Most recent 40 articles: context.news
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Panama's canal, and people, thirst for more - context.news (Mar 20) |
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Mar 20 · Anastasia MoloneyPublished: Yesterday|Thomson Reuters Foundation
Anastasia MoloneyYesterday
The depleted Panama Canal needs new water sources as climate-driven drought spotlights global warming risks to world's waterways
As a colossal Chinese container ship manoeuvered into the narrow Miraflores locks on the Panama Canal, about 27 million gallons of water rose around it, propelling the vessel along this vital maritime shortcut between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.
But the critical water cushion that lifts and lowers ships through a series of locks along the canal is deflating because of repeated droughts, disrupting a key global trade route and ... Read more ...
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Time to fix broken food systems - Sierra Leone president - context.news (Mar 18) |
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Mar 18 · President of Sierra Leone Julius Maada Bio speaks during the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Summit 2023, at U.N. headquarters in New York City, New York, U.S., September 18, 2023. REUTERS/Mike Segar
Countries must accelerate delivery of sustainable and healthy food systems, writes Julius Maada Bio
Julius Maada Bio is president of Sierra Leone.
Food is what sustains us - or at least it should be. But our food systems are currently failing us at both an individual and planetary level.
Rather than nourishing us with healthy, affordable food, a third of the global population cannot afford a healthy diet, whilst one in ten are obese.
Meanwhile, food ... Read more ...
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The criminalisation of climate activists must stop now - context.news (Mar 15) |
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Mar 15 · Andrew Firmin | CIVICUS
Police officers remove an activist of the "Letzte Generation" (Last Generation) as they block traffic and protest for climate action in Berlin, Germany September 28, 2023. REUTERS/Lisi Niesner
Climate activists will keep pushing on – but they don’t deserve the treatment they’re getting.
Andrew Firmin is the co-author of the State of Civil Society report and Editor-in-Chief at CIVICUS, where he leads research into climate activism around the world.
It was the kind of treatment once reserved for narco gangs. Last June, several young Germans woke up to police raiding their homes, seizing their laptops and freezing their bank ... Read more ...
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Loss and damage fund must deliver climate justice to affected communities - context.news (Aug 29, 2023) |
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Aug 29, 2023 · Harjeet Singh,Liane Schalatek
A boy stands on an entrance of his house in an area flooded by the overflowing Bagmati river following heavy rains, in Kathmandu, Nepal August 8, 2023. REUTERS/Navesh Chitrakar
Those suffering the worst from climate change need a say in how a new fund to help them is run – and direct access to its resources
Harjeet Singh heads global political strategy at Climate Action Network International and Liane Schalatek leads work on climate finance for the Heinrich Böll Foundation in Washington, DC.
Following nearly 30 years of advocating for financial support for loss and damage driven by climate change, at last year’s UN ... Read more ...
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Can it deliver climate action? - context.news (Aug 22, 2023) |
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Aug 22, 2023 · Debbie Hillier,Barbara Rosen Jacobson
The 'Cop28 UAE' logo is displayed on the screen during the opening ceremony of Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week (ADSW) under the theme of 'United on Climate Action Toward COP28', in Abu Dhabi, UAE, January 16, 2023. REUTERS/Rula Rouhana
Concerns grow that the summit, hosted by a fossil fuel nation, may fall short for the communities worst-hit by climate devastation
Debbie Hillier is the head of the Zurich Flood Resilience Alliance for Mercy Corps. Barbara Rosen Jacobson is an advocacy advisor for Mercy Corps.
As we mark 100 days until the COP28 U.N. climate summit, the urgency of addressing the climate ... Read more ...
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Countries must unite around a new economy to save the Amazon - context.news (Aug 07, 2023) |
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Aug 07, 2023 · Ani Dasgupta,M. Sanjayan
Brazil's indigenous chief Raoni Metuktire speaks with Governor of Brazil's Para state Helder Barbalho during a Dialogos da Amazonia (Amazon Dialogues) event before a summit of Amazon rainforest nations at the Igarape Park, in Belem, Para state, Brazil August 4, 2023. REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino
Leaders at the Amazon summit in Brazil must agree on new model to protect the rainforest - for environmental and economic reasons
Ani Dasgupta is the president and CEO of World Resources Institute, and M. Sanjayan is CEO of Conservation International.It’s no secret that the Amazon rainforest is hurtling toward an alarming tipping point. ... Read more ...
