Climate Change,the Quadrilemma of Globalization,and Other Politically Incorrect Reactions

Abstract

Current global climate change negotiations face some contradictions that are not always addressed as they are considered politically incorrect. These include, first, the decoupling of commitments for planetary environmental policies with the actual national strategies. A relevant example is the Bolivian administration, which presents a strong rhetoric for biospheric Mother Earth Rights, but its national development strategies generate more environmental impacts and weaken enforcement at the local level. Second, the core ideas and beliefs that explain development varieties that generate climate change are deeply rooted, so changes in political ideologies, either from traditional ‘left’ or ‘right’, do not determine policies to effectively overcome climate change. Third, accumulation of scientific information is not enough to promote the necessary changes, because these deep roots conditioned perceived and acceptable alternatives. Fourth, this lead to tensions among the pursuit of economic financial globalization, the sovereignty of the nations-states, democracy, and the basement of global environmental conservation. This is a quadrilemma, because if one or two of these objectives are pursued, at least one other is violated. Nevertheless, international negotiations rest on wishful thinking that this is possible. Uncovering these contradictions is politically incorrect for many realms.     

Paris COP 21: Power that Speaks the Truth?

Abstract

In this paper, I set out some of the key aspects of the Paris COP 21 Climate Change Agreement. The Paris Agreement was initially reported as a major success. However, this was in so far as many thought any kind of agreement at all was unlikely, and because the Agreement includes Article 2: an aspiration to maintain average global temperature increases to significantly less than 2°C. I then ask the question: if the Paris Agreement is a success of sorts, has anything fundamental changed in order to translate the conditional success of achieving an agreement into an actual success that will realise the goals of the Agreement? I address this in terms of early assessment of trends and the Nationally Determined Contributions, how responsibility is positioned in the Agreement, and the political economy context, which has called forth the need for an agreement.     

The Road Through Paris: Climate Change,Carbon, and the Political Dynamics of Convergence

Abstract

This article tracks the key events that set the stage for the 21st Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP21) in Paris, particularly as they relate to politics of convergence. One side of this coming together is an intersection of issues, where new terrestrial and aquatic carbon sequestration programs have blurred the margins of climate change mitigation and resource grabbing. These programs, enclosing forests, farmlands, and oceans, are likewise fused together in what can be described as an emerging ‘carbon complex’ that is part of the wider blue/green economy. On the reverse side, the clear intersection of issues as witnessed by radical, and historically sectoral, agrarian/social justice movements is causing them to intertwine in resistance. The realm of climate change has proven to be an exceptional space of struggle and countermovement building. Political interactions between movements have become increasingly sophisticated—requiring frameworks that address environmental, agrarian, and oceanic issues at once, as the issues have become ever more complex. Agrarian/social justice movements maintain that their agendas for food sovereignty and climate justice hinge upon exposing fault lines in the system and advocate overall system change. COP21 and its parallel side events were together a landmark moment, but part of a much more involved process, ‘the road through Paris’, along which movements had carved out transnational and local spaces of convergence against the backdrop of a global carbon complex.     

公共气象服务人才培养与发展体系研究

公共气象服务的基础核心地位增强,业务范畴跨部门合作特征明显。公共气象服务新发展对从业人才提出了新挑战,知识复合性人才、应用性人才、创新团队是未来公共气象服务发展的关键。基于前瞻性与可行性原则,气象部门可以通过订单式培养、跨部门交流、国际合作、学习型组织文化再造等四种途径构建适应公共气象服务发展的人才培养与发展体系。     

全球气候增暖与人类圈

人类活动,矿物燃烧排放大量的温室气体,海平面上升是地球气候增暖最重要的综合性证据之一,许多黄金城市将被洪水淹没,全球变暖还将带来更多的环境危害。人类必须采取多方面节能减排的环保对策,改变生活方式。在气候系统五圈中,人类由于自身的勤劳与智慧,有益于环保,可以从生物圈中凸显出人类圈——气候系统的第六圈。     

