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Category: Issues

About Jean-Pascal van Ypersele, Belgian Scientist and Vice-Chair of the IPCC

June 20, 2010 / / 0 Comments

Jean-Pascal van Ypersele is Professor of Climatology and Environmental sciences at the Université catholique de Louvain (Belgium), and Vice-Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
He made his doctoral research in climatology at NCAR (National Center for Atmospheric Research, Colorado, USA). He specialized in modelling climate and the climate effects of human activities, and has recently worked on the impacts of climate change.

He is Vice-Chair of the Working Group II of the IPCC, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore), and participates regularly to the United Nations conferences on climate issues, as scientific advisor. He chairs the Energy & Climate Working Group of the Belgian Federal Council for Sustainable Development.

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About John Zillman, Australian Meteorologist and Former President of the WMO

June 19, 2010 / / 0 Comments

Dr. John W. Zillman is an Australian meteorologist, and former President of the World Meteorological Organization (1995-2003) and the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (ATSE). Zillman also served on the Bureau of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) for 20 years. The IPCC itself originated from proposals at the Tenth Congress of the WMO in May 1987 in Geneva. Zillman notes of that meeting:

Several Directors of National Meteorological Services, especially from developing countries, called on WMO to establish a mechanism that would enable them to respond authoritatively to the increasingly frequent requirements to brief their Governments and national communities on the reality or otherwise of the threat of global warming as a result of increasing atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases. For the most part, Governments, at that stage, were reacting to sensationalised media coverage of predictions of future climate change promulgated by a number of individual scientists and climate modelling groups, as well as the then recently released report of the Brundtland Commission on “Our Common Future” (The World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987) which had dramatically lifted the profile of enhanced greenhouse warming as a threat to the future of the planet.

Since its formation, Zillman has contributed to the work of the IPCC and provided critical analysis of the IPCC assessment reports.

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Claire Spoors

June 19, 2010 / / 0 Comments

Want to learn more about this interviewee? About Claire Spoors

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Claire Spoors was an activist at COP-15 with the group Global Witness. Her interviews are primarily concerned with proper implementation of REDD programs through improvement of both accountability and governance. She is from the United Kingdom, a nation in Europe.

About Bruce Hewitson, South African Climatologist

June 6, 2010 / / 0 Comments

Bruce Hewitson is a self-described climatologist with a hatred of labels, and insists that his interests are eclectic. He has been a resident at the University of Cape Town in Rondebosch, South Africa, since 1992. He currently works with the Climate Systems Analysis Group (CSAG) research group in the ENGEO department. His research interests include climate modeling, climate change, and interesting analysis methodologies. Extended interests in appropriate technology for Africa and scientific capacity building.

Credit to an autobiographical snippet from the CSAG webpage.

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About Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, German Scientist

June 6, 2010 / / 0 Comments

Professor Schellnhuber’s official short biography reads:

“Born in 1950 in Ortenburg (Germany). Training in physics and mathematics with a scholarship for the exceptionally gifted at Regensburg University. Doctorate in Theoretical Physics in 1980. Various periods of research abroad, in particular at several institutions of the University of California system (USA). Habilitation (German qualification for professorial status) in 1985, then Heisenberg Fellowship. 1989 Full Professor at the Interdisciplinary Centre for Marine and Environmental Sciences (ICBM) of Oldenburg University, later Director of the ICBM.

“1991 Founding Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK); since 1993 Director of PIK and Professor for Theoretical Physics at Potsdam University. 2001-2005 additional engagement as Research Director of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research and Professor at the Environmental Sciences School of the University of East Anglia in Norwich (UK). From 2005 – 2009 Visiting Professor in Physics and Visiting Fellow of Christ Church College at Oxford University as well as Distinguished Science Advisor for the Tyndall Centre. Since 2010 External Professor at the Santa Fe Institute.

“2002 Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award; 2004 CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) awarded by Queen Elizabeth II; 2007 German Environment Prize; 2008 Order of Merit (“Roter Adlerorden”) of the State of Brandenburg; 2009 “Ambassador of Science” of the State of Brandenburg. Elected Member of the Max Planck Society, the German National Academy (Leopoldina), the US National Academy of Sciences, the Leibniz-Sozietät, the Geological Society of London, and the International Research Society Sigma Xi. Ambassador for the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP). Longstanding Member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) who was awarded the Peace Nobel Prize in 2007.

