Felix Dodds comments on sustainable development, coffee & life

The webinar on May 29th was for those hoping or planning to participate in the UNFCCC preparatory conference in Bonn in June and/or COP29 in Baku, the capital city of Azerbaijani November 11-22, 2024. The webinar was run by:  Felix Dodds, UNC Water Institute Jamie Cummings, Woodwell Climate Research Center The webinar addressed the following: History of climate change How the UNFCCC prepares COP28 Outcomes and Legacies UNFCCC Bonn preparatory sessions 2024 COP 29 – What are the issues? Negotiating Groups and key people Why attend – stakeholder engagement case study of a campaign and YONGO Beyond the Negotiations Resources available and dates for 2024 and 2025 The PowerPoint  from the webinar is available here https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/15HWOiitg45hBUhwpBHuTl3hFue0UpP9f?usp=sharing The recording can be found here https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/share/xlxjt48DrrCPwMoZupLXiz0ytduJwY8R4RVgDrJ4oOI6h-yfS0AIdBZ0Vyk5s7dB.iiOwy0RI35ChKvMV?startTime=1716994811000 Passcode: h^...

On behalf of Stakeholder Forum for a Sustainable Future Fellow Felix Dodds, we invite you to register for a preparatory webinar to inform you about how to participate in the UNFCCC preparatory conference,   SB60 in Bonn in June (3-13th) , and/or   COP 29 in Baku, the capital city of Azerbaijani, November 11-22, 2024 .  The webinar is on May 29th from 11-1 pm (EDT - New York time) You can register here  https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_G99BMj_QR7CpxjNktdIZwQ  Felix Dodds , UNC Water Institute and Fellow at Stakeholder Forum, and  Jamie Cummings , Woodwell Climate Research Center and Associate at Stakeholder Forum will host the webinar, and address the following topics: History of climate change How the UNFCCC prepares COP28 Outcomes and Legacies UNFCCC  Bonn preparatory sessions 2024 COP 29 – What are the issues? Negotiating Groups and key people Why attend – stakeholder engagement case study of a campaign and YONGO Beyond the Negotiations Re...

S takeholder Forum for a Sustainable Future is pleased to announce that Alexander Juras is the organization’s new Chairperson, effective 1 May 2024. by Charles Nouhan The SF Board, Fellows, and Associates feel incredibly fortunate to have Mr. Juras work with us in the coming years, leveraging his wealth of experience to drive sustainability initiatives forward. Alexander Juras began his career as a Research Fellow at the Institute for European Environmental Policy in Bonn, where he dedicated five years (1987 – 1992) to researching environmental protection in transboundary contexts and the role of environmental civil society in Central and Eastern Europe. Notably, he authored the first comprehensive Directory of Non-governmental Organisations in the region. In 1992, Juras transitioned to the newly established Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe (REC) in Budapest, marking the beginning of a thirteen-year tenure. Rising through various roles, he eventually ass...

By Andrew Binns  Author of Corporate Explorer and Corporate Explorer Fieldbook. Originally published May 8th in Forbes available here.  Planet earth is getting hotter, and human activity is the principal cause. Although this remains a contested statement for some in US politics, it’s surprisingly well understood by the CEOs and senior executives with whom I work. It may be true that capitalism got us into this situation, but it is also true that there is commitment to getting us out of it. When I visit the c-suites of companies in US, Europe, and Japan, as I have done over the past two or three years, there is a repeating mantra on the importance of leading with making economic activity sustainable for the planet. The question we are all wrestling with is how to do it and how to make it work within the realities of the market system. It’s a big challenge. That’s why my colleague Dan Kolodziej is going to be focusing on this topic at the next of his series of roundtables wit...

Felix Dodds - Stakeholder participation in PPPs This is a presentation I made on May the 8th at the 8th UNECE International Public-Private Partnerships Forum in Istanbul as part of the Panel 'Stakeholder participation in PPPs: Enhancing stakeholder engagement in PPPs for the SDGs'.  Thanks – this is a subject close to my heart perhaps understandable as for twenty years I ran an organization called Stakeholder Forum for a Sustainable Future that took seriously Agenda 21 and the nine chapters that identified key stakeholders and their rights and responsibilities. We are here today to offer ideas for what might be in a guide to engage stakeholders in PPP projects. My comments are based on work undertaken by two of my students at the University of North Carolina Elisabeth Butler and Ranger Ruffins who developed for the UN Sendai Review a similar guide which hasalso been used for the Voluntary National Reviews for the SDGs. First and foremost, the engagement of stakeholders in...

 We, the undersigned members of the intergovernmental negotiating committee (INC) and those concerned about the many harms of plastic pollution to human health and the environment, are committed to ending plastic pollution worldwide.  Sign here  We reaffirm the mandate of United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) Resolution 5/14 to develop an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment, based on a comprehensive approach that addresses the full lifecycle of plastics. We emphasize that the full lifecycle of plastics includes the production of primary plastic polymers. Studies show that the world cannot achieve its goals of ending plastic pollution and limiting global average temperature rise to less than 1.5° Celsius if the unsustainable production of primary plastic polymers is not addressed. Left unaddressed, production of primary plastic polymers is projected to increase exponentially through 2050 and could overwhel...

  The  Champions of the Earth  award honours individuals and organizations whose actions have a transformative impact on the environment. UNEP seeks  nominations  of individuals and organizations working on innovative and sustainable solutions to restore land, enhance drought resilience, and combat desertification. Nominations are open from 15 April to 5 May 2024. Nairobi, 15 April 2024  – The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) today launched a call for nominations for the annual  Champions of the Earth  award – the UN’s highest environmental honour, which recognizes outstanding leaders from government, civil society, and the private sector for their transformative impact on the environment. This year, UNEP encourages nominations of individuals and organizations developing and implementing sustainable policies and solutions to restore land, enhance drought resilience, and combat desertification. Since the award’s inception ...

  This will be a new part of my blog where we give an overview of organizations that are active in advancing the Sustainable Development Goals, the Rio Conventions and the Sendai Framework. It started because she wanted to feel safe Agnieszka Kordalewska became interested in preparing for threats in 2014, when Russia initiated its military operations in Ukraine. It happened right on her doorstep, and escalation seemed only a matter of time. Initially, in her preparations, Agnieszka often used websites of FEMA or ready.gov. At that time compendium of knowledge about threats did not exist in Poland. Until one November evening in 2019, in a small room in the attic, the idea was born to create the first portal in Poland about preparing for disasters and threats. And then the need arose to share the portal and the acquired knowledge with others. And so, almost 5 years ago, Agnieszka created the Gotowi.org Foundation , which she still manages. Shortly afterwards, the portal www.gotowi....