Global Perspectives on the Middle East Imbroglio

First published on the Euforic Blog

The cover story of the August issue of Global Perspectives gives a rather skeptical prognosis for a new start of the Middle East Peace Process. Although the Obama Administration increased pressure on the Israeli Government, currently there seems to be little hope that it is going to negotiate the high threshold it built in order to accept a Palestinian State.

Also in this issue Thomas Hammarberg (Commissioner for Human Rights at the Council of Europe) writes about the value of budget analysis to assess government’s human rights commitment. In the European context budget analysis was so far successfully used to monitor gender mainstreaming. The key problem in all human rights work is a gap between the promises and the implementation. This gap can only be bridged when budgets themselves reflect the pledges made.

A summary of the UNDP Arab Development Report 2009 discusses a European Neighborhood Region which should be on the European foreign policy agenda. Citizens of the Arab region suffer under a lack of human security caused by regional conflicts, environmental problems, lacking rule of law, crime and health challenges. Further the region which faces rapid population growth has to deal with a high unemployment rate and permanent internal migration. Europe needs to assist the Arab countries in dealing with this enormous amount of problems in order to avoid negative effects like irregular migration and security risks.

Regarding the ongoing Climate Change Negotiations Ramesh Jaura describes the different positions during the latest informal talks from 10-14 August in Bonn. According to diplomat voices there still is too little progress to finally settle a global climate deal in Copenhagen this December.

With the UN Climate Change Summit on September 22 ahead Thalif Deen raises doubts on the usefulness of the UN summit culture. Since the Rio Summit in 1992 there have been dozens of summits and review summits on various themes, at best leading to political declarations which in the end often lacked funding for implementation. The journalist believes that the upcoming summit will also be nothing more than a talk-fest.

Global Perspectives is a bi-lingual (English/German) joint production by IPS Inter Press Service Europe and the Global Cooperation Council, published by Globalom Media. The monthly editions on various themes of international cooperation and development are downloadable for free.

See also the Euforic newsfeeds on IPS Europe and the Middle East.

by Martin Behrens

 

The world in 2050: Policy options to meet global challenges

First published on the Euforic Blog

Based on two studies addressing world development for the coming 50-100 years – the UN Millennium Assessment (MEA) and an analysis by the International Energy Agency (IEA) supporting the G8 Gleneagles plans (see the presentation) – a new DIE Discussion Paper provides a critical appraisal of the scenario studies and singles out factors which are important for future development policy.

The MEA study suggests four scenarios, described by their position in a 2×2 matrix with the characteristics pro-active / reactive policy and globalized / regionalized policy at the x-y axes. The scenarios explain the possible developments determined by the policy choices made until the year 2050 and beyond that until 2100. They identify different drivers which directly or indirectly influence future development. They speak about the climate, plant nutrient use, land conversion, diseases and invasive species as having a direct effect on the scenarios. Further the demographic, economic and socio-political development as well as the scientific and technological progress is described as indirect factors.

The MEA study makes it very clear that climate change is going to be the primary factor:

“given that climate change – which is primarily driven by energy-related Green House Gas emissions – is very likely to be the predominant force adversely affecting ecosystems over the course of the 21st century, discrete policy efforts to preserve ecosystems in the absence of decisive global climate change mitigation action would seem to be as useful as re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.”

All but one scenarios will bring considerable improvements for world climate with different effects on human welfare. However compared to the reference year 2000 they all expect continued loss of biodiversity and degradation of ecosystems. To name just a few figures dependent on the policy choices:

• demand for food crops is projected to grow by 75-85%
• water withdrawals increase by 20-85%

Continued conversions of ecosystems are consequently caused by the pressure to meet agricultural and/or infrastructural demands. Mostly affected will be developing countries, in particular tropical and sub-tropical regions, the study predicts.

“The combination of exposure to an already fragile environment, dominance of climate-sensitive sectors in economic activity and low autonomous adaptive capacity in these regions entail a high vulnerability to the harmful effects of global warming on agriculture production and food security, water resources, human health, physical infrastructure and ecosystems.”

