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721. The Right to Survive in a Changing Climate

Author:
Robert Bailey
Publication Date:
04-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:
Driven by upward trends in the number of climate - related disasters and human vulnerability to them, by 2015 the average number of people affected each year by climate-related disasters could increase by over 50 percent to 375 million. This figure will continue to rise as climate change gathers pace – increasing the frequency and/or severity of such events – and poverty and inequality force ever more people to live in high -risk places, such as flood plains, steep hillsides and urban slums, while depriving them of the means to cope with disaster.
Topic:
Climate Change, Economics, Environment, Globalization, and Poverty

722. The Right to Survive: the humanitarian challenge for the twenty-first century

Publication Date:
04-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:
Each year, on average, almost 250 million people are affected by 'natural' disasters. In a typical year between 1998 and 2007, 98 per cent of them suffered from climate-related disasters such as droughts and floods rather than, for example, devastating but relatively rare events such as earthquakes. According to new research for this report, by 2015 this could grow by more than 50 per cent to an average of over 375 million affected by climate-related disasters each year.
Topic:
Climate Change, Environment, Human Welfare, and Humanitarian Aid

723. Environmental Justice in World Politics

Author:
Özgüç Orhan
Publication Date:
04-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Alternatives: Turkish Journal of International Relations
Institution:
Center for International Conflict Resolution at Yalova University
Abstract:
All environmental problems in one way or another are involved in the question of justice. The concept of “environmental justice” has been in circulation for some time underlining the justice dimension of environmental issues. Given the globalization of environmental problems since 1970s, the environmental justice discourse has been increasingly used to frame various international or global environmental issues like toxic waste trade, ozone depletion, biodiversity protection, and global warming. There is now quite a number of phrases that can help us to think environmental justice outside state borders: “global environmental justice,” “transnational environmental justice,” “international environmental justice,” and “international environmental equity.” Environmental scholars using these terms often fail to draw meaningful distinctions among them. I argue that this multiplicity of phrases signifies more than an inadvertent inflation of terminology. The terminological diversity we encounter in IR literature actually corresponds to different modes of environmental justice in world politics.
Topic:
Climate Change and Globalization

724. Energy Efficiency in Buildings: A Global Economic Perspective

Author:
Trevor Houser
Publication Date:
04-2009
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Peterson Institute for International Economics
Abstract:
At the 2008 summit in Hokkaido, Japan, G-8 leaders called for a 50 percent global reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050 to avoid “the most serious consequences of climate change.” Meeting this goal will require transforming the way energy is produced, delivered, and consumed across all sectors of the economy and regions of the world. The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that the building sector alone will need to reduce annual emissions by 8.2 gigatons below business-as-usual by 2050, an amount equal to nearly one third of global emissions today (IEA 2008a).
Topic:
Climate Change, Energy Policy, and International Cooperation
Political Geography:
Japan

725. The Environmental State of Canada

Author:
Kenneth P. Green and Ben Eisen
Publication Date:
06-2009
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
Abstract:
Canadians have much to celebrate concerning their natural environment. Over the past 30 years, Canada's air and water have become cleaner, ecosystems and timberlands have been preserved, and soils that feed not only Canadians but also many others around the world have been protected. This has happened while Canada's population and economy have grown strongly, which has propelled Canada, a country of only 33 million, to the status of an economic powerhouse with a standard of living that is the envy of much of the world. There is still more that can be done, but Canada is well on the way toward environmental sustainability.
Topic:
Climate Change, Environment, and Oil
Political Geography:
Canada and North America

726. Economic Writing on the Pressing Problems of the Day: The Roles of Moral Intuition and Methodological Confusion

Author:
Julie A. Nelson
Publication Date:
04-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Global Development and Environment Institute at Tufts University
Abstract:
Economists are often called on to help address pressing problems of the day, yet many economists are uncomfortable about disclosing the values that they bring to this work. This essay explores how an inadequate understanding of the role of methodology, as related to ethics and human emotions of concern, underlies this reluctance and compromises the quality of economic advice. The tension between caring about the problems, on the one hand, and writing within the existing culture of the discipline, on the other, are illustrated with examples from U.S. policymaking, behavioral economics, and the economics of climate change and global poverty. Potential steps towards a more responsible, "strongly objective," and policy-useful economics are discussed.
Topic:
Climate Change, Economics, Globalization, and Poverty
Political Geography:
United States

727. Euros for low-carbon development Finance as a stumbling block to the EU's position for Copenhagen

Author:
Tuuli Mäkelä
Publication Date:
05-2009
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Finnish Institute of International Affairs
Abstract:
The international community is currently in the midst of negotiating a follow-up agreement to the Kyoto Protocol, due to be concluded at Copenhagen in December this year. The European Union has so far taken extensive measures internally to comply with its commitment under the Protocol, and has thereby led the global effort to slow down climate change. At Bali in December 2007, the European Union played an active role in brokering a deal with developing countries on the Copenhagen building blocks, while US climate politics were still largely in gridlock.
Topic:
Climate Change, Energy Policy, and Environment
Political Geography:
Europe

728. The Russian debate on climate doctrine: Emerging issues on the road to Copenhagen

Author:
Anna Korppoo
Publication Date:
06-2009
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Finnish Institute of International Affairs
Abstract:
The Russian Cabinet discussed a draft 'climate doctrine' on 23 April 2009. The document, opened for comments 28 May 2009, is a political declaration on the approach to climate change. The debate around the doctrine was largely based on the scientific report published by the Hydrometeorological Service of Russia (Roshydromet) in February 2009. This document recognizes climate change as a human-induced phenomenon and acknowledges the main characteristics of the changes expected.
Topic:
Climate Change, Energy Policy, and Environment
Political Geography:
Russia and Eastern Europe

729. Climate sudoku: Japan's bumpy ride towars a post-2012 target

Author:
Alexandru Luta
Publication Date:
06-2009
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Finnish Institute of International Affairs
Abstract:
Under the Kyoto Protocol, Japan has pledged to reduce its GHG emissions during the first commitment period by 6% relative to 1990. However, Japan's national GHG inventory indicates that emission levels for 2007, the latest year for which official estimates are currently available, have reached 1.374 billion tons of CO2 equivalent, representing a 9% increase relative to the base year.
Topic:
Climate Change, Energy Policy, Environment, and International Cooperation
Political Geography:
Japan

730. Assessing the Alternatives: Financing climate change mitigation and adaptation in developing countries

Author:
Stephen Spratt
Publication Date:
05-2009
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:
The global climate is changing, fast. And this is the direct result of human activity. It is broadly accepted that we need to restrict global temperature increases to as far below 2°C as possible if we are to avoid triggering runaway, irreversible and catastrophic climate change. This is very probably the greatest challenge and danger that mankind has ever faced, and evidence is mounting that time is rapidly running out if we wish to “preserve a planet similar to that on which civilization developed and to which life on Earth is adapted.” (Hansen, et al, 2008).
Topic:
Climate Change, Environment, and Third World