lunedì 30 ottobre 2017
sabato 28 ottobre 2017
mercoledì 25 ottobre 2017
2017 the UN International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development.
Anniversaries of Note in 2017
Twenty-Fifth
Anniversary of the Signing of the Maastricht Treaty, February 7,
1992. The European
Union finds
itself in the midst of an identity crisis these days. Economic growth
is limping
along,
the British
want out,
and Euroskepticism is
gaining ground. Perhaps the 25th anniversary
of the
Maastricht Treatywill
help the EU regain its mojo. What the twelve members of the “European
Economic Community”
(EEC)
committed themselves to a quarter century ago was remarkable. They
weren’t content with having a common economic market. They wanted
deeper economic, legal, and political integration. In advancing this
“European Project,” Maastricht called for enhancing greater
economic cooperation, developing a unified
European foreign policy,
and generating common
judicial policies.
The experiment with deeper integration worked—for a time. The EU
grew to twenty-eight member countries, created
the euro,
and had serious people talking about how Europe
would run the twenty-first century.
Then came the Great
Recession.
Seven years of tough economic times have exposed deep divisions
across the continent about the European Project. The EU’s fans say
that its past stumbles have always led to more and deeper
integration. Perhaps. But sometimes past performance is a poor
indicator of future behavior.
Centennial
of the Russian
Revolutions, March 8-November 7, 1917. The Russian
Revolution was
actually two revolutions, one that gave hope to the dream that Russia
might embrace liberal democracy and another that crushed it. The
first, or February
Revolution,
began on March 8, 1917 when workers struck to protest food shortages
in St. Petersburg. (Russia at the time used the Julian
rather than Gregorian calendar,
which is why the revolution’s name doesn’t match the date we now
give it.) The protests spread rapidly. Calls for “Bread!”
quickly
gave way to chants of “Down with the Autocracy!” On March
10, Tsar
Nicholas II abdicated the
throne after
the troops he sent to suppress the protests defected. The Russian
Duma formed a provisional
government led
by Alexander
Kerensky.
But Kerensky’s government struggled. The applause that greeted its
decision to abolish
the Tsar’s hated secret police and press censorship did
not offset the anger generated by its decision to continue fighting
in World War I. The decision to allow Vladimir
Lenin to
return from exile in July gave opponents a leader. On November 7,
Lenin and his fellow “Bolsheviks”
launched
the October
Revolution,
overthrowing Kerensky’s government in a nearly bloodless
coup d’état.
Lenin made peace with Germany and began asserting control over the
sprawling Russian empire. Anti-Bolshevik and pro-Tsarist forces
fought back, but the “Red Army” defeated the “White
Army”
in
a bloody four-year
civil war.
In 1922 the Union
of Soviet Socialist Republics was
officially established. Historians were left to wonder what might
have been.
Centennial
of the U.S. Entry into World War I, April 6, 1917. For
more than a century Americans obeyed George Washington’s injunction
in his Farewell
Address to
keep out of the political affairs of Europe. That obedience ended
on April
6, 1917 when Congress voted for war against Germany.
The break with what had been the defining feature of American foreign
policy did not come easily. When the “Great War” began in
1914, President
Woodrow Wilson immediately declared
U.S. neutrality.
But neutrality was hard to maintain. U.S. trade before the war
favored Great Britain and the Allied
Powers.
With Britain’s dominance of the high seas, that tilt only increased
with time. Germany responded by launching unrestricted
submarine warfare,
which led most famously to the
sinking of the Lusitania in
May 1915, and efforts to sabotage
ports and railroads in
the United States. Germany suspended unrestricted submarine warfare
in 1916, but announced
its resumption on January 31, 1917.
Three days later, Wilson broke diplomatic relations with Germany.
Weeks later he learned of the Zimmermann
Telegram,
a secret German offer to give Mexico land lost in the
Mexican-American War if Mexico joined in a war against the United
States. Wilson initially resisted growing public sentiment for war
with Germany, worrying
what it would do to the country.
But he eventually relented. At 8:30 p.m. on April 2, he addressed a
joint session of Congress to request a declaration of
war, saying that
“the world must be made safe for democracy.”
