坚持积极应对气候变化战略定力继续做全球生态文明建设的重要参与者、贡献者和引领者 ——纪念《巴黎协定》达成五周年

习近平总书记在2020年9月22日第七十五届联合国大会一般性辩论上表示:"中国将提高国家自主贡献力度,采取更加有力的政策和措施,二氧化碳排放力争于2030年前达到峰值,努力争取在2060年前实现碳中和。"在应对气候变化领域,在全球低碳转型的关键时刻,中国以大国担当更新了国家自主贡献方案,这是中国向世界发出的又一个强有力信号。国家自主贡献方案之所以备受全球关注,是因为这是《巴黎协定》最核心的制度,它很大程度上决定了各国的减排力度、低碳转型进程,乃至全球气候行动势头。为此我刊特转发《中国环境报》2020年12月14日第二版刊载的中国气候变化事务特使、生态环境部气候变化事务特别顾问解振华关于纪念《巴黎协定》达成五周年一文,以飨读者。     

Perceptions of climate change risks and resilient island planning in the Maldives

This article explores the drivers, benefits, and challenges facing climate change adaptation in the Maldives. It specifically investigates the ??Integrating Climate Change Risks into Resilient Island Planning in the Maldives?? Program, or ICCR, a four-year $9.3 million adaptation project being funded by the Least Developed Countries Fund, Maldivian Government and the United Nations Development Program, and nationally executed by the Ministry of Housing, Transport and Environment of the Maldivian Government. The article asks: what is the perception of coastal adaptation in the Maldives, and what are the potential contributions from the ICCR project? To answer this question, the article summarizes eight primary sectors vulnerable to climate change in the Maldives: human settlements, critical infrastructure, tourism, fisheries, health systems, water, food security, and coral reef biodiversity. It then describes the genesis and background behind the ICCR, which addresses many of these vulnerabilities by demonstrating coastal protection measures. Benefits to the ICCR include improving physical resilience by deploying ??soft?? infrastructure, institutional resilience by training policymakers and enhancing good governance, and community resilience by strengthening community assets and awareness. Challenges include ensuring that adaptation efforts are enough to truly respond to climate vulnerability, lack of coordination, and short-term thinking among business and community leaders.     

Climate change impact and potential adaptation strategies under alternate climate scenarios for yam production in the sub-humid savannah zone of West Africa

Globally, yam (Dioscorea spp.) is the fifth most important root crop after sweet potatoes (Ipomoea batatas L.) and the second most important crop in Africa in terms of production after cassava (Manihot esculenta L.) and has long been vital to food security in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Climate change is expected to have its most severe impact on crops in food insecure regions, yet very little is known about impact of climate change on yam productivity. Therefore, we try estimating the effect of climate change on the yam (variety: Florido) yield and evaluating different adaptation strategies to mitigate its effect. Three regional climate models REgional MOdel (REMO), Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute Regional Climate Model (SMHIRCA), and Hadley Regional Model (HADRM3P) were coupled to a crop growth simulation model namely Environmental Policy Integrated Climate (EPIC) version 3060 to simulate current and future yam yields in the Upper Ouémé basin (Benin Republic). For the future, substantial yield decreases were estimated varying according to the climate scenario. We explored the advantages of specific adaptation strategies suggesting that changing sowing date may be ineffective in counteracting adverse climatic effects. Late maturing cultivars could be effective in offsetting the adverse impacts. Whereas, by coupling irrigation and fertilizer application with late maturing cultivars, highest increase in the yam productivity could be realized which accounted up to 49 % depending upon the projection of the scenarios analyzed.     

Misdefining “climate change”: consequences for science and action

The restricted definition of “climate change” used by the Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC) has profoundly affected the science, politics, and policy processes associated with the international response to the climate issue. Specifically, the FCCC definition has contributed to the gridlock and ineffectiveness of the global response to the challenge of climate change. This paper argues that the consequences of misdefining “climate change” create a bias against adaptation policies and set the stage for the politicization of climate science. The paper discusses options for bringing science, policy and politics in line with a more appropriate definition of climate change such as the more comprehensive perspective used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.     

