Felix Dodds comments on sustainable development, coffee & life

 First published on IPS News on the 1st of April 2021  and mentioned in POLITICO Global Translations newsletter on the 5th of April 2021.  With uncertainties over face-to-face meetings resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, the authors consider the case for postponing the Climate Summit in Glasgow again and ask how, if it does proceed, we can improve its chances of success? By Felix Dodds, Michael Strauss and Chris Spence Among the COVID-19 pandemic’s many damaging impacts, could a halt to international progress on environmental issues be added to the list? A year ago, the Glasgow Climate Summit—originally scheduled for late 2020—was postponed to 2021, along with its preparatory meetings. This wasn’t the only critical intergovernmental process impacted. For instance, the Convention on Biological Diversity and the U.N. treaty on the high seas were also moved. With uncertainty over travel and safety continuing into 2021, the postponement of meetings has continued, with the United

  Governance for Sustainable Development Volume 5: Implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development: Governance Challenges is the fifth book that the Friends of Governance for Sustainable Development has produced to share widely the papers that were presented at the workshops for member States to discuss.  It is available on amazon print to order or kindle and also as pdf for free on the Friends of Governance for Sustainable Development website .  Individual chapters are available here. The Group recognizes that there is an inextricable link between good governance and sustainable development and that, as the 2030 Agenda is implemented, governance challenges will need discussion and action at all levels and by all institutions.In 2020, the Group of Friends convened UN officials, experts, and representatives from government at four participatory workshops on relevant governance issues. The workshops were organized in partnership with UN-DESA Office of Intergovernmental Support

Guest blog by: Chris Lyle: Chris is Chief Executive of Canadian-based Air Transport Economics and in 1997, as the Director responsible in the ICAO Secretariat, he facilitated acceptance of the role given to the Organization through the Kyoto Protocol. He can be reached at clyle@airtransporteconomics.ca  "This article first appeared in the aviation and environment online publication GreenAir and is reproduced with permission."  In 1997, the UNFCCC’s COP3 decided, via the Kyoto Protocol, to treat international aviation indirectly through ICAO. CO2 emissions from international aviation have since doubled from 317Mt in 1997 to 641Mt in 2019, to match the total emissions of the 129 lowest emitting countries combined, ranking just behind Canada and at least one and half times those of the UK.   Climate Action Tracker , which has been assessing the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) of individual countries under the Paris Agreement, last year turned its attention to internat

On Tuesday the 23rd of March the Friends of Governance for Sustainable Development held their first workshop of the year. Bellow is the programme and next to any speaker who used a power point yo u can find the pdf of it. The Workshop theme was "How do we Accelerate the Implementation of the 2030 Agenda?"   The Political Declaration of the 2019 SDG Summit stresses the urgent need for concerted, accelerated action by all stakeholders at all levels to achieve the 2030 Agenda. The UN Secretary-General called on all sectors of society to mobilize for a decade of action on three levels: Global action: to secure greater leadership, more resources and smarter solutions for the Sustainable Development Goals; Local action: embedding the needed transitions in the policies, budgets, institutions and regulatory frameworks of governments, cities and local authorities; and People action: including by youth, civil society, the media, the private sector, unions, academia and other stakeholde

The book being discussed is Stakeholder Democracy Represented Democracy in a Time of Fear The interview is downloadable here for anyone to use. "As this book documents, not all stakeholder engagement in multilateral processes has been impactful. It shares valuable lessons about what has worked and what hasn’t." - Rt Hon Helen Clark, In the context of sustainable development, this book describes how we are moving from representative to participatory democracy, and how we are now in a "stakeholder democracy," which is working to strengthen represented democracy in a time of fear. Since the 1992 Rio Earth Summit the idea of stakeholder democracy has grown, with stakeholders engaged in helping governments and intergovernmental bodies make better decisions, and in helping them to deliver those decisions in partnerships amongst various stakeholders, with and without government. Seen through a multi-stakeholder, sector and level lens, this book describes the history of th

UNEP Executive Director Inger Anderson's remarks as Pakistan announced to host of the 2021 World Environment Day I thank the Honorable Minister for inviting me to this press briefing. First of all, on behalf of the United Nations Environment Programme, I would like to thank Pakistan for offering to host the 2021 World Environment Day, which will be held on 5 June, on the theme of ecosystem restoration. Pakistan is integral to global efforts to combat the three interconnected environmental crises the world faces today, namely, climate change, nature and biodiversity loss, and pollution and waste levels. In Pakistan these crises are manifested in air and water pollution, pestilent and erosive land-use practices, desertification and extreme weather events. According to a recent study, Pakistan is ranked 5th in vulnerability to climate change. The global restoration of ecosystems to their former glory is key to addressing those crises and to keep check of our consumption and production