Fiftieth
Anniversary of the Six-Day War, June 5-10, 1967. Wars
don’t need to last long to have lasting consequences. Take for
example the
Six-Day War.
In mid-May 1967, Egyptian
President Gamal Abdel Nasser mobilized
Egyptian troops along the Israeli border after Soviet officials told
him, incorrectly,
that Israel was poised to attack Syria. Over the next week, Nasser
evicted a UN
peacekeeping force that
had been in Gaza and the Sinai since the 1956
Suez War to
provide a buffer between Egyptian and Israeli forces. He then took
the step that Israel had said it would consider an act
of war:
he closed the Straits
of Tiran,
thereby cutting off Israel’s only access to the Red Sea. The
Israelis were good to their word. At
7:45 a.m.
on June 5, they launched Operation
Focus,
a series of devastating airstrikes against Egyptian airfields. Syrian
and Jordanian forces immediately joined the fighting. Although
numerically outnumbered, the Israelis quickly
routed all
three Arab militaries. On June
11,
a UN-brokered ceasefire took
effect. In just six days, Israel doubled the territory under its
control, gaining the Gaza Strip, the Sinai Peninsula, the Golan
Heights, the West Bank, and most important, East Jerusalem. Fifty
years later, the results of the Six-Day War still reverberate in the
Middle East.
November
22, 1967 marks the passage of UN Security Council Resolution
242,
which demanded that Israel withdraw from territories it occupied
during the Six-Day War.
Centennial
of the Balfour Declaration, November 2, 1917. The
letter that British Foreign Minister Arthur
James Balfour wrote
to Baron
Lionel Walter Rothschild on November
2, 1917 was
no casual thing. It borrowed language that Rothschild himself had
supplied months earlier and that Balfour and colleagues had
reworked.
Why so much effort for a letter that ran
just about 125 words?
Balfour and British Prime Minister David
Lloyd Georgehoped
in good part to notch a much-needed public relations victory. Britain
was locked alongside France in a grinding
stalemate against
Germany. The effort to knock the Ottoman
Empire out
of the war had failed at Gallipoli,
and Russia looked ready to bow out of the war. By writing to
Rothschild, a leading member of the Jewish community in Britain, with
the promise to support the “establishment in Palestine of a
national home for the Jewish people,” they hoped to rally Jewish
communities, especially those in Russia and the United States, to the
Allied cause. The Balfour
Declaration never
quite had that effect. By the time it became public a week later, the
Bolsheviks had taken power in Russia and sued for peace. But the
declaration helped publicize, legitimate, and advance the cause
of Zionism.
Following the end of World War I, the League
of Nations gave
Britain administration over
Palestine in part to implement the declaration’s promise, and
Jewish migration to Palestine increased
dramatically.
The British government soon learned that the promises it made about a
Jewish homeland conflicted with its
wartime promises to Arab leaders.
from:
https://www.cfr.org/blog/ten-historical-anniversaries-note-2017
and
60th Anniversary of the Treaties of Rome
2017 marks the 60th anniversary of the Treaties of Rome.
Signed on 25 March 1957, the Treaties of Rome established the European Economic Community and the European Atomic Energy Community (EURATOM).
The first Treaty, signed by high representatives from Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and West Germany, brought into existence the European Economic Community, also known as the Common Market. While its immediate objectives were to integrate trade and strengthen the economies of the area, one of its underlying political desires was to ‘lay the foundations of an ever closer union among the people of Europe’.
The EURATOM treaty instead was meant to contribute to the formation and development of Europe's nuclear industries so that all the Member States could benefit from the development of atomic energy and that the security of supply would be ensured.
from:
https://www.cfr.org/blog/ten-historical-anniversaries-note-2017
and
60th Anniversary of the Treaties of Rome
2017 marks the 60th anniversary of the Treaties of Rome.
Signed on 25 March 1957, the Treaties of Rome established the European Economic Community and the European Atomic Energy Community (EURATOM).
The first Treaty, signed by high representatives from Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and West Germany, brought into existence the European Economic Community, also known as the Common Market. While its immediate objectives were to integrate trade and strengthen the economies of the area, one of its underlying political desires was to ‘lay the foundations of an ever closer union among the people of Europe’.