“Active service on numerous national and international panels for scientific strategies and policy advice on environment & development matters. Selected previous and current engagements: Chair of the German Advisory Council on Global Change (WBGU); Chair of the Global Change Advisory Group for the 6th Framework Programme of the European Commission, Member of the corresponding panel for FP7; Member of the Committee on Scientific Planning and Review of the International Council for Science (ICSU); Member of the Environment Steering Panel of the European Academies Science Advisory Council (EASAC); Member of the WEF Global Agenda Council on Climate Change; Member of the Grantham Research Institute Advisory Board.

“Chief Government Advisor on Climate & Related Issues for the German G8-EU twin presidency in 2007; Member of the High-Level Expert Group on Energy & Climate Change advising J.M. Barroso, President of the European Commission.

“Member of the Editorial Boards of the scientific journals “Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences”, “Climatic Change”, “Climate Policy”, “Gaia”, “Integrated Assessment”, “Systems Analysis, Modelling, Simulation” and “Europe’s World”.

“About 210 articles and more than 40 books in the fields of condensed matter physics, complex systems dynamics, climate change research, Earth System analysis, and sustainability science.”

Credit: Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research Website

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About Denis J. Sonwa, Cameroonian Scientist

June 6, 2010 / / 1 Comment

At COP-15, Denis J. Sonwa was a scientist for CIFOR (Center for International Forestry Research) from Cameroon, Africa. His research has primarily shown that “Forest resources play key roles in socio-economic and ecological contexts in Central Africa,” and has been aimed to help meet the needs of small farmers and the ecological requirements of central and southern Cameroon. He has also previously done work with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Humid Forest Ecoregional Center in Cameroon. In our interviews with him, he talked with us about the potential benefits of implementing of REDD programs, particularly the preservation of resources and reduction of poverty. Inherently he has stressed the need for consideration of indigenous peoples’ needs and the necessity for their involvement in these programs.

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About Claire Spoors, British Activist

June 6, 2010 / / 0 Comments

Claire Spoors was an activist at COP-15 with the group Global Witness, an organization which seeks to “expose the corrupt exploitation of natural resources and international trade systems, to drive campaigns that end impunity, resource-linked conflict, and human rights and environmental abuses.” At COP-15 she spoke with us about what it would take to successfully implement REDD programs; her group, Global Witness, has recently issued a report (June 3, 2010), which warns that corruption could undermine the success of these programs, and when she spoke with us in December, she made similar points. One of the key points made by the June 3rd report is that:

“REDD investment offers an unprecedented opportunity to reform forest management and prevent irreversible climate change. Up to 20% of global emissions come from deforestation and forest degradation, and REDD offers the potential both to reduce emissions and drive sustainable economic development in forest-rich economies.”

REDD programs’ inclusion in the Copenhagen Accord was, from the opinion of our research team, one of the principal advancements made this December. Ms. Spoors’ interview segments should, however, prove important to a dialogue on the recent funds pledged to REDD programs in the way of $4 billion; she preemptively warned that funding could do little to stave deforestation if governance and accountability were not improved.

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About Ian Burton, Canadian Scientist

June 5, 2010 / / 0 Comments

Dr. Ian Burton is Scientist Emeritus with the Adaptation and Impacts Research Group (AIRG) of the Meteorological Service of Canada and an Adjunct Professor with the Institute for Environmental Studies at the University of Toronto. He previously held positions as Director of AIRG and Senior Policy Advisor with Environment Canada. Prior to joining the federal government, Dr. Burton was Director of the International Federation of Institutes for Advanced Study (IFIAS), a non-governmental network of research centres. From 1979-1984 he was Professor and Director of the Institute for Environmental Studies at the University of Toronto. His research interests include risk assessment of environmental hazards, water resources and supply, and environment and development. Dr. Burton has served as senior advisor to the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) (Ottawa) and as a consultant to the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the U.S. Agency for International Development (US-AID), and numerous Canadian government agencies and engineering firms. He has worked for the Ford Foundation in India, Sudan, and Nigeria and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and the World Academy of Arts and Sciences.

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About Kemen Austin, American Climate Research Assistant

June 5, 2010 / / 0 Comments

Kemen Austin is a climate research assistant in the People and Ecosystems Program with the World Resource Institute. Her work primarily focuses on quantifying forest changes and associated carbon emissions in Indonesia and the Congo Basin. Kemen holds an MA and a BSc in environmental science from Brown University where her research included measuring terrestrial carbon in the northeast United States and the evaluation of carbon offset projects in Sulawesi, Indonesia. Prior to joining WRI she worked with The Nature Conservancy to quantify forest carbon and carbon changes due to small holder agricultural production in the Adelbert Mountains of Papua New Guinea.

