Region: International
A Rift Appears Within the G77 + China, Derailing the COP & CMP – But Not the Real Work
by Dustin Maghamfar, UCLA Law delegation — one in a series of posts from COP 15 in Copenhagen: Before preparing for this trip to Copenhagen, I conceived of UN international negotiations as massive plenary sessions where countries debate various proposals in an open forum. While I think this is a somewhat commonly held perception, the …
CONTINUE READING“Oil and politics mix well, but I’m not sure if oil and science mix well”
By Alexa Engelman, UCLA Law delegation — one in a series of posts from COP 15 in Copenhagen: “Oil and politics mix well, but I’m not sure if oil and science mix well.” So stated IPPC Chair Rajendra Pachauri when asked by reporters in a session at the Bella Center Tuesday morning about the hacked emails from …
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CONTINUE READINGCOP 15 Kicks Off!
By Maya Kuttan, UCLA Law delegation — first in a series of posts from COP15: Today we were inundated with weighty rhetoric and a shiny vision of what the future could hold. The COP 15 opening was inspiring and seemed to focus on influencing developed nations, like the US. The conference started with a short film …
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CONTINUE READINGWinning Hearts and Minds on Climate Change: Climategate, EPA Announcement and Copenhagen
Proponents of rigorous regulation of greenhouse gas emissions finally have the international stage today as all attention shifts to Copenhagen. And the EPA has chosen this opening day to announce the finalization of its finding that greenhouse gases endanger public health and welfare and therefore must be regulated under the Clean Air Act. Moreover 56 …
CONTINUE READINGOff to Copenhagen…
Tomorrow afternoon, the UCLA Law / Emmett Center on Climate Change delegation to COP 15 departs from LAX for Copenhagen. I’ll be there with six terrific law school students, all of whom have backgrounds in climate and the environment and who have been studying the history of the Framework Convention on Climate Change in preparation for …
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CONTINUE READINGThankful for U.S., China News on Climate?
After yesterday’s news that Obama will attend the international climate talks in Copenhagen and commit to near term targets (discussed by Cara here and Dan here) we’re greeted today with the news that China’s prime minister Wen Jiabao will attend and commit to reductions in the greenhouse gas emissions intensity of China’s economy. China’s commitment …
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CONTINUE READINGShould Obama Go To Copenhagen?
President Obama has, of course, already been to Copenhagen once this year — in his quest to bring the Olympics to Chicago — and brought nothing home to show for it. The stakes for the December United Nations Climate Change Conference are obviously much higher: the negotiation of an international agreement to govern greenhouse gas emissions …
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CONTINUE READINGChina, Congress and Climate Change
This week brings two related and interesting stories on the prospects for domestic climate change legislation and progress in Copenhagen when the international community gathers in December to try to hammer out a post-Kyoto treaty on climate change. The first is that China’s top climate negotiator is “optimistic” that the international community will reach agreement on …
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CONTINUE READINGReport from the Field: Thailand
I’m writing this post from Thailand, where I’ve been attending a conference of the Thai judiciary. My presentation was on developments in U.S. climate law. It’s been a very interesting trip. Thailand faces some serious environmental issues, which you can’t help noticing just from breathing the air in Bangok. The traffic jams, as seen on …
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CONTINUE READINGNational park futility in Kenya
Parks don’t guarantee conservation success, a new study by David Western and colleagues in PLoS ONE reminds us. Compiling census data from 270 studies over the last 25 years, they found that large mammal populations in Kenya are declining just as rapidly within national parks as in other parts of the country. Poaching, the authors …
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