Sustainable development as a framework for developing country participation in international climate change policies

The paper presents a number of ideas on how climate change policy implementation in developing countries can be supported by alternative international cooperation mechanisms that are based on stakeholder interests and policy priorities including broader economic and social development issues. It includes a brief review of current development policies, technological research and promotion efforts, and climate change that demonstrates that mutual policy initiatives undertaken by governments and the private sector actually have major positive impacts on climate change without being initiated by this global policy concern. Furthermore a number of examples are given on how future development objectives in Brazil, China, and India jointly can support economic and social goals and global climate change concerns if these goals are taken into consideration and supported by international cooperative mechanisms. The paper proposes international cooperative mechanisms that can support the implementation of integrated development and climate change policies. The mechanisms include an international sustainable development (SD) and Climate Finance Mechanism (SDCFM), technology development and transition programmes, technology standards, and other measures.

Solution-oriented global environmental assessments: Opportunities and challenges

This article provides an introduction to the Special Issue dedicated to “Solution-oriented Global Environmental Assessments: Opportunities and Challenges”. In the follow-up to the Paris climate agreement and the adoption and early implementation of the global Sustainable Development Goals involving many synergies and trade-offs, the need to shift the focus from environmental problem analysis towards the exploration of specific solution options can be observed in international environmental governance debates. To remain policy-relevant, credible and legitimate, global environmental assessments (GEAs) must carefully adapt to a rapidly evolving governance landscape. This Special Issue sheds light on the potential utility and implications of increased solution-orientation of GEAs. It builds on the research project “The Future of Global Environmental Assessment Making” that was jointly initiated in 2013 by UN Environment and the Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change. The article collection includes research on the coevolution of GEAs and the increasingly solution-oriented governance context; conditions of success for contemporary GEAs; the treatment of divergent viewpoints, stakes and stakeholders in solution-oriented GEAs; knowledge aggregation; and the enhanced measurement of GEA effectiveness in the emerging governance landscape.     

2020中国环境战略与政策学术年会专家观点摘要

2020年12月26日至27日,生态环境部环境与经济政策研究中心以"全面推进绿色发展,建设美丽中国"为主题,举办了2020年中国环境战略与政策学术年会。会议以线上线下相结合的形式召开。参会专家围绕"十四五"期间全面推进绿色发展,建设美丽中国进行了深入而卓有成效的学术交流。我刊特此刊发参会专家观点摘要,以飨读者。     

Climate policy integration in the land use sector: Mitigation,adaptation and sustainable development linkages

This article re-conceptualizes Climate Policy Integration (CPI) in the land use sector to highlight the need to assess the level of integration of mitigation and adaptation objectives and policies to minimize trade-offs and to exploit synergies. It suggests that effective CPI in the land use sector requires i) internal climate policy coherence between mitigation and adaptation objectives and policies; ii) external climate policy coherence between climate change and development objectives; iii) vertical policy integration to mainstream climate change into sectoral policies and; iv) horizontal policy integration by overarching governance structures for cross-sectoral coordination. This framework is used to examine CPI in the land use sector of Indonesia. The findings indicate that adaptation actors and policies are the main advocates of internal policy coherence. External policy coherence between mitigation and development planning is called for, but remains to be operationalized. Bureaucratic politics has in turn undermined vertical and horizontal policy integration. Under these circumstances it is unlikely that the Indonesian bureaucracy can deliver strong coordinated action addressing climate change in the land use sector, unless sectoral ministries internalize a strong mandate on internal and external climate policy coherence and find ways to coordinate policy action effectively.     

