Radical Goals for Sustainable Development The rules of the global economy also remain untouchable, making it nearly impossible to restructure financial and trade policies to ensure that they do not result in more poverty, unchecked climate change, and irreversible resource destruction. The language agreed upon so far is not reassuring. A timeworn commitment to economic growth at all cost is no answer to the question of how development can be balanced against the limits of our planet and the fact that billions of people live in poverty. In a finite world, infinite growth is impossible, and rising output will not put food on everyone’s table if the benefits of growth are not fairly distributed.
The Myth of Net-Zero Emissions The emissions from burning coal, oil, and gas are heating up our planet at such a rapid rate that increasingly volatile and dangerous climate conditions seem almost inevitable. Clearly, we have to reduce emissions fast, while developing alternative energy sources that allow us to leave fossil fuels in the ground.
A Socio-Economic Analysis of Renewable Energy Usage in Palestine Supported by the Palestinian American Research Center (PARC) and hbs, Sameerah Awawdeh and Dr. Yousef Daoud are carrying out a project investigating the economic and social impact of the use of solar energy instead of fossil fuels to generate electricity in Palestine. The study particularly looks at the impact on public finance, external trade and labor market.
The High Cost of Cheap Meat Factory-style livestock production is a critical driver of agricultural industrialization. Its remorseless expansion is contributing to climate change, deforestation, biodiversity loss, and human-rights violations – all to satisfy Western societies’ unhealthy appetite for cheap meat.
Carbon Majors and Climate Justice Those most vulnerable to climate change are often least responsible for its causes, and have the fewest resources to deal with its consequences. Contrast this with the carbon majors, which have made huge fortunes from the fossil fuels that are largely responsible for climate change. In 2013, the combined profits of just four majors – Chevron, ExxonMobil, BP, and Shell – topped $94 billion. This colossal return was possible only because these companies externalize their products’ highest cost – the climate devastation borne by the poor and vulnerable.
How “historic” Israel-Jordan water deal leaves Palestinians high and dry Article World media recently lauded a new project, backed by the World Bank, that will allegedly “save” the Dead Sea and prove that peace is possible through cooperation to manage natural resources. But the scheme only threatens to make an already disastrous situation worse, as well as robbing Palestinians of their right to water.
Fruits of the Desert The gulf has run out of pearls and we all know oil is next. During the COP18 in 2012, four countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) filed a historic joint submission to the UNFCCC to put forward their national efforts and cooperative actions under the umbrella of economic diversification. At COP19 in Warsaw, the climate negotiators from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, and Qatar held a side event to share their national progress made in climate related initiatives.
Where Do Arabs Fit In? “Arabs – Time to lead” was the slogan emblazoned on my black t-shirt during my participation at COP18 last year in Doha as a youth delegate from the Arab Youth Climate Movement (AYCM). This was our call for the Arab world to take climate change seriously, and to push our own leaders to develop and communicate a comprehensive low carbon development strategy. Sadly, little happened in Doha, and the true test is now how to keep pushing Arab governments for voluntary commitment. After the first week of the climate negotiations in Warsaw, we could infer that the Arab stance will not change.
Loss and Damage Between the 12th and the 23rd of November 2013, Warsaw hosted the 19th Conference of Parties (COP19) of the United Nations Framework Convention of Climate Change (UNFCCC). As the cold intensified in Warsaw, cold atmospheres penetrated indoors hitting the political mood in and around the conference meetings, making the political initiatives and solutions look meager and feeble, and affecting in return the ambitions and hopes of the participants, as well as of those who follow up the biggest annual congregation specializing in climate change.
How Do I See COP19? A 'map'! I guess this is the best description I could reach over the course of two consecutive weeks of negotiations on climate change that were held in Warsaw in Poland. COP19 is the Conference of Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention of Climate Change (UNFCCC), aiming to reach a binding agreement to stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations and mechanisms to adapt to the effects of climate change. Yes, all these together stand behind the climate negotiations.
