The UN Advisory Group on Climate Change Financing (AGF) held a high-level side event at the The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of the Parties (COP) 16 on Wednesday, December 8th, 2010, to formally present the findings of their recent Report of the Secretary-General’s High Level Advisory Group on Climate Change …
Category: COP 16
Breathing Underwater
“The oceans that once gave us are now threatening to swallow us.” -The President of Palau The Opening Ceremony of the High-Level Segment of The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Wednesday spoke strongly to the urgent magnitude of problems faced by nations highly vulnerable to climate change-yet paradoxically, some of those least …
Climate Action Network Canada Press Conference
I would like to highlight a positive facet of COPs, one that I feel is often under-appreciated: the permission of open press conferences provides an avenue for organizations to have a strong and (relatively more) legitimate voice, and for their issues to reach out to the larger global community. This morning my fellow classmates and …
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Putting the "can" in Cancun
Hola from Cancun! The sun is shining the grass is green, and crunch time for the delegates, as we come towards the middle of the second week, is starting to set in. This is my first time attending a COP, and optimistically, I want to say that it won't be my last. There is a …
Its Time to Move Beyond Sputnik Moments and Coors-Light Solutions
Since the publication of Silent Spring in 1962, environmentalism, especially in the United States, has largely been driven by Sputnik moments and Coors-Light solutions: catalyzing events that drove a call for silver bullet solutions. The events were emotional and tangible: a river on fire; a housing development built upon a toxic waste site; the explosion …
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2010 a Top-Three Warmest Year
A press release by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) yesterday, December 2nd, announced that 2010 will rank in the top three of the warmest years on record. The announcement was made as part of COP 16. The press release states that the average global surface temperature for 2010 (Jan to October) is estimated to be …
UNEP on Ocean Acidification
Today in Cancun the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) released a report titled "Environmental Consequences of Ocean Acidification: A Threat to Food Security." The report investigates the impacts of increasing carbon dioxide emissions on the world's oceans. As the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere rises, the amount of carbon dioxide that dissolves in …
IPCC Activites Update
Yesterday, members of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), including Chairman Pachauri, gave an update on IPCC activities and the progress of AR5 to the attendees of COP 16. The first part of the report, "Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis", is due to be released in 2013. Chairman Pachauri states that the …
U.S. and India pave way for White Roofs, smarter appliances
The U.S. and India have teamed up through the University of California Berkeley-India Joint Leadership on Energy and the Environment (BIJLEE) to develop new energy-saving appliances, market strategies, and cost-effective energy reduction techniques. Of their various programs, I really found the white roof concept fascinating. Per Jayant Sathaye, Co-Director of the US-India Joint International Program with …
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Ratification of Kyoto Protocol Extension unlikely this week
Photo: Courtesy of Juan Cespedes, The University of Michigan COP 16 Envoy's guest photographer From inside the UN Delegation Hall: Only 132 countries of the expected 190 delegations are present in today's meetings. Only a few delegations - less than 25 by my count - have offered any indication that they will ratify an extension of …
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