UNFCCC eHandbook

This guide seeks to provide a starting point for newcomers to help them take in the ‘big picture’ of the United Nations climate change regime, which is at the forefront of international action to combat climate change. It guides the newcomer through the various issues covered by the regime, such as mitigation, adaptation and finance, in order to gain a better understanding of the global efforts to combat climate change. The guide also tries to explain and demystify the negotiation processes where Parties of the UNFCCC and its Kyoto Protocol come together to consider on-going efforts and take further steps to enhance those efforts.

We hope the guide will enable you to increase knowledge and ownership of climate change issues that are of fundamental importance to us all.

This guide has been made possible by the generous support of the Government of Singapore.

How does this interactive guide work?

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (referred to as the UNFCCC or sometimes simply the Convention) provides the centrepiece for multilateral action to combat climate change and its impacts on humanity and ecosystems. The objective of the UNFCCC is to “stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system”. The UNFCCC sets out a framework and a process for agreeing to specific actions over time—a starting point for further action in the future. It establishes a framework of general principles and institutions, and sets up a process through which governments meet regularly to discuss climate change action.

This interactive guide seeks to provide a starting point that will help new readers take in the ‘big picture’ of the United Nations climate change regime, the UNFCCC negotiating process and the global effort to combat climate change. This interactive guide provides short summaries of many of the key topics of the UNFCCC process, along with visual aids and hyperlinked guides to the extensive climate change information available on the UNFCCC website.

A Guide to the UNFCCC and its Processes

• UNDERSTANDING THE UNFCCC
  • UNFCCC Interactive Guide
  • Science: Why is there a need to act?
  • What does UNFCCC regime do and how does it work?
• THE CONVENTION AND ITS KYOTO PROTOCOL
  • The Convention in summary
  • The Kyoto Protocol in summary
  • Timeline
• MITIGATION
  • What is Mitigation?
  • What are the different commitments and actions taken by developed and developing countries?
  • What are the market mechanisms?
• ADAPTATION
  • What is Adaptation?
  • The UNFCCC framework for adaptation
  • Stakeholder engagement and knowledge management
• CLIMATE FINANCE
  • What is Climate Finance?
  • What is the Financial Mechanism? What are the other funds?
  • Standing Committee on Finance and Work Programme on Long-term Finance
  • Overview of the Finance Portal and its contents
• TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER
  • What is Technology Transfer to support climate action?
  • What is the Technology Mechanism?
  • What other steps have Parties taken to address technology?
• CAPACITY-BUILDING
  • What is capacity-building?
  • How do governments build capacity?
  • How do governments enhance action on capacity-building?
  • How do governments support communicating, teaching and learning about climate change?
• INDCs
  • What are Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs)?
  • How are INDCs communicated?
• TRANSPARENCY
  • What types of reports does the UNFCCC use?
  • What are greenhouse gas inventories?
  • How are the reports reviewed?
  • What are the latest reporting developments?
  • What about reporting under the Kyoto Protocol?
• SCIENCE
  • How does the UNFCCC promote science and policy interaction?
• NEGOTIATIONS
  • What are United Nations Climate Change Conferences?
  • The big picture: how do the UNFCCC sessions work?
• ADP
  • What is the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action?

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Scientists Look Back To Ice Age To Predict Sea Level Rises

Journeyman Pictures

Published on Sep 28, 2015
Sea Levels Rise: How scientists are turning to the distant past to predict the impact of rising sea levels.

Global Climate Change
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The New Confessions of an Economic Hit Man: John Perkins

Shocking Bestseller: The original version of this astonishing tell-all book spent 73 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, has sold more than 1.25 million copies, and has been translated into 32 languages.

New Revelations: Featuring 15 explosive new chapters, this expanded edition of Perkins’s classic bestseller brings the story of economic hit men (EHMs) up to date and, chillingly, home to the US. Over40 percent of the book is new, including chapters identifying today’s EHMs and a detailed chronology extensively documenting EHM activity since the first edition was published in 2004.

Former economic hit man John Perkins shares new details about the ways he and others cheated countries around the globe out of trillions of dollars. Then he reveals how the deadly EHM cancer he helped create has spread far more widely and deeply than ever in the US and everywhere else—to become the dominant system of business, government, and society today. Finally, he gives an insider view of what we each can do to change it.

Economic hit men are the shock troops of what Perkins calls the corporatocracy, a vast network of corporations, banks, colluding governments, and the rich and powerful people tied to them. If the EHMs can’t maintain the corrupt status quo through nonviolent coercion, the jackal assassins swoop in. The heart of this book is a completely new section, over 100 pages long, that exposes the fact that all the EHM and jackal tools—false economics, false promises, threats, bribes, extortion, debt, deception, coups, assassinations, unbridled military power—are used around the world today exponentially more than during the era Perkins exposed over a decade ago.

The material in this new section ranges from the Seychelles, Honduras, Ecuador, and Libya to Turkey, Western Europe, Vietnam, China, and, in perhaps the most unexpected and sinister development, the United States, where the new EHMs—bankers, lobbyists, corporate executives, and others—“con governments and the public into submitting to policies that make the rich richer and the poor poorer.”