The EURATOM treaty instead was meant to contribute to the formation and development of Europe's nuclear industries so that all the Member States could benefit from the development of atomic energy and that the security of supply would be ensured.
An in-depth US view:
https://fas.org/sgp/crs/row/R44249.pdf
Commemorations of the 10th Anniversary of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Declaration_on_the_Rights_of_Indigenous_Peoples
http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/documents/DRIPS_en.pdf
Commemorations of the 10th Anniversary of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Declaration_on_the_Rights_of_Indigenous_Peoples
http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/documents/DRIPS_en.pdf
Making a speech in English
How
to make a welcome speech in English
How
to make a presentation speech in English
and
Expo Milano 2015
and
Destinazione Italia
Other
http://www.esteri.it/mae/en/sala_stampa/archivionotizie/interventi/2017/02/intervento-dell-on-ministro-al.html
What is the role of culture in diplomacy?
This question can be
interpreted to include at least the following six ideas:
1) Samuel
Huntington’s argument
that international relations depend on the division of the world into
cultural areas. He argued that people's
cultural and religious identities
would be the primary source of conflict in the post-Cold
War
world and that intervention in other cultural areas should usually be
avoided as it is likely to be misunderstood and lead to unpredictable
results.
People
have levels of identity: a resident of Rome may define himself with
varying degrees of intensity as a Roman, an Italian, a Catholic, a
Christian, a European, a Westerner. The civilization to which he
belongs is the broadest level of identification with which he
intensely identifies. People can and do redefine their identities
and, as a result, the composition and boundaries of civilizations
change.
https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/united-states/1993-06-01/clash-civilizations
2) Cultural
differences
in terms of the ideas contained in the material I will give you in
class. These are all elements that the diplomat must be aware of and
pay particular attention to, especially in relation to non-diplomats
(see below at the end of this section). Compare
and contrast attitudes among the North Americans, Japanese, Italians,
Chinese, South Americans, Germans, Arabs, and other countries,
geographical areas or cultures as appropriate, to some or all of the
following ideas: eye contact, making friends and establishing a
relationship before negotiating, choosing the right kind of venue for
a meeting, addressing the right person, punctuality, gift-giving,
turn-taking and interruptions, hand-shaking and bowing, stance and
distance, body language, linguistic register and forms of address,
dress codes, linguistic signaling, the appropriateness or
inappropriateness of talking business during a meal, norms for
recording what has been said and organizing follow-ups to meetings.
Put all these in a logical order e.g. pre-meeting, start of meeting,
during meeting, end of meeting, post-meeting.
Of
course no particular culture has a ‘better’ or ‘more correct’
approach to maintaining diplomatic relations and negotiating,
although there are norms considered appropriate in the UN context. It
is simply a problem of social norms and expectations and diplomats
therefore need to adapt their approach to their counterpart. This is
important, firstly, as a simple act of politeness in order to put
one’s counterpart at ease and as a way to maintain a good working
relationship. This will be very important for diplomats stationed
abroad where the onus is on them to conform, at least to an
acceptable extent, to the host country’s norms. Secondly, it will
be of crucial importance when diplomats are involved in a negotiation
that is particularly important to their country and which really
needs to succeed. So awareness-raising in this area is a necessary
part of a diplomat’s training and development. The following
provide some ideas on cross-cultural
negotiations in business and diplomacy
You
could link these ideas to some of the other points made on this list
by looking at:
http://kms2.isn.ethz.ch/serviceengine/Files/ESDP/98740/ichaptersection_singledocument/e4b1feb4-d658-4eba-b70c-e532d8025612/en/12+Bolewski.pdf
Of
course, one can also argue that professional diplomats themselves
form their own culture, a group of people particularly skilled at not
being offended
or
confused or unable to respond appropriately to unfamiliar customs,
social norms or behavior,
a group that considers the maintenance of good relations a primary
goal beyond its own cultural expectations and makes a positive effort
to be informed about and respect the norms of other cultures ( in
particular those of the host country).