论英国《气候变化法》及其对我国的启示

英国于2008年率先颁布和实施了世界上第一部《气候变化法》,该法案确立了温室气体减排的中远期目标,规定了碳预算每五年计划,设立气候变化委员会,建立国内碳排放交易体系等,为其他国家制定本国气候变化法起到了示范作用。中国也面临发展经济、消除贫困和减缓温室气体排放的多重压力,应对气候变化的任务繁重。因此,有必要全面系统地考察英国《气候变化法》的出台背景,梳理、分析和提炼出其所遵循的基本原则与主要特征,指出我国现行立法和执法中存在的缺陷与不足。在参考和借鉴英国成熟经验和合理成分的基础上,为我国应对全球气候变暖问题提出法律对策。如尽快由全国人大或常委会出台中国《应对气候变化法》;根据该法的原则和精神,构建完善的应对气候变化法律体系;设立部级单位能源和气候变化委员会统一管理和部署全国节能减排工作;构建国内排放贸易体系,以应对全球气候变化的严峻挑战。     

从技科学视角看哥本哈根世界气候大会

技科学（technoscience）是指科学并非独立于社会、政治与经济之外,它是一种建构性的实践活动,并处在一张由人类因素和非人类因素等异质性力量构成的动态无缝之网中,其中,政治、科学、技术、社会、自然等各因素相互缠绕在一起,无法分开。哥本哈根世界气候大会的目标是各种谈判力量在所谓科学“证据”的基础上相互博弈,建立起某种行动者网络或联盟,即达成一份新协议。但由于各方的科学“证据”分歧太大,这种联盟无法建立,会议也几近失败。因此,虽然发达国家与发展中国家之间有学术交流的公平原则,但他们在气候研究方面的不对称性同样导致了极不公平的政治与经济后果。中国要改变这种不对称地位,就应加强相对自主的气候科研,争取更多的气候科学话语权。     

气候正义诉求下的气候伦理原则

气候变化造成了数以万计的死亡和灾难,它要求人类对此作出伦理回应。回答不了气候正义的问题,国际范围内的合作就难以展开。因此,我们需要建立起一种表达了气候正义诉求的气候伦理,为各种应对气候变化的方案提供价值的引导。在商谈应对气候变化时,我们需要将不伤害原则、公平原则和知情同意原则作为气候伦理原则应用其中,同时就气候正义的基本原则达成一致,并将这种原则贯彻到全球温室气体减排的计划中,才有望在国际层面展开合作,共同应对气候变化对人类生活产生的不利影响。     

气候变化与人权：何种温室气体排放权

气候变化会对基本人权,如生命权、健康权、食物权、住房权、财产权、文化权、迁移定居权、安全权等,造成许多严重的伤害。可从生存排放权、人均排放权和发展排放权三个方面对温室气体排放权进行分析与考查。在保护人民的气候权利方面,国家和政府负有不可推托的责任。在当前的背景下,提出气候权利问题的直接目的就是保护发展中国家与弱势群体的利益,并促使发达国家和富人承担更多的减排义务。     

气候变化与国际贸易研究综述

为研究气候变化与国际贸易的关系,回顾了气候变化与国际贸易领域的重要文献,特别是近年来的最新研究成果,着重分析了国际贸易在应对气候变化带来的经济冲击中所发挥的调整性作用,气候变化对国际贸易的直接影响以及通过劳动力市场产生的间接影响。研究认为,在应对气候变化对农业市场的冲击等问题上,自由贸易将会起到积极的调整作用,能够有效地抑制气候冲击所带来的福利损失,缓解可能出现的全球粮食危机,这一作用的有效实现也有赖于各国政府实行的贸易政策;气候变化将直接改变现有的贸易格局,并通过冲击劳动力市场而对国际贸易产生更为复杂的影响。