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Wildfires and Indigenous ways to stop them - context.news (Aug 07, 2023) |
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Aug 07, 2023 · Firefighters from Mexico march along a fire guard as they battle wildfires near Vanderhoof, British Columbia, Canada July 13, 2023. REUTERS/Jesse Winter
Indigenous peoples' knowledge of halting wildfires should be tapped more often as climate change stokes blazes from Canada to Australia
Michael Shank is the director of engagement for the Carbon Neutral Cities Alliance.
Wildfires are on everyone’s mind these days (and in everyone’s lungs it seems, too). Whether it’s the recent and ongoing wildfires in Canada – which are still generating severe and extreme air quality alerts all across the United States – or the all too common ... Read more ...
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How to unblock green investment in developing countries - context.news (Jun 19, 2023) |
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Jun 19, 2023 · A street vendor, selling bread, walks in front of a currency exchange bureau advertisement showing an image of the U.S. dollar in Cairo, Egypt, December 17, 2019. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh
Developing-country governments cannot fund the green transformation to the scale or pace the world needs – but allaying currency risk fears could change the game
Avinash Persaud is special envoy to the Prime Minister of Barbados Mia Amor Mottley and one of the architects of the Bridgetown Initiative on climate finance that will be a cornerstone of the Paris Summit for a New Global Financing Pact.
We face the brutal reality that catastrophic climate change is upon us unless we ... Read more ...
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Climate action is being held back by 'hidden handbrakes' - context.news (Apr 18, 2023) |
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Apr 18, 2023 · People prepare a barrier with wooden logs and sand bags to stop flood waters during the monsoon season in Puran Dhoro, Badin, Pakistan, August 30, 2022. REUTERS/Yasir Rajput
A new campaign aims to expose and remove the big barriers that are slowing down efforts to tackle global warming
Tom Mitchell is the executive director of the International Institute for Environment and Development.
Progress on cutting emissions, adapting to climate impacts, and addressing loss and damage is still far too slow to avoid a bleak future for humanity. While there are recent signs the transition to renewable energy is speeding up, the latest assessment report from the ... Read more ...
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Stop depicting women as climate victims - we shaped the movement - context.news (Mar 08, 2023) |
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Mar 08, 2023 · Barbados Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley speaks during the opening ceremony of the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland, Britain November 1, 2021. Jeff J Mitchell/Pool via REUTERS
On International Women’s Day 2023, we should remember that women are climate leaders – not victims
Eleonore Soubeyran is a policy analyst at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics.
Climate change does not impact everyone equally. It has a disproportionate impact on women across the globe. Women face greater risks from food security, ill health, violence, disruption to education and reduced work ... Read more ...
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How does climate change threaten global food production? | Context - context.news (Feb 03, 2023) |
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Feb 03, 2023 · Corey Lesk,Kai Kornhuber
A farmer collects sorghum plant at his submerged red sorghum field after heavy rain in Kournari village, on the outskirts of Ndjamena, Chad October 26, 2022. REUTERS/Mahamat Ramadan
As the planet heats, food security is weakening and the threat of hunger is growing
Kai Kornhuber is an adjunct associate research scientist at the Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University and a senior research fellow at the German Council on Foreign Relations. Corey Lesk is a postdoctoral climate researcher in the Department of Geography and the Neukom Institute at Dartmouth College.
In recent years, record-breaking heatwaves, droughts, and ... Read more ...
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Living with South Africa's collapsing energy grid - context.news (Jan 25, 2023) |
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Jan 25, 2023 · A shop owner picks an item for a customer by candlelight during power outages by South African utility Eskom due to more breakdowns at its ageing coal-fired plants, in Soweto, South Africa, April 20, 2022. REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko
Context correspondent Kim Harrisberg reflects on the daily ramifications of South Africa's worsening electricity crisis
JOHANNESBURG - My 6-year-old niece's understanding of South Africa's collapsing electricity grid was put into practice one recent weekend when we visited Johannesburg's beloved science museum.
