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Open Think Tank Articles
Vijeta Rattani: Climate change is a broad concept of which global warning is just one facet. NGOs should take the lead in informing the world about the complex reality of climate change and move away from focusing exclusively on carbon emissions.
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Vijeta Rattani: The EU was weak at the Cancun Summit last year, but it cannot afford to lose its influence in the climate debate as it is the most credible player to take a lead on the issue. Climate change should be given precedence over other objectives in view of its global implications and greater emphasis should be put on assisting developing countries.
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NATO Review: Climate change, food security and population growth could form the perfect storm. The global population is likely to rise from 7 billion this year to 9 billion by 2050. Yet, at the same time as having more mouths to feed, the world faces having less water and cultivable land. What will this mean for our security?
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Memo 29: The United States and the EU countries need to lead by example on climate change in order to reestablish moral authority. Environmental sustainability should be made part of the criteria for diplomatic relations. An online and democratic global patent pool will enhance technology transfers.
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Editorial Team: As the delegates at the Climate Change Conference in Cancun search for solutions, atlantic-community.org is focusing on how the transatlantic partners can best cooperate. As the final part of our student competition sponsored by the U.S. Mission to Germany, we are publishing six short-listed articles.
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Jan Schierkolk: A transnational collaborative knowledge pool with digital grassroots involvement would enable and incentivize unprecedented climate change technology transfer. The online medium would help bypass current political constraints and promote sustainable development and empowerment by providing measureable reputation gains for contributors.
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Julia Franziska Grauvogel: The EU must foster reduction targets that are superior to those proposed by the US and engage both the US and China in order to establish a new threesome leadership of climate protection. Financial concessions to developing countries and the governance struture for a future Green Fund are key.
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Edson Ziso: Post Copenhagen, the emphasis should no longer be on just reducing emissions, but rather creating viable alternatives. Taxation on both the production and consumption of environmentally unfriendly products is required. Also, the EU and US should provide clean technology transfers to developing nations.
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Philip Strothmann: Actions against climate change need to be global. However, the US and the EU have a historical responsibility to ensure that they lead by example. Accordingly, EU-US should realize that climate policy is energy policy and focus on renewable energy technology as a way forward.
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Dominik Hübner: Diverse national interests have halted progress during previous climate negotiations. The EU and US can lead efforts in combating climate change by advocating smaller, regional cooperation forums with fewer actors. These would prepare the ground for a future workable global treaty.
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Editorial Team: According to some, the resulting accord is an important first step, while others decry Copenhagen as a “climate crime scene.” As of now, the European Union has the only binding carbon deal in the world. What are the real lessons learned from COP15?
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Editorial Team: The phenomenon of climate change has proven to be incontrovertible. However, recent studies claim that climatic worst-case scenarios are inevitable because global warming has already outstripped all temperature limits.
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Noah Chutz: Structures of global governance are too clumsy to effectively respond to the challenges of climate change. The international community and the private sector will continue to operate in an uncoordinated and self-interested manner. Only science, a new fourth sector, can rescue the planet from its impending peril.
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Samuel Thernstrom: Currently, cutting emissions or adapting to a warmer planet are the only policies receiving serious consideration. Yet if implemented correctly, geo-engineering could be an inexpensive and timely solution to climate change woes.
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Markus Kaim: Climate change is causing a growth of possibilities for the use of the Arctic. Canada’s Arctic policy, dominated by claims to sovereignty and territory, conflicts with that of its direct competitors in the region (Denmark, Canada, USA, Russia, and Norway) and is at odds with German and European efforts to support multilateralism and uphold international legislation.
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Frank-Walter Steinmeier & David Miliband: Germany and the UK want to develop an effective European and multilateral strategy to anticipate the new policy challenges of climate security. Indeed, an off-balance global climate will spawn ravaging crises, conflicts, and disasters that require an international response.
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Axel Berg: After the elections in the US, Europeans are expecting to forge ahead with transatlantic cooperation on climate policy. Whoever is in the White House, expectations are high, especially among the Germans who want to set precedents and increase pressure on the international community.
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Josh Busby: I offer solutions on how countries can get from concern about the security consequences of climate change to action on its effects. Expanded support for adaptation and disaster response is needed, with continuing focus on emissions reductions.
