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561. Securing Nuclear Weapons and Materials Worldwide: Expanded Funding Needed for a More Ambitious Approach

Author:
Matthew Bunn, Nickolas Roth, and William H. Tobey
Publication Date:
04-2019
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard University
Abstract:
The Trump administration budget request for programs to reduce the dangers of nuclear theft and terrorism is too small to implement the ambitious approach that is needed. Congress should increase funding in this critical area; direct the administration to develop and implement a comprehensive plan for improving security for nuclear weapons and materials worldwide; and exert expanded oversight of this effort. This brief highlights the importance of ongoing nuclear security work; describes the evolving budget picture; and outlines recommendations for congressional action.
Topic:
Security, Environment, Nuclear Weapons, Science and Technology, International Security, Natural Resources, and Budget
Political Geography:
United States of America

562. Business as usual? The private sector’s changing role in Arctic environmental governance

Author:
Elana Wilson Rowe, Christian Prip, and Svein Vigeland Rottem
Publication Date:
12-2019
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Norwegian Institute of International Affairs
Abstract:
How has the private sector engaged in crossborder Arctic diplomacy? Despite a focus on business actors as targets of policy recommendations from the Arctic Council and an increased attention on the importance of engaging with the private sector, we find that business actors have not yet been heavily involved in shaping Arctic governance outcomes. The brief concludes with recommendations as to how the capacity of the private sector can be engaged to secure better Arctic environmental governance.
Topic:
Diplomacy, Environment, Governance, Business, and Private Sector
Political Geography:
Arctic

563. Experience and Awareness of Climate Change in Africa

Author:
Edem E. Selormey, Marvis Zupork Dome, Lionel Osse, and Carolyn Logan
Publication Date:
09-2019
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Afrobarometer
Abstract:
Climate change is “the defining development challenge of our time,” and Africa the continent most vulnerable to its consequences, according to the African Union (2015) and the United Nations (UN Environment, 2019). Farmers in Uganda waiting endlessly for rain (URN, 2019), cyclone survivors in Mozambique and Zimbabwe digging out of the mud and burying their dead (Associated Press, 2019) – these images bring home what changing climate and increasingly extreme weather conditions may mean for everyday Africans. Long-term changes in temperatures and rainfall patterns are a particular menace to Africa, where agriculture forms the economic backbone of development priorities such as food security and poverty eradication (Food and Agriculture Organization, 2018). As an issue, “climate change” per se does not register among the “most important problems” that Africans surveyed by Afrobarometer want their governments to address (see Coulibaly, Silwé, & Logan, 2018). But concerns about the effects of climate change may be embedded in some of the other priorities identified, including water supply (cited by 24% of respondents), food shortages (18%), and agriculture (17%). And progress in addressing these priorities may be seriously impeded by a changing climate. African countries dominate the bottom ranks in the Notre Dame Global Adaptation Initiative (ND-GAIN) Index (2019), meaning they are the world’s countries most vulnerable to and least prepared for climate change. Despite the continent’s minuscule contribution to the greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change, most African countries have willingly signed on to international agreements to fight it, including the United Nations’ Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Kyoto Protocol, and the 2016 Paris Agreement on Climate Change (United Nations, 2019). The Paris Agreement mobilizes worldwide action to limit further temperature increases and to strengthen the ability of countries to deal with the impacts of climate change, including a commitment from developed countries to allocate $100 billion by 2020 for climate adaptation and mitigation needs of developing countries (Munang & Mgendi, 2017; UN Climate Change, 2018). In March 2019, policymakers and key stakeholders from all 54 African countries gathered in Accra for Africa Climate Week 2019 to lay plans to be presented at the UN Climate Action Summit in New York in September (UN Climate Change, 2019). The United Nations has summed up its pressing demand for climate action in its Sustainable Development Goal No. 13: “Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts,” calling on countries to integrate climate-change measures into national policies and strategies, strengthen resilience to climate-related hazards and natural disasters, and build awareness and capacity for early warning and impact reduction (United Nations Development Programme, 2019). Many African governments have laid out their countries’ vulnerabilities in agriculture, water resources, food security, livelihoods, and other sectors and have incorporated climate-change mitigation in national plans (see, for example, Uganda’s Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, 2018, and Ministry of Water and Environment, 2015). But building climate resilience will require a committed and coordinated effort (Busby, Smith, White, & Strange, 2012), backed by significant resources and a population that understands and supports the need for prioritizing climate change. How do ordinary Africans see climate change? Does talk of urgent action align with their experiences and needs? Findings from Afrobarometer’s latest round of public-opinion surveys across Africa show a keen awareness of climate change in some countries – often backed by personal observation – but the opposite in others. Across the continent, among people who have heard of climate change, a large majority say it is making life worse and needs to be stopped. But four in 10 Africans are unfamiliar with the concept of climate change – even, in some cases, if they have personally observed detrimental changes in weather patterns. And only about three in 10 are fully “climate change literate,” combining awareness of climate change with basic knowledge about its causes and negative effects. Groups that are less familiar with climate change – and might be good targets for awareness-raising and advocacy in building a popular base for climate-change action – include people working in agriculture, rural residents, women, the poor, and the less-educated.
Topic:
Security, Climate Change, Environment, Infrastructure, and Governance
Political Geography:
Africa

