The first monsoon showers for the year 2018, arrived at Ara District, Bihar-India on July 25th. One month later than the ideal monsoon arrival dates. I reached Ara a day before to conduct household surveys among the farming communities across 10 villages in this area. My professor and I were interested in looking at how …
Category: COP 24
Blockchain for Climate Finance
The world is faced with an unconventional, unprecedented challenge – that of climate change – and needs unconventional ways to overcome it. The intersection of climate, finance and technology is doing just that, by turning to blockchain for climate finance. This was the hot topic at several discussion sessions at COP 24, and therefore, this …
Where’s the food?
INAUGURATION DAY - It took a while for me to find the room, but I made it! There was an enormous gathering inside of an annex deep within the maze of additional corridors sutured onto the arena. During our first day at the conference one of the most exciting events took place – the very …
Is Our Climate Changing Faster Than We Are?
One major talking point at this year’s COP was the recently released IPCC’s Global Warming Special Report warning, which indicated a short, 12-year timeline for humans to limit devastating climate change. The take home message of this report was clearly understood by the attendees of the COP: the time to make drastic changes is short …
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Food for Thought at COP24
We joked at the irony of it — a conference on climate change where so much of the food offered was meat-heavy. (Other ironies abounded; the least of which, the carbon footprint of all those attendees, ourselves included, flying to Katowice). If we were to view ourselves as standard tourists to Poland, this would not …
COP24 to World: No Climate Progress Without Diversification!
The Problem of Implementation: In the face of immediate climate impacts and a closing window of opportunity to avoid irreversible catastrophic damage (see IPCC Special Report on 1.5 Degrees Celsius), the global policy toolbox to combat climate change appears limited. At COP24, delegations readily acknowledged these conditions, calling for a drastic ramp up of efforts …
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UNwelcome: The Gap between Science and the Negotiations
During my time in Katowice, Poland, I set out to get a better handle on how science and policy intertwine at the COP. After all, science is supposed to be the foundation for the work of the UNFCCC and the COP. But functionally, to what extent is climate science really the basis upon which the …
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A Translator Needed
At COP24 in Katowice, Poland, over one hundred languages are spoken in the hallways and rooms of the International Conference Centre and Spodek Arena where the negotiations are held. In light of this fact, a host of translators are on hand to ensure that country representatives and observer delegates do not face any language barriers …
Climate Blue 