Transcript Climate Change

Outline:
1) The Science
• Weather
• Climate
2) Brainstorm effects
3) International Response
• UNFCCC
• COP
• IPCC
• Kyoto Protocol
4) Foreign Climate Policy
(India)
• Developed vs.
Developing
Breathing Earth
The Science
PPM
350.org
•
“If humanity wishes to preserve
a planet similar to that on which
civilization developed and to
which life on Earth is adapted,
paleoclimate evidence and
ongoing climate change suggest
that CO2 will need to be reduced
from [current levels] to at most
350 ppm.”
– Dr. James Hansen- former head
of the Goddard Institute for Space
Studies
•
“PPM” stands for “parts per
million,” which is simply a way of
measuring the ratio of carbon
dioxide molecules to all of the
other molecules in the
atmosphere. Many scientists,
climate experts, and progressive
national governments agree with
Dr. Hansen that 350 ppm is the
“safe” level of carbon dioxide.
NASA
• http://co2now.org/
• http://climate.nasa.gov/40
0ppmquotes/
• http://www.vox.com/2014/
11/19/7246067/nasaanimation-carbon-dioxide
The Effects
Climate change is here.
How can we power the planet…
Without making things worse?
How Climate
Change Will
Affect You
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Water
Crops
Heat
Weather
Health
Extreme Ice- NOVA
Chasing Ice
•Chasing Ice is the story
of one man’s mission to
change the tide of
history by gathering
undeniable evidence of
climate change. Using
time-lapse cameras, his
videos compress years
into seconds and
capture ancient
mountains of ice in
motion as they
disappear at a
breathtaking rate.
•Photo Gallery
•The Movie
•Trailer
The
International
Response
UNFCCC:
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
• Since 21 March 1994, most countries joined an international treaty -- the United
Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) -- to begin to consider
what can be done to reduce global warming and to cope with whatever temperature
increases are inevitable.
• The UNFCCC secretariat supports all institutions involved in the climate change
process, particularly the
– COP {Conference of the Parties} which is the supreme decision making party of the
UNFCCC. The COP meets yearly in December.
• The UNFCCC sets an overall framework for intergovernmental efforts to tackle the
challenge posed by climate change. It recognizes that the climate system is a shared
resource whose stability can be affected by industrial and other emissions of carbon
dioxide and other greenhouse gases.
• The Convention enjoys near universal membership. Under the Convention,
governments:
– 1) gather and share information on greenhouse gas emissions, national policies and best practices
– 2) launch national strategies for addressing greenhouse gas emissions and adapting to expected
impacts, including the provision of financial and technological support to developing countries
– 3) cooperate in preparing for adaptation to the impacts of climate change
Conference of Parties (COP)
• The UNFCCC was opened for signature on May 9, 1992 after
an Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee produced the
text of the Framework Convention as a report following its
meeting in New York. It entered into force in March, 1994.
Countries who sign up to the UNFCCC are known and as
‘Parties’, there are currently 192 signed up Parties.
• Since the UNFCCC entered into force, the parties have been
meeting annually in Conferences of the Parties (COP) to
assess progress in dealing with climate change, and
beginning in the mid-1990s, to negotiate the Kyoto Protocol to
establish legally binding obligations for developed
countries to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.
• The UNFCCC is also the name of the United Nations
Secretariat charged with supporting the operation of the
Convention. Since 2006 the head of the secretariat has been
Yvo de Boer.
COP 21: Paris France
•
The international political response to climate change began at the Rio
Earth Summit in 1992, where the ‘Rio Convention’ included the adoption of
the UN Framework on Climate Change (UNFCCC). This convention set out
a framework for action aimed at stabilising atmospheric concentrations of
greenhouse gases (GHGs) to avoid “dangerous anthropogenic interference
with the climate system.” The UNFCCC which entered into force on 21
March 1994, now has a near-universal membership of 195 parties.
•
In 2015 COP21, also known as the 2015 Paris Climate Conference, will,
for the first time in over 20 years of UN negotiations, aim to achieve a
legally binding and universal agreement on climate, with the aim of keeping
global warming below 2°C.