3) International
conventions
to protect minority cultures e.g. the Framework
Convention for the Protection of National Minorities and
the
UN Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of
Cultural Expressions and cultural heritage e.g. The Convention
Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage
and the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural
Heritage
The
EU Framework Convention on the Value of Cultural Heritage for Society
4) The
role of the diplomat (particularly the cultural
attaché) in
promoting his own country’s culture
in terms of art or scientific exhibitions, cultural events of various
other kinds (e.g. Italian food, cooking or music), relations with
local Italian emigrant associations in the host country, language
courses, information regarding tourism or where to find tourist
information, and sports events in the host country involving Italy or
ones in Italy that will involve a team from the host country. All of
these are seen as vehicles for promoting a positive image of the
country and overcoming negative stereotypes of the nation, thus
building good relations with the host country, through a continuous
public relations exercise, and gaining more influence and ‘soft
power’. The diplomat himself is expected to behave in a way which
will make him a credit to his country and give foreigners a good
impression. All of this is described as Cultural Diplomacy (see below
#) and is something that potentially relates to all fields, and thus
involves all a state’s actors and all those who can be seen as
representing the country in some way, in the public sector, the
private sector (e.g. businessmen) and as individuals, as cultural
representatives (diplomats in the widest sense). This is something
that will affect efforts to improve relations with other states and
foreign public opinion, promote national interests and enhance
cooperation by embracing cultural diversity and by trying to build
bridges and overcome barriers where there are significant
differences.
5)
Multiculturalism
– We should see multiculturalism as a growing reality of modern
European life, and the need for multiculturalism as a positive and
necessary force to bridge ethnic, religious and national divisions
and tensions within society and between states. In this sense the EU
is one vast attempt at multiculturalism aimed at overcoming the
divisions of the past that led to two world wars, and providing a
common home (with a secular constitution, guaranteeing equality,
respect and basic rights for all) for Europeans and migrant workers
of many different ethnic, religious and national backgrounds. In
purely European terms it has been remarkably successful. This is
balanced with EU initiatives to protect the rights of minority
cultures and linguistic groups e.g. The European
Charter for Regional or Minority Languages
(ECRML)
of 1992.
This
idea is closely linked to the project for European citizenship and
the goal of strengthening European identity. European identity
itself, however – the sense of belonging to something bigger than
the nation – goes far beyond the question of whether Europeans
like or dislike the European Union institutions. As well as sharing a
common cultural history, since the end of World War II many factors
have led Europeans to develop a common bond. Among these are common
democratic and social values, greater contact through travel and
study (e.g. the Erasmus program but also cheap foreign holidays),
closer economic and cultural ties and shared prosperity. While it
would be inaccurate to see most of these developments as the product
of the EU, the EU has been a constant supporter and beneficiary of
this process. However, against a background of economic stagnation
(the loss of the promise of ever-greater prosperity) growing tensions
in Europe over immigrants and immigration (focused mainly on non-EU
citizens and perhaps due mainly to the recession), and fears about
the rise of homegrown terrorism, concerns have been raised about how
far and how fast the multicultural project can go. However, any
decline in the popularity of the EU institutions and the rise of
nationalist parties cannot be automatically read as a rejection of
the idea of European identity in itself.
See
also ‘Homegrown
Islamic Terrorism’
on this blog 19 Nov 2015
6)
Cultural
Diplomacy
Definition
Italian
Cultural Diplomacy
good
examples of events and exhibitions:
Find
your own examples for 2017
domenica 22 ottobre 2017
Climate Change, Global Warming, Pollution, Environmental Degradation and Renewable and Sustainable Energy
For
a summary of the outcomes of and reaction to the 21st Session of the
Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention
on Climate Change (COP 21) in Paris November
30-December 12, 2015, see:
https://ec.europa.eu/clima/policies/international/negotiations/paris_en
then
background:
some
criticism of the agreement (see below also)
Trump
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/01/business/climate-change-tesla-corporations-paris-accord.html
More
general background
You
could watch Al Gore’s ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ for the
background to Climate Change. If you are too mean to buy it you can
watch extracts on You Tube. Or you can watch him on TED with various
updates. Here are a few:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uf7szRnE64 poor
sound quality
update
2017 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6uCZ_9WIYY
and
for the evolution of the current international agenda see:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_United_Nations_Climate_Change_Conference
Observations
across the United States and world provide multiple, independent
lines of evidence that climate change is happening now. Over the past
century, human activities have released large amounts of carbon
dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. The majority
of greenhouse gases come from burning fossil fuels to produce energy,
although deforestation, industrial processes, and some agricultural
practices also emit gases into the atmosphere. Greenhouse gases act
like a blanket around Earth, trapping energy in the atmosphere and
causing it to warm. This phenomenon is called the greenhouse effect
and is natural and necessary to support life on Earth. However, the
buildup of greenhouse gases can change Earth's climate and result in
dangerous effects to human health and welfare and to ecosystems.
