Upcoming Election Offers Chance to Restore US Leadership on Climate Change

Annie Spratt via UNSPLASH

The impending presidential election will bring the US to a “crossroads in climate change leadership that will have unprecedented national and international implications,” according to analysis by Dr. Marcus D. King, the John O Rankin Associate Professor of International Affairs at George Washington University and a Senior Fellow at the Center for Climate and Security. 

If Democrat Joe Biden ousts incumbent Donald Trump, American climate policy will dramatically shift, giving the country the chance to re-enter the Paris Climate Accord and reverse the current administration's roll-back of various environmental regulations. King argues that doing so will allow the US to restore its leadership position on an issue that has already started to impact American communities while also rebuilding credibility on the world stage. 

“...the events that will unfold on November 4, the day after the US presidential election, will have real-world stakes for our planet that could not be higher.” - Marcus DuBois King, PhD

During a campaign stop in Florida, Biden shared that in an Obama-era briefing, the Joint Chiefs of Staff - the most senior uniformed leaders at the Department of Defense - identified global warming as the greatest threat to national security in part due to the inevitable displacement of millions of people. 

King raises the important point that re-establishing American leadership on climate policy will likely give US leaders much needed leverage to encourage other major greenhouse gas emitters to reduce emissions under the Paris framework. This of course includes China and India, two countries that will face major population movement and displacement as a result of climate change, especially if substantial progress is not made. In India, for example, decreasing agricultural yields due to more frequent droughts and other severe weather is fueling rural-to-urban migration, something India is not prepared to handle. A shift in American climate leadership has the potential to ameliorate such trends by encouraging countries like India to take more dramatic steps to address the climate crisis and, we hope, optimize climate financing to support India and other countries more robustly in adaptation to strengthen its resiliency. 

As the impacts of climate change worsen, the upcoming US presidential election offers an urgent chance for policy re-alignment that would be mutually beneficial to populations at home and abroad. (The Pacific Council Magazine)

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Inaction on Climate Change Poses Particular Risk to Indigenous Groups in Canada

Joris Beugels via UNSPLASH

The Canadian government’s failure to take meaningful action on climate change is putting Indigenous groups at risk of food shortages and poor nutrition, especially those in remote locations. A report by Human Rights Watch finds that habitat loss and extreme weather are major drivers of depleted traditional food sources, and nutritious food flown into communities remains too expensive.

Despite the Trudeau government’s commitments to be a leader on climate and advance the recognition of Indigenous People’s rights, Northern Canada is warming at a rate well above the global average. Provincial and territorial governments were also criticized in the report, which recommended stronger emissions reduction strategies as well as greater technical and financial assistance to communities facing negative impacts of climate change. 

One of the key implications of HRW’s report, which studied three different remote First Nations communities in Ontario, Yukon, and British Columbia, is that climate change is compounding already poor outcomes among Indigenous Peoples. For example, increasingly scarce traditional food sources are being supplemented by lower quality, less nutritious food brought in from elsewhere, which only worsens health outcomes stemming from centuries of marginalization and oppression. These intertwined issues are particularly concerning in the context of a global pandemic, in which poor health outcomes undermine coping mechanisms traditionally used to manage extreme events. 

"The horrible irony is that we have contributed very little to climate change but are facing the biggest impacts" - Vern Cheechoo, director of lands and resources at Mushkegowuk Council, which represents seven Cree First Nations in northern Ontario

In addition, this report highlights yet another example of how governments, even those that outwardly support the issues at hand, often fail to adequately include their most vulnerable constituents in discussions and policymaking. This means that even communities who take matters into their own hands, such as implementing food sharing networks and regional monitoring systems, are left with inadequate support. 

