Category: International Political Engagement

In QUNO’s recent publication “Climate Justice and the use of human rights law in reducing greenhouse emissions”, Lindsey Fielder Cook and David Elliot look at how human rights obligations can help support policies, which lead to more successful and just efforts to decrease greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions due to human activities. The publication underlies the relationship between human rights and climate change as conceptualized at the United Nations, and explores how human rights can be used to secure greater emissions reductions while also achieving climate justice.

Read the full report by clicking on the link below.

Climate Justice and the use of Human Rights Law

This QUNO paper digests recent findings from climate science into a short, 15 point summary document accessible to a broad audience.

Read the full document below:

QUNO Recent Climate Science Paper

Representative for Climate Change, Lindsey Fielder Cook, reflects on the 2015 Paris Climate Change Agreement.

Over the course of three years leading up to COP21, QUNO engaged in quiet diplomacy at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), offering delegates a more ‘human’ space in what could seem at times like an inhuman environment.

The report, available below, offers insight into this process, thoughts on the Agreement itself and a vision for what might lie ahead.

Read the document below:

Quakers – QUNO summary of the Paris Agreement

Photo: Francois Mori/AP

Agriculture is a major contributor to anthropogenic climate change, and in turn climate change threatens the viability of food production around the world. The spread of capital- and technology-intensive ‘industrial’ agriculture in the modern era has been accompanied by an erosion of on-farm genetic diversity, a loss of local knowledge, and the abandonment of traditional farming practices. This undermines our capacity to
adapt to already-changing climatic conditions.

This report highlights the role of small-scale farmers as innovators and custodians of food system diversity, a critical resource in ensuring the realization of the right to food in an era of climate change. Taking an innovation systems perspective, it proposes a new framework for the design of collaborative agricultural research projects and agendas, and notes the need for pro-active policy measures in creating an enabling environment for such partnerships.

Read the full report by following this link:

This paper presents four examples of multilateral agreements that have involved complex negotiations, some spanning several years, others several decades. The examples draw on international processes in environment, disarmament, human rights and trade.

Read the full paper below:

Moving Forward in International Negotiations_UPDATED_30_July_2014

Facilitating trust among Parties is vital to enabling and encouraging States to stabilise their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and prevent dangerous levels of climate change.

An effective and positive monitoring system can be an important part of building mutual trust between Parties to an international Convention, increasing confidence that all Members will fulfil their obligations by providing support for implementation while also identifying areas of non-compliance.

Read the paper below:

QUNO UNFCCC Monitoring Nov 2012