Credit to World Resource Institute.

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About Vicente Barros, Argentinian Scientist

June 5, 2010 / / 0 Comments

Vicente Barros was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He graduated in Master of Science in Meteorology at the University of Michigan, USA and of PHD in Meteorological Sciences at the University of Buenos Aires in 1973. He held research positions at the UNAM (Mexico) and at the Argentine Council of Sciences (CONICET) where is Senior Researcher since 1994. He was Professor of Climatology and Director of the Master Program of Environmental Sciences at the School of Sciences of the University of Buenos Aires. He is currently Emeritus Professor of this University.
Vicente Barros has published over 60 peer-reviewed papers, most of them on climate variability and trends on South America and on impacts of climate variability and climate change in the regional hydrology. He is also author of a book on climate change and co-editor of other three on related matters. In 1996, he directed the First National Communication of Argentina to the UNFCCC and made substantial contributions to the second in 2006.

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Claire Spoors on Proper Implementation of REDD Programs

May 10, 2010 / / 0 Comments

global witness implementation
Claire Spoors of Global Witness talks about the implementation of REDD programs. She talks about the importance of making the protected areas account for additionality: protecting areas that are in danger of being deforested, not areas that would not be deforested anyways. She also talks about monitoring the carbon, governance system, and where the money goes. She is concerned that it help local communities become stewards of the forest.

Want to learn more about this interviewee? About Claire Spoors

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Claire Spoors was an activist at COP-15 with the group Global Witness. Her interviews are primarily concerned with proper implementation of REDD programs through improvement of both accountability and governance. She is from the United Kingdom, a nation in Europe.

Claire Spoors on Clean Development Mechanisms

May 10, 2010 / / 0 Comments

global witness CDM
Claire Spoors of Global Witness talks about the possibility of REDD becoming a CDM and the importance of looking at where the money comes from. She shows concern that a CDM would be implemented in which developed countries pay money for the REDD program in a developing country without cutting their own emissions.

Want to learn more about this interviewee? About Claire Spoors

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Claire Spoors was an activist at COP-15 with the group Global Witness. Her interviews are primarily concerned with proper implementation of REDD programs through improvement of both accountability and governance. She is from the United Kingdom, a nation in Europe.

Claire Spoors on Common but Differentiated Responsibilities

May 10, 2010 / / 0 Comments

global witness CBDR

Claire Spoors of Global Witness talks about the concept of “common but differentiated responsibilities” in the context of REDD and climate change in general. She points out that developed countries create the demand and consume many of the products that come from logging, which have cause such widespread deforestation in developing countries. It is because of this that developed countries should help developing countries to cope with this problem and assist in establishing good REDD programs.

Want to learn more about this interviewee? About Claire Spoors

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Claire Spoors was an activist at COP-15 with the group Global Witness. Her interviews are primarily concerned with proper implementation of REDD programs through improvement of both accountability and governance. She is from the United Kingdom, a nation in Europe.

Denis J. Sonwa on Developing Countries

May 6, 2010 / / 0 Comments

Denis J. Sonwa – Developing Countries
Mr. Denis J. Sonwa, a scientist for CIFOR (Center for International Forestry Research) in Cameroon talks about the adaptation needs of people in Central Africa and how by improving their livelihood, we can count on the people to take care of the carbon stock, or forests, in the area.

Want to learn more about this interviewee? About Denis J. Sonwa

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Denis J. Sonwa was a scientist at COP-15 with CIFOR. He is from Cameroon, a nation in Africa.

Denis J. Sonwa on Common but Differentiated Responsibilities

May 6, 2010 / / 0 Comments

CBDR

Mr. Denis J. Sonwa, a scientist for CIFOR (Center for International Forestry Research) in Cameroon talks about the difficulties in implementing mitigation strategies in Central Africa, as well as the possibility of REDD programs in helping to improve the quality of life for local people.

Want to learn more about this interviewee? About Denis J. Sonwa

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Denis J. Sonwa was a scientist at COP-15 with CIFOR. He is from Cameroon, a nation in Africa.

Denis J. Sonwa on Implementation of REDD Programs

May 6, 2010 / / 0 Comments

Denis J. Sonwa of Cameroon

Mr. Denis J. Sonwa, a scientist for CIFOR (Center for International Forestry Research) in Cameroon talks about the possibilities for poverty alleviation and mitigation under REDD.