Racing between dinosaur replicas, mirror mazes and giant microscopes she came across the electricity exhibition, with one game ... Read more ...
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Protect the oceans to protect food security - context.news (Dec 15, 2022) |
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Dec 15, 2022 · An aerial view of islands in Palau in this undated photo. REUTERS/Jackson Henry
Investing in marine protection can create huge returns, for people and nature
Surangel Whipps Jr. is the president of Palau.
The most important summit most people have never heard of will happen this December in Montreal, Canada.
At the Conference of the Parties (COP15) of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, the world’s countries aim to agree to a once-in-a-decade global deal to halt the runaway destruction of the natural world.
This crisis is so serious that it threatens the world's clean air and drinking water, crops, the survival of key species, our ability ... Read more ...
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It's time to create an ‘After Carbon' agenda for Africa - context.news (Nov 22, 2022) |
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Nov 22, 2022 · A worker cleans solar cells on a rooftop of a hotel in the resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh, the first to operate a solar-powered plant in a bid to turn to clean energy as the city prepares to host the upcoming COP27 summit in November, in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, June 4, 2022. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany
Connecting African policymakers with the information they need could bootstrap renewable energy on the continent
Fatima Denton, is a member of the Climate Crisis Advisory Group and director of the United Nations University Institute for Natural Resources in Africa.
Following a year of climate-related disasters and extreme weather, COP27 provided another opportunity ... Read more ...
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Small-scale farmers feed the world, but we are at a breaking point - context.news (Nov 21, 2022) |
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Nov 21, 2022 · Farmers carry hay for animal feed on their heads at a farm in Magsaysay, Occidental Mindoro in central Philippines February 23, 2013. REUTERS/Erik De Castro
COP27 put food on the menu, but family farmers need more support as they suffer most from climate change's impacts
Estrella Penunia is Secretary General of the Asian Farmers’ Association for Sustainable Rural Development, which represents 13 million family farmers across 16 countries.
COP27 opened in the middle of a global food crisis and followed months of extreme floods, drought and heat which have damaged harvests across the globe. Food and agriculture have never been higher on the climate agenda ... Read more ...
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Rich polluting nations are hijacking 1.5C goal for their own aims - context.news (Nov 18, 2022) |
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Nov 18, 2022 · U.S. President Joe Biden delivers a speech at COP27 climate summit, in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, November 11, 2022. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany
At COP27, wealthy governments are pushing for stronger efforts to limit global warming – while failing to deliver the finance and technology promised for climate action in poorer countries
Brandon Wu is director of policy and campaigns at ActionAid USA.
It’s a rich irony that the United States, European Union and other wealthy countries are claiming to be climate champions that are trying to “keep 1.5 alive” at the UN climate negotiations (COP27) that will soon come to a close in Egypt. These are the same ... Read more ...
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As we make buildings greener, residents and workers need a voice - context.news (Nov 17, 2022) |
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Nov 17, 2022 · Construction workers are pictured at the construction site of an apartment building in Pasay, Metro Manila in the Philippines May 22, 2017. REUTERS/Erik De Castro
On the final day COP27, world leaders must drive a rapid but just transition of our built environment
Amol Mehra is director of industry transformation at Laudes Foundation, and Ambet E. Yuson is general secretary of the Building and Wood Workers’ International (BWI).
‘Human settlements’ is a key theme on the final day of COP27, but to meet our Paris commitments, the built environment must become central to the climate transition.
Adequate housing is recognised as part of the right ... Read more ...
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The colonial exploitation of Africa's fossil fuels must stop - context.news (Nov 10, 2022) |
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Nov 10, 2022 · A woman empties a plastic bowl filled with tapioca on sewn sacks laid on the ground close to a gas flaring furnace in Ughelli, Delta State, Nigeria September 17, 2020. REUTERS/Afolabi Sotunde
As the war in Ukraine continues to disrupt energy markets, Europe has turned to African countries rich in oil and gas, but exploiting Africa’s fossil fuels will not benefit its peoples
Nnimmo Bassey is director of the Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF), an ecological think-tank, and coordinator of Oilwatch International.
