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Talking about climate change should be made a priority. Around the world, there are public outcries about a scarcity of water, which is a basic subsistence that no one should be deprived from. Temperatures across the globe are rising, the number of available farmlands is shrinking, and in California there is a relentless draught. The western side of the country is feeling the effects of climate change full-on, leading many to debate if we are taking water for granted out here.
In this area, specifically, another drought a few years back melted the snowpack in upper Colorado, which resulted in shrinking the levels of water available regionally. The reservoir witnessed a grand scale of loss of water, and sadly the situation has never been any better. Across the border, Mexico is revolutionizing its approach to climate change: clean electricity, grid modernization, a greater promotion of more fuel efficient automobile fleets, weather forecasting and early alert systems, are all on their new agenda.
This new commitment aims to reduce the country’s gas emissions, black carbon pollutants by 2030. Mexico as a country is not responsible for plenty of gas emissions but nonetheless its drive towards combating it, was a positive and welcoming move about helping Earth’s atmosphere. These proposals were launched in co-operation with the United States, which brings me back to the climate change agenda here.
President Obama’s latest plan reveals that there is an ambition to cut 26-28percent of harmful gas emissions by 2025. This is a good slow step to recovery for the atmosphere, because although the percentages aren’t huge, they are still significant and a definite improvement. United States is presently leading the way for battling climate change. There is more wind power, solar power, a greater energy efficiency, clean energy, but there are still many areas that need to be worked upon, such as limiting the amount of harmful gas emissions powerplants should be permitted to carry on with.
Back home, there is a greater degree of transparency than can be found amongst all of the hopefuls in America: the EU and China have both committed to cutting greenhouse gas emissions on the chart, but any higher involvement will mean that the United Kingdom, for one, will be left with nothing to contribute here, as a great use of carbon offsets begin to take precedence across its borders. The Labour Party, right before going to elections, clearly highlighted tackling climate change as a priority, quite unlike the remaining parties – they seem to find the concept of tackling climate change obtrusive. Plenty of new generation capacities are being built in the United Kingdom for the future, and Labour has pointed out that it stands on the side of renewable energies and clean coal.
The decarbonisation of the power sector is one key policy point that should be addressed, and the discussion here should be about the long-term cost involved: do we employ low carbon-deployment soon enough at the expense of a hike in energy bills? Providing a cleaner infrastructure should be more affordable than it is at the present. Energy bills for consumers can be brought down by employing energy efficiency practices at home. This would also help reduce fuel poverty, the need to pay for replacement infrastructure, alongside reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and effectively tackling climate change, much better.
The post Climate Change: Low-Cost Battles appeared first on Ideas on Europe.
Dr Ioannis Armakolas spoke to news.gr on recent developments and unrest in FYROM. He attempts to explains the reasons for current tensions and analyse the evolution of the crisis and its impact not only on the country but also on the Balkan region. The interview is available here. It was published on 11 May 2015 (in Greek).
SALT Galata, Oditoryum 12 mai, 18h30
Avrupa ülkelerinin yaralı hafızalarıyla yüzleşme süreçlerine odaklanan "Hafıza Politikaları" serisinin dokuzuncu konferansı, Nora Şeni'nin moderatörlüğünde, sosyolog Şükrü Aslan ile tarihçi ve gazeteci Jean-Arnault Dérens'nın katılımıyla gerçekleştirilecek.
Aslan, konuşmasında, 1938 Dersim kırımı ve toplumsal etkileri devam eden bu olayla yüzleşme sürecini ele alacak. Dérens ise, Lahey Uluslararası Adalet Divanı tarafından soykırım olarak kabul edilen 1995 Srebrenitsa Katliamı'nın, (...)
The first in a series of four OSCE-supported training seminars on the practical aspects of implementation of the National Preventive Mechanism (NPM) for Preventing Torture and Ill-treatment in Kazakhstan began on 12 May 2015 in Atyrau, Kazakhstan.
Some 30 members of the NPM from non-governmental organizations, regional offices of the Prosecutor General’s Office, Interior, Education and Health Care Ministries will discuss the key challenges in fulfilling the NPM’s monitoring obligations in Kazakhstan and effective measures to be taken at multiple levels to ensure that national laws regarding the prevention of torture and ill-treatment are implemented.
Discussions will be led by a member of the UN Sub-Committee on Prevention of Torture and national experts focused on the international and national legal frameworks, and the analysis of anti-torture standards and their implementation, including necessary mechanisms for conducting preventive visits to detention facilities and reporting on the findings.
Participants will be trained on monitoring methodology and how to prepare monitoring reports for preventive visits to police stations, mental health institutions, drug rehabilitation centres and juvenile justice establishments. Particular attention will be paid to the performance of the regional NPM groups and their co-operation and external communication with regional law-enforcement departments, prosecutors, prison administrations, healthcare institutions and media representatives.
The two-day capacity-building event for NPM members from across the country was organized by the OSCE Programme Office in Astana in partnership with the Commissioner for Human Rights (Ombudsman) of Kazakhstan, the Regional Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights with support from the Penal Reform International Office in Central Asia. It will be followed by three training seminars in Ust-Kamenogorsk, eastern Kazakhstan, Almaty, southern Kazakhstan, and Astana.
The series is part of the Office’s long-term efforts to establish the NPM and promote the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention against Torture in the host country.
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