Defining freshwater ecosystem priorities through awareness-raising
09/12/10 10:28
New frontiers in Biodiversity communication: BioFresh launches a ‘Cabinet of Freshwater Curiosities’.
The tenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 10) of the Convention on Biological Diversity in Nagoya this year underlined the magnitude of the biodiversity conservation challenge. Crucial to the legitimacy of the strategies action plans agreed at the Conference will be the support of an eclectic range of public constituencies. Biodiversity conservation is at an interesting juncture. The efficacy of dooms-day messages for changing public behaviours is increasingly questioned. There are concerns that concepts such as extinction, endangerment, threat and crisis are a turn off for many people. In response, conservation communicators are experimenting with vision-based communication techniques to re-invigorate and extend public interest in nature. Read More...
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Guest blog: "Loss & damage" and adaptation at COP16
09/12/10 09:11
Sandeep Chamling Rai, WWF-International, lead climate adaptation negotiator for WWF
Even with ambitious mitigation and adaptation efforts take us off business-as-usual trajectory with 4+ degrees Celsius there will still be residual loss and damage resulting from climate change impacts due to existing greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere. Impacts such as sea level rise, glacial retreat, ocean acidification, loss of biodiversity, land and forest degradation in many or all cases cannot be prevented. An international mechanism on “Loss and Damage” would address the question of how to compensate for climate impacts that simply cannot be avoided and those that are irrevocable.
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Even with ambitious mitigation and adaptation efforts take us off business-as-usual trajectory with 4+ degrees Celsius there will still be residual loss and damage resulting from climate change impacts due to existing greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere. Impacts such as sea level rise, glacial retreat, ocean acidification, loss of biodiversity, land and forest degradation in many or all cases cannot be prevented. An international mechanism on “Loss and Damage” would address the question of how to compensate for climate impacts that simply cannot be avoided and those that are irrevocable.
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Guest blog: Bridging the water & climate divide
08/12/10 08:49
Hannah Stoddart, Head of Policy and Advocacy, Stakeholder Forum
The closing plenary of the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA) on Saturday 4th December represented a major breakthrough for water in relation to the UNFCCC. Six countries, from across three continents, proposed that water be addressed as an agenda item under the next session of the SBSTA in June 2011.
The proposal was put forward by Ecuador and Sudan, and supported by Chile, El Salvador, Sierra Leone and Syria. This is the first time that countries have called for water to put on the global climate agenda, and should be seen as a major achievement.
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The closing plenary of the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA) on Saturday 4th December represented a major breakthrough for water in relation to the UNFCCC. Six countries, from across three continents, proposed that water be addressed as an agenda item under the next session of the SBSTA in June 2011.
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COP16: Minsterial-presidential high-level panel on water & climate
07/12/10 11:09
Program of the High-Level Panel on Water and Climate Change
Mexican Pavilion, Cancunmesse, Cancun, Mexico Wednesday December 8, 9:00 – 11:00
Aims and objectives:
Present the key messages coming from the first week of the Dialogs for Water and Climate (D4WCC), for them to be debated between a select group of decision-makers made up of representatives of national governments, intergovernmental organizations, IFIs and NGOs.
Reinforce the political commitment needed for water-based adaptation to climate change to be formally recognized as a necessary measure to face the growing consequences of climate change, which will further help the climate change adaptation debate.
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Mexican Pavilion, Cancunmesse, Cancun, Mexico Wednesday December 8, 9:00 – 11:00
Aims and objectives:
Present the key messages coming from the first week of the Dialogs for Water and Climate (D4WCC), for them to be debated between a select group of decision-makers made up of representatives of national governments, intergovernmental organizations, IFIs and NGOs.
Reinforce the political commitment needed for water-based adaptation to climate change to be formally recognized as a necessary measure to face the growing consequences of climate change, which will further help the climate change adaptation debate.
Read More...
COP16: A little progress on water
06/12/10 09:23
On Saturday night, a Chilean negotiator saw me at a party and ran over and gave me a huge, celebratory hug. I handed him a huge margarita. We toasted in the name of el Agua. Why would this happen? I can promise it was not my svelte, smooth sense of fashion and style.
The reason is that on Saturday, after long lobbying, Ecuador moved that water be added to the SBSTA under the UN climate group (the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, or UNFCCC). Six nations stood up with Ecuador. About 10 others were prepared to follow up with that. And, tacitly, many others supported the motion too.
Why does that matter? Read More...
The reason is that on Saturday, after long lobbying, Ecuador moved that water be added to the SBSTA under the UN climate group (the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, or UNFCCC). Six nations stood up with Ecuador. About 10 others were prepared to follow up with that. And, tacitly, many others supported the motion too.
Why does that matter? Read More...
Guest blog: Water begins to enter the UN climate negotiations
06/12/10 09:15
Countries Call for Water to be Addressed in the Climate Negotiations
by Lovisa Selander, SIWI
Over the weekend, six countries from around the world at COP16, the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Cancun, called for water to be put on the climate agenda. The countries highlighted the fact that climate change stands to have a significant impact on water resources, and stressed the need for further discussions on how this issue can be addressed within the climate framework. Read More...
by Lovisa Selander, SIWI
Over the weekend, six countries from around the world at COP16, the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Cancun, called for water to be put on the climate agenda. The countries highlighted the fact that climate change stands to have a significant impact on water resources, and stressed the need for further discussions on how this issue can be addressed within the climate framework. Read More...
COP16: GWP climate-water session
05/12/10 16:11
Side Event at COP16, Cancun, Mexico on 6 December 2010
Water, Climate and Development: Linking up Development Agendas and Putting Water Security First
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