As winter approaches and the war in Ukraine continues to disrupt energy markets, Europe’s leaders have been seeking help from Africa. Governments ... Read more ...
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UN climate negotiations need to talk about climate migration - context.news (Nov 09, 2022) |
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Nov 09, 2022 · Residents wade through flood water in Obagi community, Rivers state, Nigeria October 21, 2022. REUTERS/Temilade Adelaja
As COP27 begins in Sharm el-Sheikh, millions are being displaced from their homes due to climate impacts
Chukwumerije Okereke is a professor of global climate and environmental governance and director of the Centre for Climate and Development at Alex Ekwueme Federal University Ndufu-Alike (AE-FUNAI) in Nigeria
As the U.N.’s COP27 climate summit kicks off in Sharm el-Sheikh this week, one important issue is being overlooked: how climate change is driving a parallel migration crisis that will likely increase the risk of conflict across the globe. Read more ...
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Fossilflation' speeds up the inevitable energy transition - context.news (Nov 07, 2022) |
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Nov 07, 2022 · Steam rises from the cooling towers of the coal power plant of RWE, one of Europe's biggest electricity and gas companies in Niederaussem, Germany, March 3, 2016. REUTERS/Wolfgang Rattay
As the European Commission releases its autumn economic forecast, accelerating the transition to net zero is the best way to tackle inflation caused by Putin's Ukraine war
Laurence Tubiana is chief executive of the European Climate Foundation and was an architect of the 2015 U.N. Paris Agreement on Climate Change.
The autumn economic forecast of the European Commission published on Friday is likely to be grim. Like most parts of the world, inflation in Europe is out of ... Read more ...
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Sri Lanka's energy crisis is a glimpse of what is coming - context.news (Oct 31, 2022) |
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Oct 31, 2022 · Drivers push auto rickshaws in a line to buy petrol from a fuel station, amid Sri Lanka's economic crisis, in Colombo, Sri Lanka, July 29, 2022. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon
Depending on finite fossil fuels over sustainable natural assets such as renewables will always trap us in energy poverty and social inequality
Pradeep Kurukulasuriya?is director and executive coordinator of the Nature, Climate and Energy Portfolio at the United Nations Development Programme.
When Sri Lanka’s fuel crisis hit in June, waiting in a petrol queue for over 14 hours in Colombo gave time for some truths to sink in. One is that going to get that coffee to keep you awake would ... Read more ...
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Greta Thunberg's rise from teen activist to global climate leader - context.news (Oct 27, 2022) |
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Oct 27, 2022 · Climate activist Greta Thunberg speaks on the Pyramid stage at Worthy Farm in Somerset during the Glastonbury Festival in Britain, June 25, 2022. REUTERS/Dylan Martinez
As the Swedish teenager promotes her new book on climate change, here's how she built the global "Fridays for Future" movement
LONDON - Swedish campaigner Greta Thunberg has taken a step back from the front lines of climate action, most recently to work on her latest project, The Climate Book.
Despite drawing crowds at last year’s climate summit, Thunberg told the BBC she will not attend this year’s COP27 in Egypt and that hope for action should not rest on “burned out ... Read more ...
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COP27 will be the first UN climate summit in the era of loss and damage - context.news (Oct 24, 2022) |
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Oct 24, 2022 · A man carries an empty water tank through a flooded area after the impact of the tropical storm Julia, in Progreso, Honduras October 9, 2022. REUTERS/Yoseph Amaya
The upcoming talks must agree to set up a funding facility to help countries deal with the growing harm caused by climate change impacts
Saleemul Huq is director of the International Centre for Climate Change and Development in Bangladesh and a senior associate at the London-based International Institute for Environment and Development.
It has now been 30 years since the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was signed at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1972 - and ... Read more ...
