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CCIS Programme

Recommended Reading

1. Designing the Post-Kyoto Climate Regime: Lessons from the Harvard Project on International Climate Agreements

An Interim Progress Report for the 14th Conference of the Parties, Framework Convention on Climate Change, Poznan, Poland, December 2008

"A way forward is needed for the post-2012 period to address the threat of global climate change. The Harvard Project on International Climate Agreements is an international, multi-year, multi-disciplinary effort to help identify the key design elements of a scientifically sound, economically rational, and politically pragmatic post-2012 international policy architecture. Leading thinkers from academia, private industry, government, and non-governmental organizations around the world have contributed and will continue to contribute to this effort.. This interim report identifies some of the key principles, promising policy architectures, and guidelines for essential design elements that have begun to emerge, building upon lessons learned from the 28 research initiatives. "

Author(s): Joseph Aldy,Resources for the Future and Robert N. Stavins, Harvard University

Date / Journal Vol No.: 24 November 2008

Pages: 36

2. CLIMATE CHANGE AND INTERNATIONAL SECURITY - Paper from the High Representative and the European Commission to the European Council

This report focuses on the impact of climate change on international security and considers the impact of these international security consequences for Europe's own security, and how the EU should respond.

Author(s): the EU High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy and the European Commission

Date / Journal Vol No.: 14 March 2008

Pages: 11

3. Poznan Side Event Report: New Stoves for Rural Households to Capture Carbon, Reduce Deforestation and Improve Soil Fertility

This event, Presented by the Secretariat of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification, advanced the concept of mobilizing rural households to help reduce emissions from inefficient biomass burning stoves and halt soil degradation by using biochar, a by-product of high-efficiency stoves.

Author(s): IISD

Date / Journal Vol No.: Earth Negotiations Bulletin 10 December 2008

Pages: 1

4. Avoiding Tipping Points for Abrupt Climate Changes with Fast-Track Climate Mitigation Strategies

"The paleoclimate records show that past climate changes have included both steady, linear changes as well as abrupt, non-linear changes, where small increases in global warming produced large and irreversible impacts once tipping points were passed. Climate scientists now warn that anthropogenic emissions are pushing the planet’s climate system toward such tipping points sooner than previously expected, and that impacts could be catastrophic. "

Author(s): Durwood Zaelke, President of IGSD and Director of INECE; Peter Grabiel and Elise Stull, Law Fellows, IGSD

Date / Journal Vol No.: MEA Bulletin, Thursday, 6 November 2008

Pages: 7

5. Climate Change Security Implications (presentation)

"the combination of developed and developing nations can adopt and adapt to the changes that are being brought in by the changing climate. The governments will have to follow selfless rather than selfish policies to place themselves in wider interest of international solutions for battling the spectre of devastation brought about by climate change. "

Author(s): Air Marshal AK Singh, India

Date / Journal Vol No.: 2008

Pages: 16

6. An Introduction to Black Carbon

"Black carbon or BC is formed through the incomplete combustion of fossil fuels, biofuel, and biomass, and is emitted in both anthropogenic and naturally occurring soot. Black carbon warms the planet by absorbing heat in the atmosphere and by reducing albedo, the ability to reflect sunlight, when deposited on snow and ice. Black carbon stays in the atmosphere for only several days to weeks, whereas CO2 has an atmospheric lifetime of more than 100 years. "

Source: Wikipedia

7. An Introduction to Biochar

"Biochar is a charcoal produced from biomass. Charcoal is a stable solid and rich in carbon content, and thus, it could be used to locked carbon in the soil. Biochar is of increasing interest because of concerns about global warming being caused by emissions of CO2 and other GHGs (greenhouse gases). Biochar may be an immediate solution to reducing the global impact of farming (and in reducing the impact from all agricultural waste). The burning and natural decomposition of trees and agricultural matter contributes a large amount of CO2 released to the atmosphere. Biochar can store this carbon in the ground, at the same time that its presence in the earth increases soil productivity, which would allow farmers to stop encroaching on rainforests as a source of more fertile farmland. "

Source: Wikipedia

Links for Further Reading

COP 14 Website
COP 14 Webcast
COP Decisions and Resolutions
Coverage of the COP by the Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB)

See also the IES Recommended Reading list on Greening Foreign and Security Policy containing over 50 documents especially related to the topic of Climate Change and International Security.