1 - 17 of 17
Number of results to display per page
Search Results
2. Food, Fossil Fuels and Filthy Finance
- Author:
- Hannah Stoddart, Lydia Prieg, and Joseph Zacune
- Publication Date:
- 10-2014
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Oxfam Publishing
- Abstract:
- The world produces enough food to feed everyone. But every day more than 800 million people go to bed hungry. This is a scandal and climate change is set to make things even worse.
- Topic:
- Agriculture, Climate Change, Energy Policy, Environment, and Industrial Policy
- Political Geography:
- Europe
3. The Hunger Grains: The fight is on. Time to scrap EU biofuel mandates.
- Publication Date:
- 09-2012
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Oxfam Publishing
- Abstract:
- In 2009, EU governments committed to sourcing 10 per cent of transport energy from renewable sources by 2020: they are set to meet this target almost exclusively using biofuels made from food crops. By putting a mandate in place, European governments are propping up powerful industry and farming lobbies without spending a penny from national budgets: as direct subsidies and tax exemptions are phased out, the cost is increasingly borne by the consumer. For example, by 2020 biofuel mandates are likely to cost UK consumers between £1bn and £2bn more each year—that's about £35 from every adult—and to cost German consumers between €1.37bn and €2.15bn more—up to €30 per adult. EU governments have replaced subsidies paid out of the public purse with a subsidy that consumers, often without their knowledge, pay directly to big business.
- Topic:
- Security, Agriculture, Development, Energy Policy, and Food
- Political Geography:
- United Kingdom, Europe, and Germany
4. Gender and the Green Climate Fund
- Publication Date:
- 07-2011
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Oxfam Publishing
- Abstract:
- Women are on the front line of coping with and adapting to the effects of climate change. Both climate change impacts and mitigation and adaptation responses affect women and men differently. Yet current climate finance institutions almost entirely ignore gender issues. The Green Climate Fund cannot afford to make the same mistake. Many agree the new fund must be innovative, building on the lessons of climate finance and of other funds to date. To be an effective and legitimate tool in the fight against climate change, the Green Climate Fund must have the concerns of women at its heart.
- Topic:
- Climate Change, Energy Policy, and Gender Issues
5. Out of the Bunker: Time for a fair deal on shipping emissions
- Author:
- Tim Gore and Mark Lutes
- Publication Date:
- 09-2011
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Oxfam Publishing
- Abstract:
- International shipping is a major – and rapidly growing – source of greenhouse gas emissions. Agreement to apply a carbon price to shipping can both reduce emissions and raise funds for climate change adaptation and mitigation in developing countries. This paper shows that doing so is possible while ensuring developing countries face no net costs. COP17 in Durban, South Africa at the end of 2011 provides an opportunity to agree the key principles of such a deal.
- Topic:
- Climate Change and Energy Policy
- Political Geography:
- Africa
6. Sectoral Solutions or Carbon Cartels: Will global industry proposals result in a fair and safe climate deal?
- Publication Date:
- 05-2009
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Oxfam Publishing
- Abstract:
- Climate change is already affecting the lives of people in the developing world. Increased floods and droughts, rising sea levels, changing patterns of rainfall and falling crop yields are making it harder and harder for poor people to escape poverty. Oxfam is projecting that, on current trends, the average number of people affected by climate-related disasters each year may have risen by over 50 percent by 2015 – to 375 million people – potentially overwhelming the humanitarian system.
- Topic:
- Climate Change, Energy Policy, Environment, and Industrial Policy
7. Global Sectoral Industry Approaches to Climate Change: Helping or harming?
- Author:
- Jonas Meckling
- Publication Date:
- 05-2009
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Oxfam Publishing
- Abstract:
- The World Business Summit on Climate Change provides an example of the leadership role that the global business community has assumed in paving the road to a post-2012 climate regime. Among various proposals from the business lobby for the creation of a policy for concerted action on climate change, the concept of co-operative sectoral approaches has risen to the top of the agenda. The Bali Action Plan of December 2007 put sectoral approaches officially on the negotiating table, with its proposal for 'cooperative sectoral approaches and sector-specific actions' as a means to 'enhance implementation of' articles in the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC 2007: Art. 1 (b) (iv)).
