Five points for « Climate Justice »

This article is part of our anniversary special for CliMates’ 5th birthday!

Article written by Rahul Acharya

Have you ever seen your friends screaming and shouting in the street (especially around October-November) demanding for action and for commitment, holding a banner with « Justice Now » or « Time for Action » written on it? This is often confusing, you probably wonder what they were talking about.
In fact you are not alone. Many like you scratch their head when ecosteward friend all march-in together with big placards on roads or do flash mobs or flood your Facebook news feed with environmental hashtags. The term that describes this situation is « Climate Justice ».
So now that you know the terminology, why not digging a bit on the subject? For your convenience, I have listed down five points about Climate Justice.

Baby steps in Bonn for the newborn APA

Article written by Alice Pauthier and Heloise Pichot

The 44th sessions of the subsidiary bodies in Bonn, halfway on the road from Paris to Marrakech, was shaped by the first meeting of the Ad Hoc working group on the Paris Agreement (APA), which goal is to prepare the implementation of the Paris Agreement (PA).

FIVE MISCONCEPTIONS ON CLIMATE MIGRATION

Contrary to common misconceptions, migrations linked to climate change consequences are real: between 2008 and 2015 it is approximately 22.5 million of people per year that have been forced to migrate because of climate related events. But rather than massive, international population displacements, most of them are in fact domestic and on a long-term scale. Instead of fear or anger, one should realise this phenomenon is not just someone else’s issue: climate change will profoundly transform territories both in developed and less-developed countries. It will have consequences and sometimes force people to move away. It is now time to tackle this issue, as local and international solutions exist and can be implemented. Populations’ adaptation and migrants protection are feasible means to cope with the effects of climate change and transform our world for the better.

Copyright : Guillaume Collanges. The Maldives englobes more than 2000 islands, and only 200 of them are populated. Those populations will be among the first to have to migrate due to rising sea levels.

Climate change and Desertification Conventions, the destinies of twin sisters

This article is part of our Negographics series.

Written by Gwenael and Clarisse Podesta.

On the 17th of June 2016, the United Nations will be celebrating the World Day to Combat Desertification. This year’s theme is “Protect earth. Restore land: Engage people” (see figure 1). This day is the opportunity to showcase the action of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), too often hidden behind its shiny twin sister, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

Figure 1. Logo of the 2016 World Day to Combat Desertification – Source : UNCCD

Mixed feelings over climate change communication in Bonn

« Technology won’t save us; trust me, I’m an engineer. »

Article and quote written by Antoine Gonthier

Taking the pulse of Solar Impulse

Why aren’t people more concerned about climate change? If this doesn’t apply to you then you are certainly familiar with that question.

That is one of the questions I hoped we would ask ourselves during the 4th Dialogue on Action for Climate Empowerment (ACE) taking place at the Climate Change Conference in Bonn last month. The objective was to help Parties and other stakeholders (intergovernmental and NGOs, private sector and media) exchange experiences, ideas and good practices on the topics of education, training and public awareness on climate change. Those topics are the focus of Article 6 of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

In 2016, are simulations of climate negotiations still relevant?

Written by Clément Métivier

The organization of the 21st Conference of the Parties (COP21) in Paris at the end of 2015 was seen as the pinnacle of an historic year for the fight against climate change, culminating with the adoption of a universal climate agreement, and pushing climate negotiations into the spotlight and into mainstream medias.

What is being a Climate Change Advisor at Shell? Interview with David Hone.

Interview by David Resillas Olguin & Gwenael Podesta – Authors : Heloise Pichot & Gwenael Podesta

In Bonn, the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA) examined the dispositions related to the article 6 of the Agreement, that deals (among others) with carbon pricing.

Concurrently, a spontaneous movement, started in 2015, called Break Free, culminated with a 2 week-action in May 2016 gathering more than 30,000 people on all 6 continents, asking  businesses and policymakers to “break free”¹ from all fossil fuels.

David Hone is Shell’s Chief Climate Change Advisor and also board member of the International Emission Trading Association (IETA). CliMates delegates had the opportunity to meet him to get his outlook ‘from the other side’.