If global aviation was a country, its emissions would be ranked about seventh in the world, between Germany and South Korea on CO2 emissions alone. Yet despite flying being a growing global contributor…
Australia is preparing to step back from climate action in front of a pretty huge audience.
EPA/RADEK PIETRUSZKA
Australia’s refusal to support developing countries’ efforts under a new climate change agreement or the new UN Green Climate Fund will further undermine its claims to being a good international citizen…
It’s too early for the new government to lose interest in international climate negotiations.
EPA/NIC BOTHMA
This week, the Australian Government announced that it would not send a minister to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) negotiations in Poland for the first time since 1997. This announcement…
A dangerous, dirty job - but someone has to do it.
EPA/Moadamiyeh Media Centre
The abduction, in northern Syria, of seven Red Cross workers is a stark reminder of how dangerous it is to work in that war-torn country, even for such an internationally recognised humanitarian organisation…
Optimism is lovely, but individual action won’t solve climate change.
\!/_PeacePlusOne/Flickr
This is the last part of a series following on from the release of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fifth Assessment Report and looking at emerging alternatives to the UN climate agreement…
Getting an agreement on gas could set the tone for other industry emissions reduction agreements.
stefo/Flickr
This is part two of a three-part series that follows on from the release of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fifth Assessment Report, looking at emerging alternatives to the UN climate agreement…
The UN Security Council’s statement on the humanitarian and refugee crisis developing in Syria may be a start, but will it actually help those displaced?
EPA/Jamal Nasrallah
After finally passing its first resolution on the Syrian crisis late last week, the United Nations Security Council has now turned its attention to the humanitarian crisis now unfolding within the country…
Our climate system is collapsing, but international negotiations in Paris still hold out the best promise for change.
350.org/Flickr
Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Rajendra Pachauri, said last week that on climate, “We have five minutes before midnight”. He argues that governments have historically avoided…
Maybe reducing the number of participants would help bring agreement.
Andrea Lawardi
With the release Friday of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fifth Assessment Report of the state of climate science, the message has never been clearer: we have to do something to get…
A little less conversation, a little more action please.
Stefan Rousseau/PA
And so the annual autumn ritual of American masochism begins again in New York. Like inviting your least likeable in-laws to detail your worst features to your nearest and dearest after an agreeable Christmas…
The annual opening of the United Nations General Assembly always draws distinguished speakers, but their speeches rarely have much international impact. General Assembly speeches are heavy on rhetoric…
So good, they gave it a Nobel Peace Prize (2007)
IPCC
The latest climate change assessment from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the IPCC, is due to arrive this weekend. This will be the fifth comprehensive assessment report (AR5) prepared by…
Should new prime minister Tony Abbott make his first impression on a world stage with a trip to the UN for Leaders’ Week?
AAP/Andrew Gombert
Foreign minister Julie Bishop’s austerity announcements over the weekend make it clear that she will attend Leaders’ Week at the United Nations later this month. But it is still not clear whether Australia’s…
Great Satan: Iran-US relations will have to overcome 30 years of emnity.
Open Democracy
After more than three decades of false starts and missed opportunities, something might be finally moving on the diplomatic front between Iran and the United States. The two relatively moderate administrations…
Hard to get rid of: the US still hasn’t destroyed its chemical weapons stockplie.
US government
Bashar Assad’s decision to sign up Syria to the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) last week committed his country to verifiably give up the possession of chemical weapons and their production capabilities…
Will the US attack Syria in the face growing international condemnation and opposition?
EPA/Jim Lo Scalzo
Former Australian prime minister Malcolm Fraser has attacked American plans to launch attacks on the Assad regime in Syria, describing them as illegal and reminiscent of the disastrous invasion of Iraq…
Raising the issue of protecting women in conflict zones such as Syria should be high on Australia’s agenda when it assumes presidency of the Security Council.
EPA/Lucie Parsaghian
A priority mentioned in Australian speeches and statements to the United Nations this year - Women, Peace and Security (WPS) - is likely to feature as the key “theme” of Australia’s presidency of the Security…
Deadly force: the US navy’s humanitarian intervention in Libya in 2011.
Wikimedia Commons
As the drums beat louder for the possibility of Western military intervention in Syria, we have seen discussion of an intervention on moral, strategic and practical grounds. But so far none of the major…
The UN Security Council’s sanctions regime processes are in need of reform. Can Australia make any effective changes during its presidency of the Security Council?
EPA/Justin Lane
For the United Nations Security Council, sanctions are an important instrument in addressing threats to international peace and security. They usually take the form of controls and bans on travel, trade…
Modern warfare: armed forces routinely protect against chemical attack.
Wikimedia Commons
The motive and timing of the alleged chemical attack last week in Damascus appear strange, but Western powers including the US, UK and France, backed by other regional players including Turkey now seem…