According to the author this requires the full integration of environmental concerns into the formulation of future development strategies. Nonetheless a recent WWF review of integrated water resource management in EC development programming showed that this is done on the level of policy formulation but is inadequately implemented in policy action. The message of the scenarios for policymakers is that although upcoming challenges are serious, policy options still exists.

“If decisive and proactive action is taken, the challenges are manageable without dramatic implications for growth aspirations of developing and developed countries. The task ahead for development policy is to assist in translating this message into concrete action.”

 See the Euforic bookmarks on climate change and environment and development cooperation

See also our newsfeeds on water and sanition, energy and food security

 

Global Perspectives on the Long March to Copenhagen

First published on the Euforic Blog

Shortly after the Bonn Climate Talks the new issue of ‘Global Perspectives‘ focuses on the outcomes of this latest session towards a Post-2012 Agreement on Climate Change.

According to observers, the negotiations are still far from the expected outcomes. While official delegates declared that progress was made during the Bonn meeting, NGOs and the majority of developing countries disapprove such claims. According to them the USA are blocking any progress especially regarding the emission reduction targets. At the same time European Union governments’ commitments remain unimpressive.

“While the U.S. is holding climate negotiations hostage, Japan and the EU appear to feel comfortable hanging on to Washington’s apron-strings” an observer noted.

Equally alarmingly is the fact that developed countries fail to commit substantial amounts of money and technology cooperation to enable developing countries to cope with the effects of climate change.

Senior Adviser to the UN Secretary General Nitin Desai considers it a progress that countries at this stage agreed what they disagree about. However the principle of ‘Common but Differentiated Responsibility’ which holds developed countries historically accountable for climate change must not be undermined. If the industrialized world met its commitments, countries like India and China would be willing to do more. However Japan, Canada and some European states do not even honor their Kyoto targets.

Also in this issue an opinion article by Andrew F. Cooper and Gregory Chin who comment on the prospects of the G20 as new global governance structure. They warn to overemphasize the Trans-Atlantic leadership of the US and the UK which they see as being outdated and not reflecting the emergence of new actors. They also stress the importance of the BRIC-Group (Brazil, Russia, India and China) as a new voice of the developing countries.

See as well an article by Julio Godoy who puts the finger on Western hypocrisy when welcoming the ICC warrant against Sudan’s al-Bashir and criticizing Zimbabwe’s Mugabe and at the same time keeping close relations with other dictators in Angola, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea or the Republic of Congo. In his opinion governments in Europe and North America remain silent due to their economic interests in these countries’ natural resources.

Global Perspectives is a bi-lingual (English/German) joint production by IPS Inter Press Service Europe and the Global Cooperation Council, published by Globalom Media. The monthly editions on various themes of international cooperation and development are downloadable for free.

See also the Euforic newsfeeds on IPS Europe, climate change and governance

by Martin Behrens

 

Adaptation technologies for the poor

First published on the Euforic Blog

Technology is essential in every coping strategy dealing with the effects of climate change. According to a report recently published by CIDSE and Caritas International this includes not only materials or mechanic equipment but also various forms of knowledge and practice.

Adaptation technologies aim to reduce the vulnerability of local communities by building on existing coping mechanisms. Aiming at poverty reduction the report focuses on technologies which are already known and could easily transferred and shared within and across developing countries. It aims to raise awareness among the various negotiators to the UN Post 2012 Climate Change Agreement about the importance of such technologies and the role that international cooperation could play.

International cooperation should ensure access to information on the impacts of climate change, to financial resources and the research focusing on adaptation technologies and developing countries needs. Negotiations of technologies in the post 2012 framework only focused on R&D but neglected technologies which already exist and are crucial to developing countries. The authors fear that – unless adaptation technologies for the poor are adequately included in the UN negotiations – financing for them will only be available through aid budgets.

The paper provides various case studies and a comprehensive list of adaptation technologies in the appendix from the most vulnerable sectors including the coastal areas, water, agriculture, health systems and infrastructure.

See the CIDSE dossier on Climate Change and Justice

See what other Euforic members are doing on Climate Change
as well as a story on Collaboration, Communication and Climate Change from this year’s Euforic Annual General Meeting.

Check also Euforic’s newsfeed on climate change