Answering the Amazon's Call: Can the Private Sector Mobilize for its Protection?
November 28, 2022 // By Harriet Alice Taberner
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's victory in Brazil's presidential election on October 30, 2022—and his appearance at the COP27 summit on November 16—have put protecting the Amazon basin back on the agenda. Speaking at a Wilson Center event on November 4, Iván Duque Marquez, Former President of the Republic of Colombia and a Distinguished Fellow at the Center, highlighted why it was vital to counter the threat to this magnificent biome: "The Amazon is the most biodiverse area in the planet. The Amazon River discharges in one hour the same amount of fresh water that is consumed in a year by 7000 million people; and, at the same time, the Amazon in terms of size is twice the size of the EU and is larger than the United States without Alaska."
COP27 in Egypt: Putting Human Rights on the Climate Agenda
November 29, 2022 // By Arona Baigal & Jocelyn Trainer
Cairo hoped that COP27 would focus on its stated agenda: climate change adaptation. Yet it was human rights concerns—such as jailed pro-democracy activist Alaa Abdel Fattah's hunger strike and rumors of restricted internet access to human rights platforms—that often stole headlines from climate policy or funding pledges. The persistence of human rights coverage demonstrated that Egypt and many other governments fail to recognize that strong governance, human rights protections, and climate change adaptation are mutually reinforcing and have overlapping policy actions.
Gender-Based Violence Continues to Impede Progress Towards Gender Equality
November 30, 2022 // By Alyssa Kumler
"COVID-19 and the backlash against women's sexual and reproductive health and rights are further diminishing the outlook for gender equality," states a recent report on the current progress toward gender equality across all 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) from the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) and the Department of Economic and Social Affairs. Yet the new report also zeroes in on another factor that is diminish progress on gender equality: violence. The authors observe that "violence against women remains high, global health, climate and humanitarian crises have further increased risks of violence, especially for the most vulnerable women and girls, and women feel more unsafe than they did before the pandemic."
COP27: Growing Roles for Agriculture and Food Security
November 30, 2022 // By Kelly Witkowski
Every year, more than two billion farmers around the world work the land day in and day out to earn a living and produce what is needed to feed and clothe an ever-growing global population that reached 8 billion in November 2022. Though they bear the brunt of climate change on the front lines, many of the world's farmers, ranchers and fishers are unaware of the international processes that affect their livelihoods.
The Forgotten Greenhouse Gas: Nitrous Oxide as an Issue for U.S. and Chinese Agriculture
December 1, 2022 // By Karen Mancl
During the November COP27 climate talks in Egypt, Presidents Xi and Biden agreed to restart bilateral climate talks that would build on the clean energy and the green and climate-resilient agriculture priorities highlighted in the U.S.-China Climate Crisis Statement and the U.S.-China Glasgow Declaration. While details remain to be ironed out, the renewed dialogue could open up a new area of collaboration around greenhouse gas emissions from food production, targeting an oft-overlooked long-lived climate pollutant, nitrous oxide (N2O).
Media and Climate Security: Mutual Miscomprehension?
December 1, 2022 // By Peter Schwartzstein
There's a scene near the climax of Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express when Hercule Poirot starts to plot out the possible murderers. There's Colonel Arbuthnot, who had opportunity and motive. There's Mr. McQueen, suspicious in his transparent attempts to misdirect the detective. There's even the haughty, toad-faced Princess Dragomiroff. Like practically everyone on the train, she had good reason to wish the evil Ratchett dead.
Women with Disabilities in Nigeria's Mining Industry: Discrimination and Opportunities
December 2, 2022 // By Nkasi Wodu
Women and girls with disabilities worldwide are subject to multiple forms of discrimination—a fact that the 2022 International Day for Persons with Disabilities brings into sharp focus. Yet while all people with disabilities (PWD) face exclusion and widespread stigma, women face the additional burden of exclusion from full participation in economic and cultural activities. Both forms of discrimination result from the collaboration of outdated laws and prevalent societal stigmatization.
What Can California Teach the Federal Government on Air Pollution? A Conversation With Richard Corey
December 2, 2022 // By Harriet Alice Taberner
In August 2022, California's Air Resources Board (CARB) announced a new regulation requiring all new vehicles sold in California to be zero emission by 2035, paving the way for an emission-free future. But what exactly is CARB—and why do its decisions carry such weight? To answer those questions and more, the Wilson Center's Environmental Change and Security Program partnered with Climate Break (with support from the Henry M. Jackson Foundation) for a joint podcast featuring CARB's former Executive Officer, Richard Corey. The conversation ranged from the agency's history, to what Corey has learned about how to implement effective policy, and his view of lessons for the federal government as it moves more aggressively on climate action.
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