•
France will play a leading international role in hosting this seminal
conference, and COP21 will be one of the largest international conferences
ever held in the country. The conference is expected to attract close to
50,000 participants including 25,000 official delegates from government,
intergovernmental organisations, UN agencies, NGOs and civil society.
IPCC– Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change
•
Climate change is a very complex issue: policymakers need an objective
source of information about the causes of climate change, its potential
environmental and socio-economic consequences and the adaptation
and mitigation options to respond to it. This is why WMO and UNEP
established the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in
1988.
•
Its role is to assess on a comprehensive, objective, open and transparent
basis the latest scientific, technical and socio-economic literature
produced worldwide relevant to the understanding of the risk of humaninduced climate change, its observed and projected impacts and options
for adaptation and mitigation. IPCC reports should be neutral with respect
to policy, although they need to deal objectively with policy relevant
scientific, technical and socio economic factors.
•
5th Assessment Report (AR)–2014
–
SYNTHESIS 11.2.2014
Treaties
• The Kyoto Protocol is an international agreement linked to the
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
(UNFCCC). The major feature of the Kyoto Protocol is that it sets
binding targets for 37 industrialized countries and the European
community for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions .These
amount to an average of 5% against 1990 levels over the five-year
period 2008-2012.
• The Protocol commits industrialized nations to lower emissions.
Recognizing that developed countries are principally responsible for
the current high levels of GHG emissions in the atmosphere as a
result of more than 150 years of industrial activity, the Protocol
places a heavier burden on developed nations under the principle of
“common but differentiated responsibilities.”
• The Kyoto Protocol was adopted in Kyoto, Japan, on 11 December
1997 and entered into force on 16 February 2005 (RUSSIA). 184
Parties of the Convention have ratified its Protocol to date.
• At DOHA in 2012, the Kyoto Protocol has been extended until 2020
– Ratification of the DOHA AMENDMENT
Kyoto Protocol
About the Conference:
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The 18th session of the
Conference of the Parties to the
UNFCCC and the 8th session of
the Conference of the Parties
serving as the Meeting of the
Parties to the Kyoto Protocol
opened on Monday, 26
November and continues until
Friday, 7 December 2012 at the
Qatar National Convention
Centre in Doha, Qatar.
Website: http://www.cop18.qa/
Objectives:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=A4l0A0AzBz0&feature=player
_embedded
Conference News:
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COP 18 Gets Underway in Doha As Kyoto Protocol
Winds Down
The UN Climate Conference, COP 18, gets underway this
week in Doha, as the Kyoto Protocol winds down and is set
to expire by the end of this year. COP 18 is unlikely to
emerge with a suitable replacement for Kyoto, as yearly
climate talks grind on and disagreements about emissions
reductions continue to foil any meaningful agreement that
would halt global warming.
Kyoto set binding targets for industrialised countries to
reduce greenhouse gas emissions by an average of 5%
against 1990 levels, reports Voice of America. While the
protocol has not been adhered to by industrialised
nations and is, as a result, considered a failure, Green
Peace activist Ruth Davis, argues that it is a vital tool
because the principles embedded in it are essential to a new
international treaty.
As the disagreements between the industrialised world
and emerging economies continue to stall any
meaningful climate deal, Professor Dieter Helm, professor
of environmental policy at Oxford University contends that by
2020 "there will be 400-600 gigawatts of new coal on the
world's system and we'll be way beyond 400 parts per
million.
–
http://allafrica.com/stories/201211281321.html
Foreign Climate
Policy Today
• “God forbid that India should ever take
to industrialism after the manner of the
west... keeping the world in chains. If
[our nation] took to similar economic
exploitation, it would strip the world
bare like locusts.”
– Mahatma Gandhi
“While the richest countries have
produced the bulk of the pollution
blamed for climate change, developing
countries are producing increasing
volumes of gases. But developing
countries say their climb out of poverty
should not be halted to fix damage done
by industrial countries.”
• World’s Cheapest Car
• Emissions?