564. Waste as a cause of climate change: what to do with it?

Author:
Štěpán Vaškevič
Publication Date:
05-2019
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Europeum Institute for European Policy
Abstract:
Štěpán Vaškevič in his policy paper examines an often neglected activity in climate policies - waste management and its impact on climate change. How is the Czech republic really standing when it comes to this phenomena? And what are the further perspectives? Climate change is a multidimensional issue in both its origins and its solutions as well. The aim of this paper is to provide an insight into human activity often neglected in climate policies – waste management and its impact on climate change. The paper will map main streams of greenhouse gas emissions in waste management sector with a focus on landfills, analyze existing approaches for improvement via optics of circular economy and make notes on existing obstacles and opportunities in Czechia.
Topic:
Climate Change, Environment, Waste, and Carbon Emissions
Political Geography:
Europe and Czech Republic

565. The Amazon Wildfires and Environmental Conservation: What Can the EU do?

Author:
Helder Hermani
Publication Date:
09-2019
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Europeum Institute for European Policy
Abstract:
Helder Hermani published a EU Monitor in which he focuses on the ways EU can contribute to the conservation of Amazon rainforests. He provides analysis and proposes 5 specific steps. The European Union is arguably the global power most devoted to the environmental conservation and combating climate change. However, isolated actions tend to prove ineffective in achieving these objectives. "The neoliberal policy oriented to private investments, coupled with the bulky military composition at the highest level of officials, has driven Brazil to pursue two goals in regards to international bodies: a permanent seat in the OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) and the status of major non-NATO ally.“ "The EU [...] must make it easier for suppliers, manufacturers, retailers, consumers and public authorities to identify products from deforestation-free supply chains.
Topic:
Environment, Neoliberalism, Investment, Conservation, and Supply Chains
Political Geography:
Europe, South America, and Amazon Basin

566. Beyond Revenues: Measuring and Valuing Environmental and Social Impacts in Extractive Sector Governance

Author:
Nicola Woodroffe and Tim Grice
Publication Date:
09-2019
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Natural Resource Governance Institute
Abstract:
Oil, gas and mining projects can generate substantial revenues for host countries. At the same time, extractive activities generate a range of other positive and negative economic, environmental, social, political, institutional and cultural impacts. Host countries must weigh the economic benefits of extractive projects against their environmental and social impacts. However, environmental and social impacts are often assessed in separate processes and by separate institutions from those assessing financial revenues and the modeling, measuring and reporting of these impacts is rarely integrated with financial impacts.
Topic:
Environment, Oil, Natural Resources, Governance, Gas, and Mining
Political Geography:
Global Focus

