Marine and coastal resources and conflict in a high-CO2 world

This chapter explores the increased risks of conflict in Africa due to the marine impacts of climate change and ocean acidification, including coastal inundation, coral bleaching and food web collapse. Combined, these phenomena threaten coral reefs, fish stocks and the well-being of coastal communities and economies. Coastal and marine resources including fish, shellfish, wood and seaweed contribute significantly to meeting human security needs of millions of people through the provision of important sources of food, livelihoods and coastal protection. This Chapter suggests that climate change and ocean acidification threaten to reduce the abundance and change the distribution of vital marine and coastal resources and thereby undermine human security, increasing the likelihood of conflicts. Boosting the resilience of marine ecosystems by reducing or removing other pressures will be paramount in the ability of coastal communities and economies to adapt to climate change and ocean acidification, and thereby reduce the possibility of conflict erupting. Management of coastal and marine resources should be understood as not only sound sustainable development practice, but also as an effective means of preparing and adapting African communities for climate change and addressing a potential driver of conflict

Engaging the corporate sector in climate-sensitive peacebuilding in Africa

Corporations have moral responsibilities, legal obligations and opportunities to assist in the prevention and resolution of armed conflicts occurring in societies where they operate. However, this area of research is under-theorised. This is certainly the case for regions vulnerable to the harsh impacts of global climate change as well as in many so-called 'resource conflicts', common in Africa, in which corporations' exploitation of natural resources often exacerbate and perpetuate vulnerabilities, animosities and violence. This Chapter examines the linkages between climate change, conflict and corporations in the African context, and the notion of 'climate-sensitive peacebuilding' (or 'climate-sensitive conflict transformation') is introduced. The concept here is defined as an integrated approach to mitigating and adapting to the effects of climate change, and helping prevent and resolve armed conflicts in vulnerable regions. A model for corporate engagement - at each stage and in every aspect of climate-sensitive conflict transformation - is presented. Despite the theoretical potential, the vision of widespread corporate contributions to climate-sensitive peacebuilding remains unrealised, however - due in part to deficient regulation of corporate conduct in conflict-affected areas that fails to encourage or compel such behaviour. The Chapter concludes with a critique of existing international legal and regulatory mechanisms, and suggests some proposals for concerned governments and civil society actors to help unlock the potential for corporate climate-sensitive peacebuilding

Carbon-dioxide Removal and Biodiversity: A Threat Identification Framework

Carbon‐dioxide removal (CDR) technologies offer the potential to contribute to the restoration and protection of natural ecosystems, the achievement of development goals and the safeguarding of human wellbeing. However, these technologies can also present risks to biodiversity, particularly those techniques that depend on large‐scale manipulation of ecosystems and earth‐system processes. Debates around the development of these technologies have historically focused on the dichotomy between the need to expand the knowledge base on all options related to emerging technologies, and the concern that research represents a slippery slope to deployment. This paper introduces a new approach to governing CDR research – one based on threat identification. We present a framework for assessing the impacts (positive or negative) on biodiversity and ecosystems from a spectrum of CDR interventions, so as to prioritize research to those CDR options that present minimal threats to biodiversity. Application of the framework indicates that while many CDR interventions present threats to biodiversity, certain options, such as regenerative CDR, may have positive impacts

Opening the Black Box of Transparency: An Analytical Framework for Exploring Causal Pathways from Reporting and Review to State Behavior Change

AbstractTransparency arrangements, in the form of regular reporting by nations and a review of the reported information, have become a backbone of international governance. They are often expected to bring about increased ambition and improved implementation to fulfill the aims of the multilateral agreement in which they are embedded. However, little is still known about how these arrangements result in such effects. In this article, we review compliance theories and use these to explain the various roles of transparency arrangements in changing state behavior. We distinguish between different compliance schools and show how they attribute subtly different functions to transparency. We examine these variations through the development of a framework made up of seven idealized causal pathways that offer plausible explanations for the mechanisms that allow transparency arrangements to induce state behavior change. We also illustrate how these pathways work in practice by providing several examples from existing multilateral transparency arrangements. In doing so, we seek to form a bridge between international regime theory, critical transparency studies, and empirical studies on the functioning of transparency arrangements in international governance.</jats:p

Fuel Saving in Coastal Areas: A Case Study of the Oslo Fjord

Fossil fuels such as marine diesel oil (MDO) account for a significant part of the shipping industry’s total operating costs and have a certain negative impact on the environment. Maritime transport emits around 1000 million tonnes of CO2 annually and is responsible for about 2.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions. To focus on fuel saving is therefore important for both economic and environmental reasons. It is indicative that ship owners are now using weather routeing to save fuel and reduce emissions, particularly on long passages. In coastal areas, navigation is limited by traffic rules. This study examines whether fuel consumption can be reduced with current routeing in confined coastal areas, in this case a relatively short voyage in the Oslo Fjord, Norway. An advanced bridge simulator is used, where different current fields from a high-resolution ocean model are implemented. The results reveal that if the voyage is conducted on a typical field with following currents, instead of a typical counter current field, the travel time will be reduced by 12% for a typical vessel with speed through water set to 16.7 knots. On following currents, the vessel speed can be reduced to 15.7 knots and the voyage is completed within the same time as if no currents are present. This implies approximately a 15% reduction in fuel consumption for the vessel tested. The results also reveal that fuel consumption can be reduced if the vessel is operated within most favourable or least unfavourable currents inside the main traffic lanes

Breve análise da estratégia da União Europeia (UE) para a eficiência energética do ambiente construído

O aquecimento global é um dos mais graves problemas com que se depara o Planeta Terra. Este problema se origina do aumento da concentração de gases de efeito estufa (CO2) na atmosfera. Esses gases provêm, na sua maioria, da queima de combustíveis fósseis para produção de energia. Na Europa as emissões relacionadas com a produção de energia representam a maior parte das emissões totais. Portanto, a fim de lidar com o problema do aquecimento global, os países da União Européia (UE) decidiram que em 2020 seu nível de emissões conjunto será 20% inferior ao de 1990 e ainda que em 2050 essa redução deverá situar-se entre 80% e 95% abaixo do nível de emissões de 1990. Além disso, a UE se comprometeu a aumentar em 20% o consumo de energia oriunda de fontes renováveis. O aumento da eficiência energética em edifícios novos e existentes é fundamental para a transformação do sistema energético da UE. O presente artigo analisa sucintamente a estratégia da UE para a eficiência energética no ambiente construído

Taking action against ocean acidification: A review of management and policy options

Ocean acidification has emerged over the last two decades as one of the largest threats to marine organisms and ecosystems. However, most research efforts on ocean acidification have so far neglected management and related policy issues to focus instead on understanding its ecological and biogeochemical implications. This shortfall is addressed here with a systematic, international and critical review of management and policy options. In particular, we investigate the assumption that fighting acidification is mainly, but not only, about reducing CO2 emissions, and explore the leeway that this emerging problem may open in old environmental issues. We review nine types of management responses, initially grouped under four categories: preventing ocean acidification; strengthening ecosystem resilience; adapting human activities; and repairing damages. Connecting and comparing options leads to classifying them, in a qualitative way, according to their potential and feasibility. While reducing CO2 emissions is confirmed as the key action that must be taken against acidification, some of the other options appear to have the potential to buy time, e.g. by relieving the pressure of other stressors, and help marine life face unavoidable acidification. Although the existing legal basis to take action shows few gaps, policy challenges are significant: tackling them will mean succeeding in various areas of environmental management where we failed to a large extent so far