Today, December 3rd is Young & Future Generations Day at the #COP21 in Paris! The day was kicked-off by the Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, Christiana Figueres at the Climate Change Studio together with the UN Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth, Mr. Ahmad Alhendawi. Those supporting this event are sporting […]
The ambitious target of max. 1.5 degree temperature increase was called for by the Climate Vulnerable Forum on Monday and Tuesday. In their decision, they commit to 100 % renewable energy and zero emissions by 2050. Total decarbonisation is a goal which, among others, the G7 want to reach only by the end of the […]
Today is the first day of negotiations, our second day at the COP, and the impressions keep pouring in. The Climate Generations Area opened today, a space accessible to the general public. On an impressive area amounting to 27 000 m², 340 civil society organizations are showcasing their work and engaging in debates, not only […]
Following long journeys from all across Germany, the delegation of Global Change Ecology students and alumni has arrived safely in Le Bourget, Paris, France. Registration and opening ceremonies took place on Sunday, November 29th, and Monday, November 30th and so far we can say that we are significantly impressed by the sheer size of this […]
On Thursday, the 15th of January 2015, after the plenary meeting, the delegates divided into their regional groups (e.g. Americas, Europe, Africa) to draft the regional assessments of biodiversity and ecosystem services. I was particularly interested in hearing African points of view, since I know Africa contains many biomes and high biodiversity, but its climate […]
One of the first plenary meetings we, the new GCE arrivals, attended was a session of the contact group for the IPBEs work programme, which was originally planned as a joint meeting with the contact group for budget and finance. After an initial discussion about general structures and procedures of the thematic and geographic working […]
We’ll be learning how a myriad of national interests can (hopefully) be integrated through consensus decisions
In GCE, we talk a lot about the importance of biodiversity and ecosystem services, and how frustrating it is that these issues are often not prioritized in international politics. Yet, as students, we too have difficulties finding time to prioritize actual engagement with these issues while also juggling extra courses, guest lectures, and research. But […]
More than 30 hours without rest delegates have been negotiating in the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action (ADP) about the post 2015 period when the Kyoto protocol is going to end. It is already one day over the official end of the conference and still there is by far […]
Yesterday, big NGOs walked out of the stadium in Warsaw as a protest against the missing ambition at this COP. On international level there is no direct representation of people and lobbyists try to fill this gap. Therefore it is crucial that diverse interests are fairly represented. I don’t think that anyone minds resting on […]