567. What’s next for UN climate negotiations? The UNFCCC in the era of populism and multipolar competition

Author:
Antto Vihma
Publication Date:
03-2019
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Finnish Institute of International Affairs (FIIA)
Abstract:
After the agreement reached in Katowice in December 2018, The Paris Agreement is finally operational. This is a major diplomatic achievement. Two large-scale political developments have cast a shadow over the implementation phase of the Paris Agreement: the rise of right-wing populism and emerging multipolar competition. The evidence so far seems to suggest that right-wing populism often frames climate change as an elite agenda – and international agreements are perceived as a pet issue of the corrupt elite, at odds with the interests of the people. Relatedly, tightening competition among great powers makes multilateral cooperation and consensus-based decision-making among 197 parties increasingly challenging. With the Paris Agreement in place, the UNFCCC can provide a long-awaited legal framework for national climate contributions, but it will not be able to increase the ambition of national climate policies via multilateral negotiations.
Topic:
Climate Change, Environment, United Nations, and Paris Agreement
Political Geography:
Global Focus

568. Advancing United Nations Responses to Climate-related Security Risks

Author:
Camilla Born, Karolina Eklöw, and Malin Mobjörk
Publication Date:
09-2019
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI)
Abstract:
The security implications of climate change have increasingly been debated in the United Nations Security Council. Yet, there is a growing concern by many UN member states about the lack of adequate responses to the risks that climate change poses to peace and security. In recent years, some modest but notable changes at the UN have taken place, of which the creation of the Climate Security Mechanism is the primary example. This SIPRI Policy Brief summarizes the recent evolution of the climate security debate in the UN and highlights three priority areas for future action: (a) supporting and establishing climate security action in the field, (b) nurturing knowledge provision and (c) building sustainable sources of financing for climate security action. All these steps will require committed actors, innovation and long-term investment. Escalating climate impacts make the mitigation of climate-related security risks by the UN and its member states not only demanded but urgent. Recent institutional progress demonstrates that committed and cooperative actors can drive institutional change. This progress must be bolstered and action delivered in the field.
Topic:
Security, Climate Change, Environment, United Nations, and Risk
Political Geography:
Global Focus

569. The changing face of environmental governance in the Brazilian Amazon: indigenous and traditional peoples promoting norm diffusion

Author:
Veronika Miranda Chase
Publication Date:
12-2019
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Revista Brasileira de Política Internacional (RBPI)
Institution:
Instituto Brasileiro de Relações Internacionais (IBRI)
Abstract:
Transnational networks of non-state actors are using ILO Convention No. 169 as a powerful instrument of environmental governance. The treaty promotes the norm of Free, Prior and Informed Consultation (FPIC), empowering local communities to influence infrastructure projects that impact their livelihoods and natural resources. However, there is a disconnect between the Brazilian government’s discourse and the effective implementation of this norm. Using document analysis and process tracing, this article investigates this rhetoric-practice gap. It argues that these transnational networks are diffusing the FPIC norm through Consultation Protocols, slowly bridging the gap.
Topic:
Environment, Treaties and Agreements, Governance, Transnational Actors, Indigenous, Norms, and Norm Diffusion
Political Geography:
Brazil, South America, and Amazon Basin

570. Global climate adaptation governance in the Amazon through a polycentricity lens

Author:
Fronika Claziena Agatha de Wit and Paula Martins de Freitas
Publication Date:
12-2019
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Revista Brasileira de Política Internacional (RBPI)
Institution:
Instituto Brasileiro de Relações Internacionais (IBRI)
Abstract:
The 2015 Paris agreement has made adaptation to climate change a global goal and increased the polycentricity of the governance landscape. This study uses insights from polycentric governance theory to analyze the emergence of adaptation governance (AG) in Brazil and its implications for the state of Acre, situated in the Amazon region. By using a qualitative data analysis, including subnational climate policies and semi-structured interviews, we aim to analyze the advantages and challenges of polycentric AG in Acre and provide recommendations for improved AG in the region.
Topic:
Climate Change, Environment, Treaties and Agreements, and Paris Agreement
Political Geography:
Brazil, South America, and Amazon Basin