant steps are taken to reduce the amount of carbon in the atmosphere the impact on the environment could be catastrophic. In addition, there was a growing recognition that some degree of climate change is inevitable, and so, humanity must devise strategies to adapt to this reality. Armed with evidence compiled by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), scientists from a wide array of disciplines constituted a strong epistemic community,—a network of experts who share a common view on a particular issue—and urged policymakers to take bold action at Copenhagen. Specifically, scientists and environmental activists called for limiting the level of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere to below approximately 450 parts per million, in order to keep average global temperatures from rising more than 2ºC.
- Topic:
- Climate Change
474. Making Large-Scale Wind and Solar Power a Reality
- Author:
- Kevin Ummel
- Publication Date:
- 09-2013
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Center for Global Development
- Abstract:
- South Africa and many other countries hope to aggressively expand wind and solar power (WSP) in the coming decades. This presents significant challenges for power system planning. Success hinges largely on the question of how and where to deploy WSP technologies. Well-designed deployment strategies can take advantage of natural variability in resources across space and time to help minimize costs, maximize benefits, and ensure reliability.
- Topic:
- Climate Change, Development, Economics, Energy Policy, Environment, and Industrial Policy
- Political Geography:
- South Africa
475. Expert Group Meeting on the Impact of Climate Change on ASEAN Food Security
- Publication Date:
- 06-2013
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies (NTS)
- Abstract:
- Climate change is one of the most pressing issues affecting ASEAN food security. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) projects that temperatures will rise between 1.5 to 3 degrees Celsius by 2100 given foreseeable levels of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
- Topic:
- Security, Climate Change, Environment, Globalization, and Food
476. U.S. Disaster Preparedness and Resilience: Recommendations for Reform
- Author:
- Stephanie Sanok Kostro, Ashley Nichols, and Abigail Temoshchuk
- Publication Date:
- 08-2013
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center for Strategic and International Studies
- Abstract:
- In recent years , the United States has faced a growing number of severe natural disasters , presenting a variety of challenges for the nation – spanning the spectrum from federal to state to municipal and community levels – and its disaster response , relief, and recovery architecture . On average, the United States experiences ten severe weather events per year exceeding one billion dollars in damage , compared to an annual average of only two such events throughout the 1980s
- Topic:
- Climate Change, Economics, Humanitarian Aid, Natural Disasters, and Governance
- Political Geography:
- United States
477. Can We Feed the World in 2050? A Scoping Paper to Assess the Evidence
- Author:
- Timothy A. Wise
- Publication Date:
- 09-2013
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Global Development and Environment Institute at Tufts University
- Abstract:
- Alarms sounded following the 2007-8 food price increases regarding our ability to feed the world in 2050. Some said we need to double food production. Other estimates projected a 60% increase in agricultural production to meet rising population and changing diets. This paper looks behind those estimates to assess many of the economic models that have generated the most widely cited projections. A range of models are assessed, a typology of modeling is offered, and the strengths and limitations of different estimates are offered. Notable weaknesses include underestimates of the impacts of biofuels expansion and the uncertainties related to climate change and its impacts on agricultural production. We conclude with a set of recommendations regarding future modeling and the need to provide policy-makers with useful scenario analysis to help them gauge the impacts of policy alternatives.
- Topic:
- Security, Climate Change, Demographics, Economics, Gender Issues, Food, and Biofuels
478. Arctic Conflict Potential: Towards an extra-Arctic perspective
- Author:
- Juha Käpylä and Harri Mikkola
- Publication Date:
- 09-2013
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Finnish Institute of International Affairs
- Abstract:
- According to a popular notion, huge natural resource reserves located in the Arctic region will lead to a conflictual “gold rush” when Arctic states compete to claim these reserves for themselves. More precisely, there is the potential for interstate conflict in the Arctic area related to unresolved border issues, control of the Arctic maritime routes, and demarcation of the resource-rich continental shelves under the Arctic Ocean. However, Arctic states have little to gain by letting the Arctic dynamics slip into a conflict state that would create an unfruitful investment environment in the region. Relatively well-functioning regional and international governance mechanisms further defuse the interstate conflict potential in the region. Despite the divergent political interests of various players, the intra-Arctic conflict potential remains low. Should interstate conflict surface in the Arctic, the source is most likely to be related to complex global dynamics that may spill over to the region and which cannot be addressed with existing Arctic governance mechanisms. This extra-Arctic perspective should be increasingly taken into consideration by scholars and policy-makers.
- Topic:
- Conflict Prevention, Climate Change, International Trade and Finance, Oil, and Natural Resources
479. Obama's Climate Policy: Addressing climate change through executive actions
- Author:
- Anna Kronlund
- Publication Date:
- 09-2013
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Finnish Institute of International Affairs
- Abstract:
- President Barack Obama's recent action to address climate change indicates that it will be one of the second term's topical questions. The new climate change action plan introduced by Obama in June 2013 is composed of various executive actions and based on three pillars: reducing carbon pollution; leading international attempts to approach climate change; and preparing the US for the effects of climate change. The measures already adopted on climate change provide an opportunity to examine the possibilities that the president has to implement his climate action plan through executive powers without Congress. The decision to advance the political agenda through executive decisions is at least partly attributable to the partisan gridlock currently gripping US politics. The reach and effect of the executive decisions to address climate change outlined in the climate action plan are yet to be determined. The topical question seems to be whether the actions already taken offer hope that the US will reach its target to reduce carbon pollution and slow the effects of climate change, or whether legislative action from Congress will be called for. Although climate change is now being addressed through executive actions that do not require new legislation from Congress, this does not rule out the possibility that legislation will be passed in the future.
- Topic:
- Foreign Policy, Climate Change, Energy Policy, Environment, Industrial Policy, and Treaties and Agreements
- Political Geography:
- United States
480. Expert Working Group Meeting on Advancing Urban Resilience in the Face of Environmental Change
- Publication Date:
- 04-2013
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies (NTS)
- Abstract:
- Asian cities are often cited as being particularly susceptible to extreme events, shifting weather patterns and environmental decline. They are the economic and social hubs of the region's developing countries, yet are highly exposed to risks that can weaken and damage critical urban systems and undermine progress on development goals.
- Topic:
- Climate Change, Demographics, Economics, Environment, and Migration
- Political Geography:
- Asia