积极应对气候变化大力推动绿色低碳发展——环境保护部环境发展中心主任唐丁丁就气候变化问题答记者问

气候变化既是环境问题,也是发展问题,事关人类的生存与发展。中国政府高度重视全球气候变化问题,积极探索有中国特色的绿色低碳发展之路。这不仅是中国作为发展中大国肩负的国际责任．也是加快实现国内发展方式转型的内在要求。近三十年来,中国在保护环境和应对气候变化方面付出了巨大努力,总结出一系列行之有效的经验和做法。为了更好地开展有利于应对气候变化的环境保护工作,近日,环境保护部环境发展中心成立了一个跨部门的应对气候变化工作机构,即“环境发展中心环境与气候变化中心”。日前,编辑部就业界人士和社会大众所关心的一些气候变化相关问题专程采访了环境保护部环境发展中心唐丁丁主任。     

Adaptation policies to increase terrestrial ecosystem resilience: potential utility of a multicriteria approach

Climate change is rapidly undermining terrestrial ecosystem resilience and capacity to continue providing their services to the benefit of humanity and nature. Because of the importance of terrestrial ecosystems to human well-being and supporting services, decision makers throughout the world are busy creating policy responses that secure multiple development and conservation objectives— including that of supporting terrestrial ecosystem resilience in the context of climate change. This article aims to advance analyses on climate policy evaluation and planning in the area of terrestrial ecosystem resilience by discussing adaptation policy options within the ecology-economy-social nexus. The paper evaluates these decisions in the realm of terrestrial ecosystem resilience and evaluates the utility of a set of criteria, indicators, and assessment methods, proposed by a new conceptual multi-criteria framework for pro-development climate policy and planning developed by the United Nations Environment Programme. Potential applications of a multicriteria approach to climate policy vis-à-vis terrestrial ecosystems are then explored through two hypothetical case study examples. The paper closes with a brief discussion of the utility of the multi-criteria approach in the context of other climate policy evaluation approaches, considers lessons learned as a result efforts to evaluate climate policy in the realm of terrestrial ecosystems, and reiterates the role of ecosystem resilience in creating sound policies and actions that support the integration of climate change and development goals.     

Climate change policy and water resources in the EU and Spain. A closer look into the Water Framework Directive

Climate change effects are becoming evident worldwide, with serious regional and local impacts. The European Union (EU) has launched and developed initiatives and policies that scratch the surface of water resources impacts. This article presents an introduction of the existing environmental policy and more concisely in the areas of climate change and the interactions with water resources. It also addresses main management tools, and plans linked to policies, recent updates on the Science–Policy Interface, highlighting major results from research and development projects. Establishing appropriate policies to tackle climate change impacts on water is essential given the cross-sectorial and flowing nature and the importance of water in all environmental, social and economic sectors. There are still some pending reviews and updates in the current EU policy and its implementation, as well as at the national level in Spain. This article identifies existing gaps, and provides recommendations on how and where reforms could take place and be applied by decision makers in the water policy sector.     

Desertification,and climate change: the case for greater convergence

Poor knowledge of links between desertification and globalclimate change is limiting funding from the Global Environment Facility foranti-desertification projects and realization of synergies between theConvention to Combat Desertification (CCD) and the FrameworkConvention on Climate Change (FCCC). Greater convergence betweenresearch in the two fields could overcome these limitations, improve ourknowledge of desertification, and benefit four areas of global climate changestudies: mitigation assessment; accounting for land cover change in thecarbon budget; land surface-atmosphere interactions; and climate changeimpact forecasting. Convergence would be assisted if desertification weretreated more as a special case in dry areas of the global process of landdegradation, and stimulated by: (a) closer cooperation between the FCCCand CCD; (b) better informal networking between desertification and globalclimate change scientists, e.g. within the framework of theIntergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Both strategies wouldbe facilitated if the FCCC and CCD requested the IPCC to provide ascientific framework for realizing the synergies between them.     

做好黄河流域生态保护和高质量发展的关键之举——在“黄河流域生态保护和高质量发展”国际论坛上的主旨演讲

2019年9月18日,习近平总书记在郑州主持召开黄河流域生态保护和高质量发展座谈会并发表重要讲话,明确黄河流域生态保护和高质量发展是重大国家战略,为加强黄河生态治理保护、推动黄河流域高质量发展提供了根本遵循。2020年11月7日,主题为"构建共谋共治共建共享新格局,谱写黄河流域生态保护和高质量发展新篇章"的"黄河流域生态保护和高质量发展"国际论坛在济南举行。中国气候变化事务特使、生态环境部气候变化事务特别顾问解振华出席论坛并作主旨演讲。解振华指出,黄河流域生态保护和高质量发展是重大国家战略;黄河流域生态保护的关键是做好"水资源保护"这篇大文章;黄河流域高质量发展的关键是绿色低碳转型。我刊特刊发全文,以飨读者。     