Global
warming
refers
to the recent and ongoing rise in global average temperature near
Earth's surface. It is caused mostly by increasing concentrations of
greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Global warming is causing climate
patterns to change. However, global warming itself represents only
one aspect of climate change. (That humans are causing global warming
is the position of the Academies of Science from 80 countries plus
many scientific organizations that study climate science. More
specifically, around 95% of active climate researchers actively
publishing climate papers endorse the consensus position.) Climate
change
refers
to any significant change in the measures of climate lasting for an
extended period of time. In other words, climate change includes
major changes in temperature, precipitation, or wind patterns, among
other effects, that occur over several decades or longer.
Earth's
average temperature has risen by 1.5°F over the past century, and is
projected to rise another 0.5 to 8.6°F over the next hundred years.
Small changes in the average temperature of the planet can translate
to large and potentially dangerous shifts in climate and weather. The
evidence is clear.
Rising global temperatures have been accompanied by changes in
weather and climate. Many places have seen changes in rainfall,
resulting in more floods, droughts, or intense rain, as well as more
frequent and severe heat waves. The planet's oceans and glaciers have
also experienced some big changes - oceans are warming and becoming
more acidic, ice caps are melting, and sea levels are rising. As
these and other changes become more pronounced in the coming decades,
they will likely present challenges to our society and our
environment.
http://www.globalissues.org/article/233/climate-change-and-global-warming-introduction#WhatisGlobalWarmingandClimateChange
Preventing global warming is clearly a collective public good. This means that individuals and individual countries will only really benefit from collective action by the international community as a whole. A strategy that includes only some countries will not be effective. The commitment of both the US and China, originally made in Nov. 2014
Preventing global warming is clearly a collective public good. This means that individuals and individual countries will only really benefit from collective action by the international community as a whole. A strategy that includes only some countries will not be effective. The commitment of both the US and China, originally made in Nov. 2014
https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/11/11/us-china-joint-announcement-climate-change
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/nov/12/china-and-us-make-carbon-pledge
and formally given in Paris is crucial as they are the world’s two biggest CO2 emitters.http://thediplomat.com/2015/12/china-celebrates-paris-climate-change-deal/
http://edition.cnn.com/2015/12/12/world/global-climate-change-conference-vote/
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/dec/13/paris-climate-deal-cop-diplomacy-developing-united-nations
Hence US withdrawal from the deal is an issue of great concern. See 'Trump' above.
and formally given in Paris is crucial as they are the world’s two biggest CO2 emitters.http://thediplomat.com/2015/12/china-celebrates-paris-climate-change-deal/
http://edition.cnn.com/2015/12/12/world/global-climate-change-conference-vote/
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/dec/13/paris-climate-deal-cop-diplomacy-developing-united-nations
Hence US withdrawal from the deal is an issue of great concern. See 'Trump' above.
