UNFCCC
The Olympics of Climate Change: Warsaw 2013
What to know, where to watch
It’s that time again! The United Nations’ COP19/CMP9 Climate Change Conference kicked off this week in Warsaw, the start of two weeks of international discussion on climate change. The conference hosts the parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol, as a yearly update and check-in on these treaties, …
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CONTINUE READINGOn the Irrelevance of Doha: The Demand for an Absence of International Regimes
Just compare for a moment the high expectations around Copenhagen in 2009 and the obscurity of Doha today, and you can quickly get a sense of the basic contemporary irrelevance of UN bodies in the creation of climate policy. (At the New York Times website as of this writing, Doha doesn’t even merit a mention …
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CONTINUE READINGAn Inconvenient Treaty
Should the U.S. join an international treaty to limit carbon emissions? The little-known answer: we already have. No, this wasn’t a secret Obama Administration initiative. The treaty was signed by none other than President George H.W. Bush. The treaty is called the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change or UNFCCC. The word “framework” can …
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CONTINUE READINGClimate Change and Tonight’s Debate
A key issue is missing from the list of topics for tonight’s debate. Climate change is a global problem with global impacts, ultimately requiring a global solution. Climate change is a threat multiplier from the point of view of national security, intensifying the risk of international conflict and terrorism. (See here for more.) It has …
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CONTINUE READINGThe Durban Outcome: End of CBDR?
I wasn’t in Durban for the last days of wrangling, so I missed some late nights, dramatic speeches, and unexpected alliances. ClimateWire has the best account I’ve seen of the last-minute drama (sub. req’d.: “How a Belligerent, Sleep-Deprived Crowd in Durban Arrived at Consensus”). Highlights include a ministerial-level “huddle to save the planet”; invocations of …
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CONTINUE READINGImages from Durban
If you want a flavor of it, here are some images from COP17 (all credits mine):
CONTINUE READINGYouth Involvement at COP 17
Special blog post by Lauren Bernadett, UCLA School of Law 2L A striking feature of the 17th Conference of Parties (COP17) is the extensive youth involvement. The International Convention Centre in Durban is constantly abuzz with young interns and volunteers from various delegations, including some delegations exclusively comprised of young people. The youth network is …
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CONTINUE READINGThe “African COP”
Some of the expectations for this year’s Conference of Parties of the international climate treaty, the UNFCCC, related to its host country, South Africa. Many had hoped that the COP’s location in Africa this year would help to highlight the serious issue of climate change impacts in developing countries, often the least responsible for climate …
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CONTINUE READINGGetting Set for Durban
Along with two students from our environmental law clinic, Rhead Enion and I are traveling to Durban, South Africa today as observer delegates to the annual meeting of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. Dan noted in a recent post that the Durban meeting has been largely flying under the radar of public attention, …
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CONTINUE READINGAddressing Climate Change: Is there a special role for the private sector?
By Bianca Zambao da Silva, UCLA Law COP 15 delegation — one in a series of posts from Copenhagen Since the first day of this COP, I have been on a waiting list to attend a tour of an offshore wind power farm, hosted by an initiative promoting wind power during the conference. The tour is part …
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