内蒙古草原生态环境治理的国际合作思路

内蒙古草原面积巨大,占全国草原总面积的1/3,其草原生态环境不仅与国家生态安全紧密相连,而且对周边国家的气候、环境也会产生重大影响。本文从国际法视角出发,根据国际合作原则,依据《京都议定书》清洁能源机制,提出了内蒙古草原生态治理的国际合作思路。一要依托联合国及联合国环境规划署,开展更为广泛的环保合作项目;二要依托国际社会各种环境保护组织和环境合作机构,在《联合国气候框架公约》和《京都议定书》等国际法框架内,全面开展环境外交,寻求国际社会的多方合作;三要依托内蒙古绿色食品贸易,与环境大国展开国际合作;四要依托内蒙古绿色能源基地的建设,寻求国际合作,希望本文能对政府部门制定草原生态治理规划时有所启迪和帮助。     

创新应对重大环境事件思维推动环保战略转型

本文系环境保护部原总工程师、中国环境科学学会副理事长杨朝飞在“2013年全国环境政策法制工作研讨会”上做的关于我国如何应对重大环境事件专题讲座内容整理,以飨读者.     

Policy coherence in climate governance in Caribbean Small Island Developing States

Climate governance in Small Island developing States (SIDS) is a pressing priority to preserve livelihoods, biodiversity and ecosystems for the next generations. Understanding the dynamics of climate change policy integration is becoming more crucial as we try to measure the success of environmental governance efforts and chart new goals for sustainable development. At the international level, climate change policy has evolved from single issue to integrated approaches towards achieving sustainable development. New actors, new mechanisms and institutions of governance with greater fragmentation in governance across sectors and levels (Biermann and Pattberg, 2008) make integration of policy in the area of climate change governance even more of a challenge today. What is the Caribbean reality regarding policy coherence in climate change governance? Are the same climate change policy coherence frameworks useful or indeed applicable for environmental governance in developing states more generally and for SIDS in particular? What are the best triggers to achieve successful climate change policy integration in environmental governance—especially as the complex interconnectivity of new actors, institutions and mechanisms make the process of integration even more challenging? What facilitates and what hampers climate policy integration in the regional Caribbean context? This article reviews the debates around policy coherence for climate change governance, creates a framework to test or measure policy coherence and examines how relevant this has been to regional climate change governance processes in Commonwealth Caribbean States. The study found that though at the regional level, there is substantial recognition of the importance of and mechanics involved in climate policy coherence, this has not translated to policy coherence at the regional and national levels. There is a large degree of fragmentation in the application of climate policy in each Caribbean Island with no mechanism to breach the gap. Silos in public environmental governance architectures, unwillingness to share data, insufficient political will; unsustainable project-based funding and lack of accountability among actors are the main challenges to climate policy coherence. The findings fill a gap in the literature on the elements of climate policy coherence from a SIDS perspective.     

Prioritization of climate change adaptation approaches in the Gambia

Adaptation to climate change has been recognized as very important in developing countries that face the greatest threats from global warming. In proposing various adaptation approaches, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change required nations to prepare adaptation plans of action. However, the areas of priority in climate change adaptation have not been considered. This study has developed a new prioritization methodology for climate change adaptation in developing countries. Five categories and 25 approaches in climate change adaptation were adopted through a thorough and detailed analysis of pertinent literature related to the National Adaptation Program of Action (NAPA) in the Gambia. A fuzzy analytic hierarchy process-based questionnaire survey was designed and presented to 12 experts chosen from the committee members of the Gambia’s NAPA. The survey was made to determine the relative importance of the strategies for climate change adaptation. The results indicate that the five most important adaptation categories are health (0.223), forestry (0.213), water (0.210), food (0.181), and energy (0.174), with health as the number one priority in climate change adaptation. Further findings show that the prioritization order of the adaptation approaches to climate change in the Gambia is as follows: “Health education,” “public sensitization,” “water supply infrastructure development,” “microfinance,” and “infrastructure and technology enhancement.”     

