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661. Climate of Displacement, Climate for Protection?

Author:
Vikram Kolmannskog
Publication Date:
12-2008
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
This article looks at existing categories of forced migrants in the context of climate change to analyse protection possibilities. Climate change impacts include an increase in the frequency and severity of weather hazards. Disasters and degradation can serve as a direct cause of displacement, or as an indirect cause of displacement through conflicts. Much climate change-related forced migration is likely to remain internal and regional in the foreseeable future. As internally displaced persons the forced migrants are protected according to the 1998 Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement. For those who cross borders and enter other counties, there seems to be a serious protection gap. They are not considered refugees unless they are fleeing persecution on certain grounds. The human rights approach differs from general forced migration law by focusing on needs rather than cause. If return is neither possible nor reasonable due to circumstances in the place of origin and personal conditions including particular vulnerabilities, a person should receive protection regardless of the initial cause of movement. Some countries grant complementary or temporary protection. An important rationale for international protection is that some of the most exposed and vulnerable states to climate change impacts may be unwilling or unable to protect the forced migrants. Other countries may also have a responsibility since climate change is mostly the fault of the rich and developed countries. Since most of the affected and displaced will never reach the rich countries, this responsibility must also manifest itself through investments in adaptation in developing countries and other support for the most affected, including humanitarian response.
Topic:
Climate Change, Environment, and Migration

662. High-Speed Rail: The Wrong Road for America

Author:
Randal O'Toole
Publication Date:
10-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Cato Institute
Abstract:
In the face of high energy prices and concerns about global warming, environmentalists and planners offer high-speed rail as an environmentally friendly alternative to driving and air travel. California, Florida, the Midwest, and other parts of the country are actively considering specific high-speed rail plans.
Topic:
Development and Environment
Political Geography:
United States, California, and Florida

663. A Federal Renewable Electricity Requirement

Author:
Robert J. Michaels
Publication Date:
11-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Cato Institute
Abstract:
Rising energy prices and climate change have changed both the economics and politics of electricity. In response, over half the states have enacted “renewable portfolio standards” (RPS) that require utilities to obtain some power from “renewable” generation resources rather than carbon-emitting fossil fuels. Reports of state-level success have brought proposals for a national standard. Like several predecessor Congresses, however, the most recent one failed to pass RPS legislation.
Topic:
Climate Change, Energy Policy, and Environment
Political Geography:
Europe

664. Confronting Climate Change: A Strategy for U.S. Foreign Policy

Author:
David G. Victor, Michael A. Levi, George E. Pataki, and Thomas J. Vilsack
Publication Date:
06-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Council on Foreign Relations
Abstract:
Unchecked climate change is poised to have wide-ranging and potentially disastrous effects over time on human welfare, sensitive ecosystems, and international security. This urgent challenge demands that the United States and the world take comprehensive action to limit the buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and to address the consequences of any unavoidable climate change.
Topic:
Climate Change, Environment, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
United States

665. Saving the Arctic, Now

Author:
Rafe Pomerance and Armond Cohen
Publication Date:
01-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
European Affairs
Institution:
The European Institute
Abstract:
The Arctic is leading a global meltdown and Greenland is the worst hot spot – partly because it collects “black carbon” as tiny soot particles that intensify the heat. Emissions of this sort could be quickly and effectively reversed if collective action is taken now.
Topic:
Climate Change and Environment
Political Geography:
Greenland

666. An Emergency Coordination Center Is Needed for a New Frontier

Author:
George B. Newton
Publication Date:
01-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
European Affairs
Institution:
The European Institute
Abstract:
As global warming unfreezes the Arctic, these literally uncharted waters are going to be plied by shipping, but there is no collective network to coordinate emergency responses on land and sea.
Topic:
Defense Policy, Disaster Relief, Environment, and International Cooperation
Political Geography:
United States

667. A Climate of Injustice: Global Inequality, North-South Politics, and Climate Policy

Author:
Martin Bunzl
Publication Date:
07-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
Carnegie Council
Abstract:
When people learn that I am an academic philosopher interested in climate change they often become effusive about the dire need for more talk about ethics in the discussions of global warming. I usually respond that talk is cheap; action is what we need! But the engaging thesis (at least for a philosopher) of J. Timmons Roberts and Bradley C. Parks's A Climate of Injustice is that if we want action we need to talk about fairness first. Their book fairly bristles with theses and prescriptions, but their core argument goes like this: (1) The only way to stop the looming climate crisis is to stem the prospective growth of carbon outputs by the developing world (the ''South''); (2) the South will cooperate in such a plan only if an atmosphere of trust and mutual respect can be built with the developed world (the ''North''); (3) such trust and mutual respect can grow only if the North acts fairly in the eyes of the South when it comes to climate issues; and (4) such fairness will require the North to take on the burden of its historic role in causing the problem.
Topic:
Environment

668. Preventing the Tragedy of the CO2 Commons: Exploring China's Growth and the International Climate Framework

Author:
Peter J. Wilcoxen, Warwick J. McKibbin, and Wing Thye Woo
Publication Date:
07-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Brookings Institution
Abstract:
Under reasonable assumptions, China could achieve parity in living standard with Western Europe by 2100, and India by 2150. Climate change, however, may be a key obstacle preventing such a convergence. The business-as-usual (BAU) growth path of the world economy might increase concentrations of atmospheric greenhouse gases to unsafe levels and cause significant negative environmental feedback before China achieves parity in living standards with the OECD countries. We use a dynamic multi-country general equilibrium model (the G-Cubed Model) to project a realistic BAU trajectory of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, and we find it to be even above the CO2 emissions from the high-growth scenario estimated by the Energy Information Agency in 2007. This outcome is a reminder that it has been usual so far to underestimate the growth in China energy consumption.
Topic:
Climate Change, Environment, and Markets
Political Geography:
China, Europe, India, and Asia

669. Can Trade Policy Support the Next Global Climate Agreement?

Author:
Margaret Lay
Publication Date:
09-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Abstract:
The global trade and environment regimes have a rich history of conflicts and synergies that holds important lessons for current initiatives to develop and implement effective national and global climate policy. This paper explores the relationship between the trade and environment regimes and asks how climate negotiators can harness the powerful incentives of international trade to support the next global climate regime.
Topic:
Climate Change, Environment, and International Trade and Finance

670. Building on Kyoto: towards a realistic global climate agreement

Author:
Warwick McKibbin and Peter J. Wilcoxen
Publication Date:
07-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Lowy Institute for International Policy
Abstract:
As a mechanism for controlling climate change, the Kyoto Protocol has not been a success. Over the decade from its signing in 1997 to the beginning of its first commitment period in 2008, greenhouse gas emissions in the industrial countries subject to targets under the protocol did not fall as the protocol intended. Instead, emissions in many countries rose rapidly. It is now abundantly clear that as a group, the countries bound by the protocol have little chance of achieving their Kyoto targets by the end of the first commitment period in 2012. Moreover, emissions have increased substantially as well in countries such as China, which were not bound by the protocol but which will eventually have to be part of any serious climate change regime.
Topic:
Climate Change, Economics, Environment, Markets, and Treaties and Agreements
Political Geography:
China