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China's clean air campaign holds lessons for global climate action - context.news (Oct 06, 2022) |
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Oct 06, 2022 · Local villager throws a cage to catch fish in a pool of water left by Poyang Lake that shows record-low water levels as the region experiences a drought outside Nanchang, Jiangxi province, China, August 26, 2022. REUTERS/Thomas Peter
Involving ordinary people in transparent climate action is one way to combat a recent surge in coal production
Ma Jun is a Chinese environmentalist and director of the Institute of Public & Environmental Affairs (IPE).
In late August, I peered down at Lake Poyang from a plane and was shocked to see China's largest freshwater lake reduced to a meandering stream. It was monsoon season and yet shrinking waters revealed a lake bed scorched ... Read more ...
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Finance for climate action could make or break COP27 - context.news (Oct 06, 2022) |
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Oct 06, 2022 · Eve Bazaiba, Deputy Prime Minister for the Environment and Sustainable Development of Democratic Republic of Congo, poses with Amina Mohammed, Deputy Secretary General of the UN, during an informal ministerial meeting ahead of the COP27 climate summit, in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo October 3, 2022. REUTERS/Justin Makangara
Funding for Africa shouldn’t be viewed as a favour from polluters but as what they owe the rest of us.
Mohamed Adow is a climate justice advocate and director of energy and climate think-tank Power Shift Africa.
International climate change conferences are a weighty enterprise—one that needs to be held up by solid pillars of ... Read more ...
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Here's why we need a world climate parliament now - context.news (Oct 05, 2022) |
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Oct 05, 2022 · A general view of the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26), in Glasgow, Scotland, Britain November 12, 2021. REUTERS/Yves Herman
We can no longer wait a year between U.N. negotiations to advance climate action
Dennis Tänzler is director and head of programme for climate policy at adelphi.
Let’s remember: COP26 in Glasgow was a veritable fireworks display.
The UK and other heavyweights launched numerous initiatives to finally implement and meet the targets of the Paris Agreement. They forged new alliances to stop the financing of fossil-fuel energies, advance technological innovations together with the business community, and secure the climate ... Read more ...
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Here's how to make the Inflation Reduction Act benefit all - context.news (Oct 03, 2022) |
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Oct 03, 2022 · Raindrops hang on a sign for Wall Street outside the New York Stock Exchange in Manhattan in New York City, New York, U.S., October 26, 2020. REUTERS/Mike Segar
To help Main Street as well as Wall Street, money and effort need to flow into on-the-ground adaptation as well as emissions cuts.
Jesse M. Keenan is an associate professor and social scientist at Tulane University’s School of Architecture, whose research focuses on climate change adaptation and the built environment. Laurie Schoeman is director of climate and sustainability for Enterprise Community Investment.
The passage of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) is a momentous occasion because it comes ... Read more ...
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Here's how to make the Inflation Reduction Act benefit all - context.news (Oct 03, 2022) |
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Oct 03, 2022 · Raindrops hang on a sign for Wall Street outside the New York Stock Exchange in Manhattan in New York City, New York, U.S., October 26, 2020. REUTERS/Mike Segar
To help Main Street as well as Wall Street, money and effort need to flow into on-the-ground adaptation as well as emissions cuts.
Jesse M. Keenan is an associate professor and social scientist at Tulane University’s School of Architecture, whose research focuses on climate change adaptation and the built environment. Laurie Schoeman is director of climate and sustainability for Enterprise Community Investment.
The passage of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) is a momentous occasion because it comes ... Read more ...
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Aid and activism need to join forces on climate 'loss and damage' - context.news (Sep 30, 2022) |
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Sep 30, 2022 · A person uses a megaphone as other people hold signs, as they take part in the Global Climate Strike of the movement Fridays for Future in Berlin, Germany, September 23, 2022. REUTERS/Christian Mang
As losses grow on a hotter planet, combining humanitarian and climate expertise could help find smarter ways forward.
Mattias Söderberg is co-chair of the climate justice group ACT Alliance and chief advisory to DanChurchAid. Paul Knox Clarke is principal of the Adapt Climate and Humanitarian Initiative.
Amid the growing debate about how the world should respond to climate-induced disasters and the loss and damage they cause, people in both the humanitarian and ... Read more ...
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