The impact of climate change mitigation on water demand for energy and food: An integrated analysis based on the Shared Socioeconomic Pathways

Climate change mitigation, in the context of growing population and ever increasing economic activity, will require a transformation of energy and agricultural systems, posing significant challenges to global water resources. We use an integrated modelling framework of the water-energy-land-climate systems to assess how changes in electricity and land use, induced by climate change mitigation, impact on water demand under alternative socioeconomic (Shared Socioeconomic Pathways) and water policy assumptions (irrigation of bioenergy crops, cooling technologies for electricity generation). The impacts of climate change mitigation on cumulated global water demand across the century are highly uncertain, and depending on socioeconomic and water policy conditions, they range from a reduction of 15,000 km³ to an increase of more than 160,000 km³. The impact of irrigation of bioenergy crops is the most prominent factor, leading to significantly higher water requirements under climate change mitigation if bioenergy crops are irrigated. Differences in socioeconomic drivers and fossil fuel availability result in significant differences in electricity and bioenergy demands, in the associated electricity and primary energy mixes, and consequently in water demand. Economic affluence and abundance of fossil fuels aggravate pressures on water resources due to higher energy demand and greater deployment of water intensive technologies such as bioenergy and nuclear power. The evolution of future cooling systems is also identified as an important determinant of electricity water demand. Climate policy can result in a reduction of water demand if combined with policies on irrigation of bioenergy, and the deployment of non-water-intensive electricity sources and cooling types.     

China, the United States and technology cooperation on climate control

The U.S. and China are the world's largest and second largest CO₂ emitters, respectively, and to what extent the U.S. and China get involved in combating global climate change is extremely important both for lowering compliance costs of climate mitigation and adaptation and for moving international climate negotiations forward. While it is unavoidable that China will take on commitments at some specific point of time in the future, this paper has argued that the proposal for joint accession by the U.S. and China is not a way forward. For various reasons, such a proposal is in the U.S. interest, but is not in the interest of China. Given the U.S. political reality and institutional settings on the one hand and China's over-riding concern about economic growth and poverty reduction on the other, the two countries are unlikely to take on emissions caps under an international regime, at least for the time being. Therefore, we need to explore the area where cooperation between the two countries to address climate change seems best. The research, development and deployment of clean technology is the area that is in the best interests of the two countries. The U.S. has adopted a technology-oriented approach to climate issues, and has launched the four multilateral initiatives on technology cooperation and the Asia Pacific Partnership for Clean Development and Climate (APP). China has participated in all these U.S.-led initiatives, and is a partner to the APP. Strengthened technology cooperation between the two countries through these initiatives and the APP has led some tangible benefits. However, it should be pointed out that while technology is a critical ingredient in a climate policy package, efforts such as the APP can only be part of the solution. They alone cannot ensure that best available technologies are always deployed in the marketplace, and that new technologies will roll out at the pace and on the scale that we need. In order to have such technology-oriented approach to play a full role, we do need a coordinated policy framework agreed via the Kyoto Protocol or a follow-up regime or the parent United Nations Framework Convention.     

An analysis of the causes of the mitigation bias in international climate finance

Research on international climate finance got a new impetus from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Cancun Accords in 2010 which pledge to mobilize US dollars (USD) 100 billion in international climate financing annually by 2020. The Accords’ specification that adaptation must be addressed with the same priority as mitigation is not reflected in current patterns of international climate finance where we face a strong bias towards mitigation finance. A recent study by Buchner et al. (2011) ascertains a split between mitigation and adaptation finance of 95:5. In this paper, we investigate potential reasons for this bias. In our framework, we distinguish different decision layers and actors involved in international climate finance in order to categorize the causes responsible for the low priority of adaptation in international finance. The identification of obstacles for international adaptation funding is a first crucial step in the search for ways to overcome respective barriers. We find several different causes of the mitigation bias and these might offer starting points for policies aiming at raising adaptation finance and curing this bias. Furthermore, we describe interrelations between these causes which effective policies have to take into account.