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The Arc | Climate Justice in the Arctic: Part 1
›In today’s episode of The Arc, ECSP’s Claire Doyle and Angus Soderberg interview Gunn-Britt Retter, Head of the Arctic and Environmental Unit at the Saami Council, in part one of three episodes focused on climate justice in the Arctic. We dive into Gunn-Britt’s background and her work on the Saami Council. Gunn-Britt outlines how climate change is impacting the livelihoods and daily lives of the Saami people and how even our responses to climate change can threaten Indigenous rights and land use. She also makes the case for a fundamental reexamination of our relationship with nature to make progress on addressing climate change. Select quotes from the interview are featured below.
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Accelerating the Transition: Can the U.S. Support India’s Path to Net Zero?
›Energy is a bridge that has historically fostered the U.S.-India relationship. The reasons are many. Both economies focus on energy security, climate action, economic cooperation, and technological innovation.
Recent innovations in India offer new challenges and opportunities. The country has rapidly deployed renewable energy (RE) technologies to meet its stated Net Zero targets. This effort has exceeded its promises; 40% of India’s electricity now comes from renewable sources. And the nation’s other ambitious target— installing 450 GW—would triple this existing capacity in less than ten years.
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ECSP Weekly Watch | July 29 – August 2
›A window into what we are reading at the Wilson Center’s Environmental Change and Security Program
How One Loss and Damage Fund Bore Fruit (The Guardian)
The Loss and Damage Fund established during the UN COP27 was a monumental breakthrough in the climate finance realm and aimed to provide financial assistance to vulnerable nations impacted by climate change. Such damage can be catastrophic. When Cyclone Freddy hit Malawi in 2023, it killed 1,200 people and displaced 659,000 more. The estimated economic loss exceeded $1 billion, and it landed especially hard on farmers—including the women who make up more than 70% of Malawi’s agricultural workforce.
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Search for a Just Transition in China’s Shift Away from Coal
›In 2023, I embarked on a journey with a group of energy policy researchers from Beijing to visit several Chinese coal cities. We wanted to understand the implementation of China’s decarbonization policies in the heartland of coal mining. As we drove into a coal-rich town in western Shanxi Province, the narrow roads were filled with loud rumbling coal trucks. Amid soot-streaked buildings, newer homes housed families who were relocated from areas affected by coal mining subsidence. The town’s existence hinged on coal. Yet, this dependency has an expiration date — the local mines will be depleted in 10 to 15 years.
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Going Beyond “Conflict-free”: Transition Minerals Governance in DRC and Rwanda
›Resource-rich nations such as the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Rwanda—which produce minerals ranging from coltan, cobalt, gold, tungsten, and tantalum, to tin (3TG)—hold tremendous importance in the global supply chains. The DRC produces 70% of global cobalt production, while its neighbor, Rwanda, generates around 30% of Tantalum.
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Earlier Assessments of Conflict Damage Can Spur Timely Relief
›The widespread destruction of infrastructure has been a calamitous and common feature across many of the recent wars in the Middle East and North Africa and Ukraine—and urban landscapes such as Aleppo, Raqqa, Kharkiv, Mariupol, and Gaza City have borne the brunt of attacks. Without clean drinking water, electricity, treated sewage, food supplies, and medical services, cities become uninhabitable, disrupting the infrastructure upon which populations depend for basic services, and often leading to their forcible displacement. Civilians are also at risk of malnutrition, starvation, and preventable diseases that spread from dirty water and raw sewage in urban centers.
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ECSP Weekly Watch | July 15 – 19
›A window into what we are reading at the Wilson Center’s Environmental Change and Security Program
Shedding Light on Imperial Oil’s Dark Waters (Mongabay)
Canada has the fourth-largest tar sands (oil deposits) in the world. Separating the bitumen used in industries and construction creates large volumes of toxic wastewater, which is stored in tailings ponds that now cover a staggering 270 square kilometers. Unresolved infrastructure mishaps at one such site in Alberta operated by Imperial Oil means that contaminants have polluted nearby waters so significantly that it has affected public health and the livelihoods of indigenous communities in downstream areas.
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Weaving Baskets of Change: Women Organizing in Kenya’s Fisheries and Aquaculture
›Mildred is a fish trader in Kenya. I met her a few years ago, when I was conducting research. (“Mildred” is not her real name; I promised all my participants anonymity as I worked.) She mentors, trains, and educates young women on how to dry, gut, fry fish, and run successful fish businesses.
Showing posts from category environmental justice.