Worryingly, the findings of this latest report mainly echo previous warnings. Over a year ago, Canada’s environment watchdog found the government’s lack of progress on emissions reduction “disturbing” just days after Environment Canada’s scientists issued a warning regarding Canada’s rapid rate of warming compared to the rest of the planet. (Reuters, CBC)

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Climate-Menaced Nations Say Survival Depends on Stronger 2020 Action

Patrick Hendry via UNSPLASH

Although 195 countries pledged to submit updated national climate action plans this year, the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent crises that have followed, have thrown those ambitious goals off track, even delaying the UN climate summit until November 2021.

But this past Wednesday at the UN, developing countries stressed the urgency for action, with Ethiopia’s President reminding countries that the effects of the pandemic should not serve as excuse to commit to actions to fight climate change because “delayed response is going to be expensive and irreversible."

Ethiopia is one of 48 countries in the “Climate Vulnerable Forum” (CVF) who are working to submit updated plans this year, despite contributing very little to global warming.

A number of countries, several of them developing countries, have already submitted their plans, including in this challenging year.

Patricia Espinosa, head of the UNFCCC repeated warnings that temperatures had already increased by over 1C from preindustrial times and the world is on pace to warm close to 3C, even if current pledges made are delivered on time this year.

Bangladesh’s Prime Minister, current chair of the CVF, pointed out positive emissions reductions and climate adaptations like its efforts to develop floating agriculture technology and crops resistant to extreme weather impacts.

Costa Rica now produces 100% renewable electricity for most of the year, while Ethiopia has planted more than 5 billion tree seedlings, on pace to grow 20 billion trees by 2022.

She added the CVF, who represent more than 1 billion people across Africa, Asia and Latin America, expect G20 countries that are responsible for more than three-quarters of global emissions, to determine “clear and definite” plans for cutting emissions. (Reuters)

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WFP Links Record Hunger Levels to Conflict, Climate Change, COVID-19

Photo by Amali Tower

At a UN Security Council meeting on conflict-induced food insecurity and the risk of famine in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), northeast Nigeria, Yemen and South Sudan, WFP Executive Director David Beasley said the the COVID-19 pandemic had compounded widespread food insecurity caused by years of conflict, which now combined with conflict and climate change, meant that “the 270 million people marching toward the brink of starvation need our help more than ever,” adding that 2021 was a “make or break year.”

He urged billionaires and businesses to step up to help save 30 million people at risk of starvation who need $.4.9 billion in aid for one year.

“Worldwide, there are over 2,000 billionaires with a net worth of $8 trillion. In my home country, the USA, there are 12 individuals alone worth $1 trillion.”

“In fact, reports state that three of them made billions upon billions during COVID. I am not opposed to people making money, but humanity is facing the greatest crisis any of us have seen in our lifetimes.”

“It’s time for those who have the most to step up, to help those who have the least in this extraordinary time in world history. To show you truly love your neighbor,” Beasley said. “The world needs you right now and it’s time to do the right thing.”

WFP fears more people may die from hunger, resulting from economic impacts of the pandemic via lockdowns and lost jobs than the virus itself, which has now infected more than 30 million people and killed nearly 1 million people.

WFP warns 20 million are severely food insecure in Yemen and a further 3 million may face starvation due to COVID-19. South Sudan, where a path to peace was hoped, is now facing renewed violence and floods in Jonglei State, and millions are at risk in Nigeria, Burkina Faso and more.

The UN Security Council was briefed on September 17, via videoconference, by the UN Under-Secretary for Humanitarian Affairs Mark Lowcock and the Director-General of FAO Qu Dongyu, in addition to Beasley, following a “Note by the Secretariat” by Lowcock, required by Security Council resolution 2417, warning of food insecurity, including the risk of famine, as a result of conflict, in these four countries.

The note highlighted that food security has been exacerbated by natural disasters, economic shocks and public health crises, all compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic. It also highlighted the severe flooding over the last two years in South Sudan that destroyed 11,000 tons of cereals and affected 14 million livestock.