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Global Must Read Articles
Expectations for the Cancun summit are rather low. ++ The main objective pursued will be an extension of the Kyoto Protocol beyond 2012. ++ While agreement on larger issues seems unlikely at Cancun, progress on concrete projects to counter global warming, such as forestation programs and technology transfer, could well be made. ++ Moreover, many multinationals have recently begun their own
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Progress on curbing greenhouse gas emissions at this week’s climate conference in Cancun, Mexico, is vital. ++ Yet, after the debacle of Copenhagen last year, expectations are extremely low. ++ The core problem is that the opposing positions of the developed bloc, led by the US and Europe, and the developing bloc, led by India and China, have not changed in the past year. ++ Nevertheless, there
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During the last decade, abrupt and intense climate change has affected the world in numerous ways. ++ Extreme weather is not a new phenomenon since historical facts show that floods, extreme hot and cold temperatures have left their imprint on many parts of the globe before. ++ It is difficult to gauge the exact cause of the extreme weather change. ++ However, global warming due
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There has been a sharp shift away from the urgency for a climate deal in the lead up to Copenhagen. ++ “Climategate,” the failure to reach a meaningful deal at Copenhagen, and the faulty evidence produced by the IPCC have all undermined the global warming movement. ++ “Whatever the full postmortem reveals, it is clear that the energy has drained from the push for a global
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Following a meeting in Brussels last week, EU leaders have come to an agreement on climate change assistance for developing countries and now expect Washington to follow suit. ++ A total of EUR2.4 billion annually from 2010-2012 was pledged for immediate measures relating to climate change and global warming. ++ Chancellor Merkel asserted that this is a clear signal to Copenhagen, and it is now
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Less than half of the US public regards man-made global warming as a proven fact. ++ Although the US is an outlier, few electorates are sufficiently convinced to support the policies that many climate scientists are calling for. ++ The key problem is that governments and climate scientists have decided that the subject matter is too difficult for voters. ++ “Governments should be honest and base
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A series of email-exchanges from Britain’s Climate Research Unit, that were released by a hacker, show how researchers should not respond to global warming sceptics. ++ Although none of them undercuts the scientific consensus on climate change, a call to boycott a troublesome journal and a promise to keep out a critical paper, are damaging moves. ++ “Climate scientists should not let
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The fight against climate change proclaimed by European Members of Parliament will have little effect. ++ “Even a great new agreement in Copenhagen is insufficient… [yet] necessary.” ++ The climatic challenge demands a profound reconsideration of political, scientific, and economic agendas. ++ Despite a better-informed public and a slow improvement in the handling of natural
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In the face of uncertainty as to when the impacts of climate change will begin to hit harder, developed societies must improve their ability to adapt to the crisis. ++ Poor southern countries are expected to be the first struck, yet northern countries might not cope as well as them. ++ “Despite material and technological advantages… developed countries are culturally constrained when it comes
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The repercussions of climate change are far more fatal than expected, a new report says. ++ Millions of the world’s poor are the most directly affected. ++ “This number will likely more than double - making it the greatest humanitarian challenge of our time.” ++ Developing countries “lack capacity to make their voices heard,” but endure 99 per cent of all casualties related to climate change. ++
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The collapse of one of Tennessee Valley Authority’s containment ponds poured toxic coal out in the open causing huge environmental damage. ++ However, there may be something to be gained from the catastrophe as the accident is ringing alarm bells and points to the need for federal level regulation as state level regulation is proving largely ineffective. ++ Coal production contributes to
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Barack Obama’s election is a great first step to restore America’s image – but to maintain that image, real progress must be seen. ++ Despite the economic gloom, keeping his tax policy pledges will solidify domestic confidence in the president-elect. ++ The real work to be done, however, is international in its nature: “You matter to us. Your future is our future. And our
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In reality there are no means by which to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels before 2050. ++ Therefore, Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) stations are needed to control the amount of carbon that is emitted into the atmosphere. ++ The Group of Eight has endorsed this approach and must now act by building 10 to 20 such stations to test which methods are most secure and effective. ++ Britain must
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While geoengineering may tempt mankind with promises of correcting global warming, we must not fall prey to the vicious cycle of scientifically tinkering with our planet. ++ Instead, humanity must adapt to a changing and warming environment by utilizing oases on continents and the Artic basin, which would be habitable in a warmer world, to ensure sufficient resources for our survival. ++ Saving
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So far all global efforts to tackle climate change have lacked impact, legitimacy and transparency - the situation is dire and calls for more radical solutions. ++ It is crucial to create a global legal structure of control in the form of an international court for the environment. ++ Such a powerful and imperial body could provide the catalyst for a global consensus concerning the best solution
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Until now, no one really seems to realise what kind of threat climate change represents for human beings living together on Earth. In his book “Climate Wars”, the social psychologist Harald Welzer therefore warns us against only perceiving climate change as a natural catastrophe and not as a collapse of the social order. In this sense, the social consequences of this development, rather than the
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International tourism is undergoing very rapid changes. New travelling habits, an increased awareness of price, short notice and short term holidays - and the wish for more flexibility and individuality as well as rising energy prices are constantly creating new challenges for the tourism industry. Unpredictable incidents have added to this: terrorist attacks (New York, Bali, Djerbra, Morocco,
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German researchers have reported that natural climate variability may offset the noticeable effects of human-induced global warming over the next decade, until 2020. ++ In the short term, policymakers should not ease efforts to reduce greenhouse emissions but welcome the break as a time to cooperate and plan the planet’s environmental future. ++ While a decade is a short amount of time and
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India’s agricultural sector remains nearly stagnant at a time when global food production faces five major challenges: population growth, changing consumption habits in emerging markets, declining agricultural production capacity, climate change, and increased demand for biofuels. ++ India should increase competitiveness by improving technologies and education in agricultural studies,
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Since global warming – by causing “natural” disasters, disease, and conflict – is threatening the lives and livelihoods of ever more children in the third world, we need to increase our contribution to the cost of adapting to climate change so that it is more evenly shared. ++ Governments, the private sector, and individuals must take action and adapt aid to the level of
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Idean Salehyan, coauthor of “Climate Change and Conflict: The Migration Link,”argues in Foreign Policy that climate change cannot be the exclusive cause of future wars for water and resources. Corrupt and tyrannical governments should remain under scrutiny. Ban Ki-Moon’s statement linking the horrors in Darfur to climate change is false and misleading: Khartoum is the source of the
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