Want to learn more about this interviewee? About Denis J. Sonwa

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Denis J. Sonwa was a scientist at COP-15 with CIFOR. He is from Cameroon, a nation in Africa.

Hans Joachim Schellnhuber on Intergenerational Equity

April 28, 2010 / / 0 Comments

Schellnuhuber_youth

Professor Schellnhuber discusses intergenerational equity and the role of youth.

Asked the question: what advice do you have for younger generations?

Want to learn more about this interviewee? About Hans Joachim Schellnhuber

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At COP-15, Hans Joachim Schellnhuber was a member of the High-Level Expert Group on Energy & Climate Change advising J.M. Barroso, President of the European Commission. Professor Schellnhuber is from Germany, a nation in Europe.

Hans Joachim Schellnhuber on the United States

April 28, 2010 / / 0 Comments

Schellnuhuber_US

John Schellnuhuber discusses the ethical imperative the United States has to the rest of the world, as well as the practical benefits the United States would gain through cooperation. He also discusses popular support, and notes that even in similar countries like Brazil and China, where dealing with climate change would threaten development, popular support for facing these issues is growing, while it continues to dwindle in the United States.

Want to learn more about this interviewee? About Hans Joachim Schellnhuber

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At COP-15, Hans Joachim Schellnhuber was a member of the High-Level Expert Group on Energy & Climate Change advising J.M. Barroso, President of the European Commission. Professor Schellnhuber is from Germany, a nation in Europe.

Bruce Hewitson on What Success Means at the COP

April 28, 2010 / / 0 Comments

Hewitson_outcome

Question asked: What would be a successful outcome for COP-15?

Hewitson’s response: Hewitson argues that success means something different to every nation. He does, however, venture at a few factors that would aid in an outcomes success: the agreement could not be imposed by the developed world onto the developing nations; each country would have to make significant sacrifices; and the tenants would need to be enforceable (legally binding).

Want to learn more about this interviewee? About Bruce Hewitson

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At COP-15, Bruce Hewitson was a South African climatologist working with the Climate Systems Analysis Group (CSAG).

Bruce Hewitson on Research and Policy as Necessarily Separate at COP-15

April 28, 2010 / / 0 Comments

Hewitson_research policy at COP

Question asked: How do researchers and policy-makers interact at the COP?

Hewitson’s answer: Hewitson states that scientists were necessarily divorced from the political presence by the time of Copenhagen; he felt the political process was already complicated and the necessary science informing the negotiation had already been done. Copenhagen, he said, was not about the interaction of scientists and politicians, but instead was, for scientists, about working with other scientists and organizations that focused on issues of adaptation and response work.

Want to learn more about this interviewee? About Bruce Hewitson

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At COP-15, Bruce Hewitson was a South African climatologist working with the Climate Systems Analysis Group (CSAG).

Bruce Hewitson on Regional Climate Modeling in Africa

April 28, 2010 / / 0 Comments

Hewitson_research

Question asked: What area of research do you work in and how does it relate to the COP?

Hewitson’s answer: Hewitson focused mainly on regional climate projections in Africa. He did not feel that it directly tied into the political process, but that his presence added visibility of Africa’s issues to other scientists in attendance at the COP.

Want to learn more about this interviewee? About Bruce Hewitson

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At COP-15, Bruce Hewitson was a South African climatologist working with the Climate Systems Analysis Group (CSAG).

Bruce Hewitson on Ethics vs. National Interest

April 28, 2010 / / 0 Comments

Hewitson_ethical vs practical

Question asked: do ethical interests gain ground in the negotiations or are practical interests more directly addressed?

Hewitson’s answer: Hewitson comments that countries almost exclusively favor their national interests to altruism. He notes that certain groups, such as the European Union, have made altruistic sacrifices (by my colleague, Brett Shollenberger’s, best definition: actions that are not economically, socially, or politically beneficial to a nation in the short term, with the exclusion of intergovernmental social and political interaction). Hewitson argues, however, that altruism is the only way to achieve intergenerational equity. He feels that the United States’ target of 17% reductions relative to 2005 levels by 2020 is inequitable (to put it nicely).

Want to learn more about this interviewee? About Bruce Hewitson

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At COP-15, Bruce Hewitson was a South African climatologist working with the Climate Systems Analysis Group (CSAG).

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