In a briefing on Yemen the previous day, Lowcock signaled frustration over severe funding shortfalls in all four countries. (VOA, CNBC, What’s In Blue)

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Hit by COVID and Climate Change, Island States Battle Debt Crisis

Briona Baker via UNSPLASH

In a system of unequal power, the climate crisis has the capacity to exacerbate existing vulnerabilities.

This Monday, ahead of the UN General Assembly, the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) called on donor governments and development banks to help them avert a looming crisis through debt relief and climate finance for 44 small island and low-lying coastal developing states.

Lois Young, Belize’s Permanent Representative to the UN and chair of the AOSIS, said “SIDS (small island developing states) are sinking, and it’s not due to just the sea level rise and climate change. We are actually sinking in debt.”

She added these nations were already burdened by unsustainably high debt, prior to the COVID-19 crisis, which has now made things worse.

The alliance released a statement indicating many of its members’ economies, heavily reliant on tourism, were in a “freefall,” which could reverse development “by decades” and bring on a “protracted debt crisis.”

A Caribbean economist who advises governments and central banks in the region, said the reasons for the debt varied but do include the costly impacts of natural disasters increasingly hitting island states.

Many island states in the Caribbean, the Pacific and beyond do not qualify for the debt suspension programs catered to nations during the COVID-19 pandemic because they are considered middle-income countries.

They argue islands should get similar help since they face growing threats extreme weather brings, and face the additional burden of adaptation.

The climate envoy for the Marshall Islands, Tina Eonemto Stege, said global warming was already causing "loss and damage", with schools and hospitals having to close due to weather, rising seas and salt water intrusion.

"We refuse to be swept away by the tide," she said. "We know what we all need to do to prevent this crisis."

Stege called on governments, especially carbon-emitting nations, to deliver on Paris Agreement promises, including the pledge of $100 billion a year from 2020 for development, which she called a “minimum”, but yet to be delivered.

She called for “creative measures” for SIDS and a “comprehensive plan” that looks deeply at the vulnerabilities of small island developing states. (Reuters)

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A Note About debt Relief

Debt relief has been offered by the IMF during the COVID-19 crisis for certain countries.

Civil society waged a strong debt relief campaign in the early 2000’s for low income countries, many of whom were also battling national AIDS crises, notably due to the onerous terms and negative development impacts of the structural adjustment programs that accompanied many loans.

Now some of those same civil society organizations are calling for debt relief when climate disasters strike as well.

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More Than Five Million Acres, Burned, Thousands Displaced in West Coast Wildfires

Tegan Mierle via UNSPLASH

As many as 100 fires have spread over California, Oregon, Washington, now spreading into Idaho, 280,000 (IDMC) people are now displaced, at least 27 people are dead, air quality is abysmal, stretching far beyond the affected states to the eastern coast of the United States and even parts of Europe, and state leaders, citing climate change, are pleading for help.

All the while, the US President, after weeks of silence, once again, blamed forest management and denied climate change played any part in the present fires, saying, “I don’t think science knows.”

The governors of all threes states cited climate change impacts like drying forests with rising heat as contributing to more dangerous fires.

In an open letter response, Governor Jay Inslee of Washington, a fierce climate change advocate, addressed the President directly, “I hope you had an enlightening trip to the West Coast, where your refusal to address climate change — and your active steps to allow even more carbon pollution — will accelerate devastating wildfires like you are seeing today.”

Abrahm Lustgarten wondered if climate migration would be a factor in the United States? He interviewed a cross-section of more than 40 experts in economics, risk analysis, climate science and urban planning. Through his interviews and research, he contends Americans will find their lives negatively transformed by the environment, namely more heat, less water, and that one in 12 Americans in the South will move westward, causing shifts in population and also widening socio-economic divides.

In a sign of hope, more Americans now rank climate change as a top political priority or concern, as compared to 2016. In Iowa, Democratic caucus attendees ranked climate change second to health as an issue of concern, and Yale and George Mason University polls found that even Republicans’ views are shifting, with one in three now stating climate change should be declared a national emergency. (NY Times, NY Times Magazine, LA Times)

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