- Topic:
- Climate Change, Energy Policy, Environment, and Industrial Policy
8. Hang Together or Separately? How global co-operation is key to a fair and adequate climate deal at Copenhagen
- Author:
- Antonio Hill, Julie-Anne Richards, and Richard King
- Publication Date:
- 06-2009
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Oxfam Publishing
- Abstract:
- A fair and adequate global climate regime requires a massive effort across the board to reduce the risks to lives and livelihoods that poor people face first and most. Rich countries must reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions first and fastest, with ambitious targets at home. High levels of rich-country pollution over the last century mean that even ambitious emissions-reductions targets will not be enough to avoid catastrophic climate change. Deep emissions reductions in rich countries are still critical, but climate security will now be won or lost as a result of co-operative efforts in which rich countries finance large-scale reductions in emissions in developing countries. Establishing a Global Mitigation and Finance Mechanism could achieve these reductions while respecting principles of equity, and delivering tangible development gains for poor people. This must be a centre piece of the Copenhagen deal in December 2009. But much greater political attention and support is needed for this vital part of the deal to be developed in time.
- Topic:
- Climate Change, Energy Policy, Environment, and International Cooperation
9. What Happened to the Seasons? Changing seasonality may be one of the major impacts of climate change
- Author:
- Steve Jennings and John Magrath
- Publication Date:
- 10-2009
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Oxfam Publishing
- Abstract:
- The timing of rain, and intra-seasonal rainfall patterns are critical to smallholder farmers in developing countries. Seasonality influences farmers' decisions about when to cultivate and sow and harvest. It ultimately contributes to the success or failure of their crops. Worryingly, therefore, farmers are reporting that both the timing of rainy seasons and the pattern of rains within seasons are changing. These perceptions of change are striking in that they are geographically widespread and because the changes are described in remarkably consistent terms. In this paper, we relate the perceptions of farmers from several regions(East Asia, South Asia, Southern and East Africa, and Latin America) of how seasons are changing, and in some cases, how once distinct seasons appear to be disappearing altogether, and the impacts that these changes are having. We then go on to ask two critical questions. Firstly, do meteorological observations support farmers' perceptions of changing seasonality? Secondly, to what extent are these changes consistent with predictions from climate models? We conclude that changing seasonality may be one of the major impacts of climate change faced by smallholder farmers in developing countries over the next few decades. Indeed, this may already be the case. Yet it is relatively unexplored in the literature. We also suggest some of the key adaptation responses that might help farmers cope with these changes.
- Topic:
- Agriculture, Climate Change, Development, and Energy Policy
- Political Geography:
- Africa, East Asia, and Latin America
10. Even the Himalayas Have Stopped Smiling: Climate Change, Poverty and Adaptation in Nepal
- Publication Date:
- 08-2009
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Oxfam Publishing
- Abstract:
- In February and March 2009, Oxfam conducted interviews in rural communities in three ecological zones (Terai, Hills and Mountains) and in the Mid and Far Western Development Regions to capture a snapshot of how climate change is already affecting people living in poverty. The results were remarkably consistent with regional climate change projections, and deeply worrying.
- Topic:
- Climate Change, Energy Policy, and Poverty
11. Tackling climate change, reducing poverty
- Publication Date:
- 01-2009
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Oxfam Publishing
- Abstract:
- Despite being a wealthy country, in the UK poverty is an ongoing problem. According to Oxfam GB today 1 in 5 people in the UK don't have enough to live on. There were 2.9 million children and 2.5 million pensioners living in poverty in the UK in 2006/2007. Children go to school hungry, or to bed without enough food. Poor communities are in poorer health and have shorter life expectancy.
- Topic:
- Climate Change, Energy Policy, Environment, Globalization, and Poverty
- Political Geography:
- United Kingdom and Europe
12. Another Inconvenient Truth: How biofuel policies are deepening poverty and accelerating climate change
- Publication Date:
- 06-2008
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Oxfam Publishing
- Abstract:
- The current biofuel policies of rich countries are neither a solution to the climate crisis nor the oil crisis, and instead are contributing to a third: the food crisis. In poor countries, biofuels may offer some genuine development opportunities, but the potential economic, social, and environmental costs are severe, and decision makers should proceed with caution.
