Brazil is leaving no stone unturned to make Cop30 remarkable, but it must unite the Global North and South to forge new cooperation against their common enemy—climate change
In 2022, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres launched the ‘Early Warning for All’ (EW4ALL) initiative, aiming to provide universal protection against hydro-meteorological, climatological, and related environmental hazards by 2027 (WMO, 2022). This initiative has advanced the global agenda on anticipatory action by emphasizing the need for user-centric early warning systems, thereby enhancing human security.
Review by Shreya Dash(February 19, 2025): In Women and Climate Change: Examining Discourses from the Global North (The MIT Press, Cambridge, 2023), Nicole Detraz delves into the intricate relationship between women and climate change, positioning it as a critical yet often overlooked dimension of global environmental politics.
Last year’s Baku Climate Conference, the 29th Conference of Parties (COP) to the UN Framework Conventions on Climate Change (UNFCCC), concluded with mixed outcomes. While the contentious negotiations on climate finance took center stage at COP29, the plights of the most climate-vulnerable groups, especially persons with disabilities (PWDs), were largely overlooked. PWDs were mentioned only twice in the COP29 outcomes—Global Goal of Adaptation and Gender and Climate. Can the aspirations of the PWDs be protected during the climate breakdown by both the UNFCCC and member countries?
Do we have the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment? One of the most obvious questions, even the cycle of heat waves engulfing India this summer, has been missing during the largest democratic practices as 834 million Indians are voting in the 2024 General Elections. Ironically, the election manifestos of both national and regional political parties have failed to commit to ensuring the right to a healthy environment for all Indians if they are elected to power on June 4, 2024. At best, environmental well-being is a non-issue in this General Election.
Among the most climate-vulnerable groups or weaker sections of society, persons with disabilities (PwDs) have been facing extreme challenges due to climate change and disasters than others. [1] As October and November are usually anticipated as natural disaster months in Odisha, the government and its leading departments usually meet to stocktake the preparedness proactively. Early this month, the government concluded such a high-level preparedness meeting by infusing effective coordination among relevant agencies.
The Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) posted a draft of the city climate action plan on its website on September 12, 2022, for public view. The document consisting of 52 PowerPoint slides, was also up for a quick advisory for the public to submit their views, comments and appreciation within 20 days of posting. Was it a decision by the civic body? Did the elected mayor approve this short notice for the people of Chennai and beyond to read and understand the technical language or the concepts and comment as feedback through emails?
The Tamil Nadu government July 11, 2022, announced the institution of district climate change missions (DCCM) across 38 districts in the state.
There have been negligible discussions or reactions post the announcement among citizens, experts, non-profits and the media. It is thus important to consider DCCMs in the right perspective.
There are a few pertinent concerns that must be addressed without doubting the intent behind the setting up of these missions:
On 13th December, United Nations Security Council (UNSC) failed to adopt a resolution on climate change-induced security risks that exacerbate conflict across the geopolitical fault lines. India, as the only non-permanent member, voted against the draft resolution with Russia, a permanent member, vetoing it while China abstained. UNSC recorded 12 in favour of the resolution (backed by more than 112 members of the UN)