Category Archives: Uncategorized
A lesson in global crisis management
Just when it seemed like things couldn’t get much worse for multilateralism (short of another world war), they did. The unleashing of a tiny, untidy jumble of RNA bound together with soap-soluble fat on the international scene has brought mighty economies to a halt. … Continue reading
Seven lessons from Nepal for the Green Climate Fund, on devolving climate action
Anju Sharma, Raju Pandit Chhetri & Dharam Uprety Nepal is globally recognised as a pioneer in devolved approaches to address climate change impacts. Not satisfied with only a “National” Adaptation Programme of Action (NAPA), Nepal adopted a Framework for … Continue reading
A Conference Carol
What does this difficult time for global cooperation mean for the future of the climate negotiations? We genuinely cannot say. In the spirit of the season, however, let the ghosts of climate change conferences past, present, and yet to come show us glimpses of what was, what is, and what could be. Continue reading
A Conference Carol – III
The disenchantment with unfair globalisation should be a wakeup call for those who think justice and ethics have nothing to do with global climate negotiations. Any global treaty or process that imposes an unfair burden will eventually be rejected. The “citizens of the world” may not have a vote through which to express their anger, but they will express themselves nevertheless, by rejecting the unfair. Continue reading
A Conference Carol – II
Some climate experts have tried to soften the blow of Trump’s election by saying the transition to renewable energy is “unstoppable”. This is misleading and dangerous, playing down the importance of US participation in the international regime. Continue reading
Justice is still critical in the post-Paris world of “nationally determined” climate action
Can we really solve the climate change problem without some notion of fair burden sharing? Talking about equity, it is alleged, may derail negotiations. But not talking about it can kill the possibility that the outcome of the negotiations will ever be implemented in good faith, with maximum possible ambition, or that countries will continue to engage. Continue reading
Scaling up adaptation 2: Watershed management in India
From my previous jargon-filled blog on defining scaling up, let’s move swiftly and speedily on to a more interesting case study: scaling up (effective) watershed management in India. Watershed management is the integrated management of an entire ecosystem and its … Continue reading
Vulnerable India 7: Learning from India’s agriculture policy
The threat to agriculture is one of India’s top concerns when it comes to climate change. More than half the country’s population depends on agriculture for livelihood, and more than half of this agriculture, in turn, depends entirely on rain, … Continue reading
Climate change and the Post-2015 goals: Passing ships or all in the same boat?
CBDR was viewed as a dilution of the more straight-forward polluter pays principle, where the concepts of responsibility and liability are better defined. Two decades later, developing countries feel that even this diluted version of the polluter pays principle is threatened. Developed countries would like to replace CBDR with “applicable to all” in the climate negotiations, and “universally applicable” in the post-2015 negotiations, to reflect the “changing world order”. Continue reading
Vulnerable India 6: Decentralisation and its discontents
One of the most critical elements for successful adaptation by poor and vulnerable communities – if not the most critical element – will be their ability to identify local climate-related threats and respond quickly where response is possible, with locally … Continue reading
It must be said! 