- Topic:
- Agriculture, Climate Change, Energy Policy, and Oil
13. The forecast for tomorrow: the UK's climate for change
- Publication Date:
- 09-2008
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Oxfam Publishing
- Abstract:
- The forecast for tomorrow is a snapshot of a country deeply torn by good and bad climate policies and actions among business, public and government - with each group inextricably bound by the actions of the others. Whether the UK succeeds in achieving its emissions reduction targets and in becoming a leader in international climate negotiations depends on whether good or bad policies prevail. At stake are the lives and livelihoods of millions of poor people around the world, who will suffer first and worst from climate change despite being the least responsible for it.
- Topic:
- Climate Change, Energy Policy, Environment, Globalization, and International Affairs
- Political Geography:
- United Kingdom
14. Drought Management Considerations for Climate Change Adaptation
- Publication Date:
- 10-2008
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Oxfam Publishing
- Abstract:
- Cambodia is one of the most disaster-prone countries in East Asia, with its vulnerability to annual floods and droughts. One of the reasons why it is vulnerable to natural disasters is that the livelihoods of the majority of people depend directly upon natural resources, with a large proportion of its population occupied in agriculture and related sectors, including animal husbandry. Extreme poverty, which limits access to food, water, and other basic amenities, increases vulnerability. These characteristics heighten Cambodia's exposure to the impacts of climate change too. The Mekong region has recently been showing signs of climate change, as illustrated in our previous report on VietNam ('Drought-Management Considerations for Climate-Change Adaptation: Focus on the Mekong Region – Report (VietNam)', October 2007). There is evidence of greater climatic extremes: both declining rainfall in the dry season and more violent rainfall in the wet season, causing flash floods. Increasingly powerful typhoons also appear to be occurring.
- Topic:
- Climate Change, Development, Energy Policy, Environment, and Non-Governmental Organization
- Political Geography:
- East Asia, Asia, Vietnam, and Cambodia
15. Climate, Poverty, and Justice: What the Poznan UN climate conference needs to deliver for a fair and effective global deal
- Publication Date:
- 12-2008
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Oxfam Publishing
- Abstract:
- For the poorest and most vulnerable people in today's world, climate change is a 'triple whammy': they didn't cause it, they are most affected by it, and they are least able to afford even simple measures that could help protect them from those damaging impacts that are already unavoidable.
- Topic:
- Climate Change, Energy Policy, Environment, Globalization, and Poverty
16. Turning Carbon into Gold: How the international community can finance climate change adaptation without breaking the bank
- Publication Date:
- 12-2008
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Oxfam Publishing
- Abstract:
- Poor communities in the developing world are hit hardest by the impacts of climate change, while they are least responsible for the problem and most vulnerable to climate impacts, such as severe floods, drought, and storms. At the climate change negotiations in Bali in December 2007, governments recognized that adaptation should be central to the negotiations. In the Bali Action Plan, adaptation is one of the four building blocks besides mitigation, finance, and technology transfer, and the Plan provides a mandate to negotiate on 'new and additional resources' and the use of 'innovative finance mechanisms' to address urgent and compelling climate adaptation needs.
- Topic:
- Climate Change, Energy Policy, Environment, Globalization, and Poverty
- Political Geography:
- Bali
17. Bio-fuelling Poverty: Why the EU renewable-fuel target may be disastrous for poor people
- Publication Date:
- 11-2007
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Oxfam Publishing
- Abstract:
- In January of this year, the European Commission published its Renewable Energy Roadmap, proposing a mandatory target that biofuels must provide ten per cent of member states' transport fuels by 2020. This target is creating a scramble to supply in the South, posing a serious threat to vulnerable people at risk from land-grabbing, exploitation, and deteriorating food security. It is unacceptable that poor people in developing countries bear the costs of emissions reductions in the EU. To avoid this, the Commission must include social standards in its sustainability framework, and develop mechanisms by which the ten per cent target can be revised if it is found to be contributing to the destruction of vulnerable people's livelihoods.
- Topic:
- Energy Policy and Environment
- Political Geography:
- Europe