But as dark as the story gets, this reformed EHM also provides hope. Perkins offers a detailed list of specific actions each of us can take to transform what he calls a failing Death Economy into a Life Economy that provides sustainable abundance for all.

see:

• John Perkins
• Confessions of an Economic Hit Man: John Perkins
  

Global Climate Change
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The Secret History of the American Empire: The Truth About Economic Hit Men, Jackals, and How to Change the World: John Perkins

From the author of the “New York Times” bestseller “Confessions of an Economic Hit Man” comes an expos of international corruption. Perkins suggests how Americans can work to create a more peaceful and stable world for future generations.

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Bolivia – Leasing the Rain . Timeline: Cochabamba Water Revolt

September 1998 IMF Loan to Bolivia Requires Privatization

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) approves a $138 million loan for Bolivia to help the country control inflation and bolster economic growth. In compliance with IMF-drafted “structural reforms” for the nation, Bolivia agrees to sell off “all remaining public enterprises,” includingnational oil refineries and Cochabamba’s local water agency, SEMAPA.

http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/bolivia/timeline.html

See:

• Leasing the rain: Water wars in Bolivia

 

… (read more).

Global Climate Change
Environment Ethics
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Confessions of an Economic Hit Man: John Perkins

From the author of the phenomenal New York Times bestseller, Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, comes an exposé of international corruption, and an inspired plan to turn the tide for future generations

With a presidential election around the corner, questions of America’s military buildup, environmental impact, and foreign policy are on everyone’s mind. Former Economic Hit Man John Perkins goes behind the scenes of the current geopolitical crisis and offers bold solutions to our most pressing problems. Drawing on interviews with other EHMs, jackals, CIA operatives, reporters, businessmen, and activists, Perkins reveals the secret history of events that have created the current American Empire, including:

• How the defeats in Vietnam and Iraq have benefited big business
• The role of Israel as Fortress America in the Middle East
• Tragic repercussions of the IMF’s Asian Economic Collapse
• The current Latin American revolution and its lessons for democracy
• U.S. blunders in Tibet, Congo, Lebanon, and Venezuela

From the U.S. military in Iraq to infrastructure development in Indonesia, from Peace Corps volunteers in Africa to jackals in Venezuela, Perkins exposes a conspiracy of corruption that has fueled instability and anti-Americanism around the globe, with consequences reflected in our daily headlines. Having raised the alarm, Perkins passionately addresses how Americans can work to create a more peaceful and stable world for future generations.

See interviews:

• John Perkins
• The New Confessions of an Economic Hit Man: John Perkins

Global Climate Change
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THE CORPORATION 1/23 What is a Corporation?

The Corporation

Uploaded on Jan 22, 2007

Support our campaign http://dana.io/get-up-off-the-couch

1. The Corporation is today’s dominant institution, creating great wealth but also great harm. This 26 award-winning documentary examines the nature, evolution, impacts and future of the modern business corporation and the increasing role it plays in society and our everyday lives.

For a playlist of all 23 chapters in order, please click on:
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list…

Global Climate Change
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Discovery Documentary – Melting ice engulfed Earth

Universe Documentary Channel

Published on Nov 9, 2015

Discovery documentary – Melting ice engulfed Earth [space documentary]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ukdi…

Global Climate Change
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BBC Documentary Welcome To MARS, Life on Mars Documentaries 2015

Universe Documentary Channel

Published on Nov 4, 2015

National Geographic Documentary BBCDocumentary Welcome To MARS, Life on Mars Documentaries 2015
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second smallest planet in the Solar System, after Mercury. Named after the Roman god of war, it is often referred to as the “Red Planet” because the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance.[15] Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin atmosphere, having surface features reminiscent both of the impact craters of the Moon and the volcanoes, valleys, deserts, and polar ice caps of Earth. The rotational period and seasonal cycles of Mars are likewise similar to those of Earth, as is the tilt that produces the seasons. Mars is the site of Olympus Mons, the largest volcano and second-highest known mountain in the Solar System, and of Valles Marineris, one of the largest canyons in the Solar System. The smooth Borealis basin in the northern hemisphere covers 40% of the planet and may be a giant impact feature.[16][17] Mars has two moons, Phobos and Deimos, which are small and irregularly shaped. These may be captured asteroids,[18][19] similar to 5261 Eureka, a Mars trojan.

Until the first successful Mars flyby in 1965 by Mariner 4, many speculated about the presence of liquid water on the planet’s surface. This was based on observed periodic variations in light and dark patches, particularly in the polar latitudes, which appeared to be seas and continents; long, dark striations were interpreted by some as irrigation channels for liquid water. These straight line features were later explained as optical illusions, though geological evidence gathered by unmanned missions suggests that Mars once had large-scale water coverage on its surface at some earlier stage of its life.[20] In 2005, radar data revealed the presence of large quantities of water ice at the poles[21] and at mid-latitudes.[22][23] The Mars rover Spirit sampled chemical compounds containing water molecules in March 2007. The Phoenix lander directly sampled water ice in shallow Martian soil on July 31, 2008.[24]

Global Climate Change
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Could Humans Live Together On Mars?

Journeyman Pictures

Published on Nov 9, 2015

Mars On Earth: The Hawaiian dome where NASA prepares humanity for life on Mars

Global Climate Change
Environment Ethics
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