While environmental issues have been at the forefront of international concerns since the earliest days of the UN system, over the years, there has been growing recognition about the limits of the planet and the boundaries beyond which the global systems become unstable. After the creation of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, there has been significant progress in acknowledging the severity of the problem through the provision of scientific assessments for policy makers. This involves the creation of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change carried out under processes such as the Kyoto Protocol and Paris Agreement, and the consolidation of the methodology that governments require to report their national greenhouse gas inventories. The recent United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow (2021) have reached a deal on further steps to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions in terms of adaptation, mitigation and implementation. Notwithstanding the progress made by countries in the battle against climate change, there is still room for improvement to achieve the objective of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. The challenge, however, remain to reach climate neutrality in 2050. Under a "business as usual" framework, without reinforcing new national pledges and long-term strategies to tackle climate change, the world would warm up by far the aspirational goal for warming with the potential to exacerbate threats and new security challenges worldwide. This would mean an additional effort to support the ‛Glasgow Climate Pact’ in order to address the legitimate expectations of the heterogeneous Global South and the consequences of loss and damage from climate change.
This first lecture aims to revisit the fundamental connection between climate change and related megatrends. Including questions, such as to what extent are we closing the gap on climate action? What other steps should be considered to reduce impacts on human security and international security?

Schedule

Introductory Remarks:

• Prof. Dr. Anna-Katharina Hornidge, Director of the German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS) and Professor for Global Sustainable Development at the University of Bonn

 
Discussion:

• Prof. Dr. Jürgen Scheffran, Professor for Integrative Geography, University of Hamburg
• Dr. Zita Sebesvari, Deputy Director of United Nations University-Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS)
• Dr. M.L. Catherine Wong, Assistant Professor, University of Amsterdam
• Mr. Saliem Fakir, Executive Director, African Climate Foundation

 
Moderation:

• Dr. Rogelio Madrueño, Research Fellow at CASSIS

Q&A