Although the Middle East contributes relatively little to greenhouse gas emissions on a global level, several studies have shown that the region is extremely vulnerable to the effects of climate change. These effects include severe droughts, water shortages, and flooding in coastal areas. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) published a report last year entitled…
The UN Climate Change Conference–recently held in Cancun, Mexico–delivered what is considered to be a balanced package of decisions in the form of the ‘Cancun Agreements’ to serve as a foundation for future talks. After serious concerns about the longevity of the UN multilateral system since the fiasco in Copenhagen in 2009, many are now…
It’s been one year since the world witnessed the fiasco that was the Copenhagen Summit. At that event, some 120 world leaders were supposed to have arrived at a new climate deal but ended up instead with a non-binding agreement, the so-called Copenhagen Accord–a spectacular failure to deliver on promises of a post-Kyoto agreement to roll…
As the dust settles after the storm of last month’s Copenhagen summit, we citizens are left with uncertainty regarding our well-being and that of future generations. World leaders, on the other hand, have the Copenhagen Accord to hold on to as part of what has now become a charade to put in place a strong…
The Kyoto Protocol to the Convention on Climate Change, which came into force February 2005, is currently the only international agreement in place that sets targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, which are the main cause of global warming. But this agreement falls short of what is needed to avert environmental disaster. The Kyoto Protocol…
Hoda Baraka 