The
agreement does not include sanctions on states that fail to reduce
their CO2
emissions
and has been criticized for this by some experts as unlikely to be
effective.https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/legacy-or-bust/2015/12/17/ab8bd418-a4fa-11e5-9c4e-be37f66848bb_story.html
https://judithcurry.com/2016/01/20/the-trojan-horse-of-the-paris-climate-agreement/
http://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/hansen-calls-cop21-a-fraud/
To see how things are going:http://climateactiontracker.org/
https://judithcurry.com/2016/01/20/the-trojan-horse-of-the-paris-climate-agreement/
http://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/hansen-calls-cop21-a-fraud/
To see how things are going:http://climateactiontracker.org/
More
useful background:
European
Union
https://www.eea.europa.eu/data-and-maps/indicators/#c5=&c0=10&b_start=0
see
latest from Green Peace on European Union:
Fossil
Fuels:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fossil_fuel
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_energy_consumption
http://www.ren21.net/status-of-renewables/global-status-report/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_gas
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peat
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coal
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shale_oil
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_shale_reserves
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shale_gas
http://www.what-is-fracking.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydraulic_fracturing
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323894704578114492856065064.html
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/shale-gas
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_impact_of_the_oil_shale_industry
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_power
Environmental Degradation and Loss of Biodiversity
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_degradation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_issues_in_India
http://www.grida.no/publications/rr/food-crisis/page/3566.aspx
http://saferenvironment.wordpress.com/2008/08/16/population-growth-and-environmental-degradation/
http://www.eniscuola.net/en/life/contenuti/biodiversity/left/loss-of-biodiversity/causes-of-the-loss-of-biodiversity/
http://www.globalissues.org/article/171/loss-of-biodiversity-and-extinctions
http://wwf.panda.org/about_our_earth/biodiversity/threatsto_biodiversity/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_protection
Pollution
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pollution
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pollution#Forms_of_pollution
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pollution_prevention
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recycling
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waste_minimisation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Efficient_energy_use
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peat
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coal
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shale_oil
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_shale_reserves
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shale_gas
http://www.what-is-fracking.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydraulic_fracturing
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323894704578114492856065064.html
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/shale-gas
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_impact_of_the_oil_shale_industry
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_power
Environmental Degradation and Loss of Biodiversity
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_degradation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_issues_in_India
http://www.grida.no/publications/rr/food-crisis/page/3566.aspx
http://saferenvironment.wordpress.com/2008/08/16/population-growth-and-environmental-degradation/
http://www.eniscuola.net/en/life/contenuti/biodiversity/left/loss-of-biodiversity/causes-of-the-loss-of-biodiversity/
http://www.globalissues.org/article/171/loss-of-biodiversity-and-extinctions
http://wwf.panda.org/about_our_earth/biodiversity/threatsto_biodiversity/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_protection
Pollution
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pollution
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pollution#Forms_of_pollution
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pollution_prevention
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recycling
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waste_minimisation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Efficient_energy_use
Renewable
(sustainable) energy (resources)
Renewable
energy comes from natural resources such as sunlight, wind, rain,
tides, and geothermal heat, which are renewable (naturally
replenished) but the term often includes biomass.
Then
look at this extract from the ‘Ren 21 Renewables
2017 Global Status Report’:
http://www.ren21.net/gsr-2017/chapters/chapter_01/chapter_01/
The year 2016 saw several developments and ongoing trends that all have a bearing on renewable energy, including the continuation of comparatively low global fossil fuel prices; dramatic price reductions of several renewable energy technologies (especially solar PV and wind power); and a continued increase in attention to energy storage.
The year 2016 saw several developments and ongoing trends that all have a bearing on renewable energy, including the continuation of comparatively low global fossil fuel prices; dramatic price reductions of several renewable energy technologies (especially solar PV and wind power); and a continued increase in attention to energy storage.
World
primary energy demand has grown by an annual average of around 1.8%
since 2011, although the pace of growth has slowed in the past few
years, with wide variations by country.
Growth
in primary energy demand has occurred largely in developing
countries, whereas in developed countries it has slowed or even
declined.
For
the third consecutive year, global energy-related carbon dioxide
(CO2)
emissions from fossil fuels and industry were nearly flat in 2016,
rising only an estimated 0.2%, continuing to break away from the
trend of 2.2% average growth during the previous decade.
This
slowing of emissions growth was due largely to declining coal use
worldwide but also to improvements in energy efficiency and to
increasing power generation from renewable energy sources.
Globally,
coal production declined for the second year in a row.
In
2016, additional countries committed to moving away from or phasing
out coal for electricity generation (e.g., Canada, Finland, France,
the Netherlands and the US state of Oregon) or to no longer financing
coal use (e.g., Brazil’s development bank).
Countering
this trend, however, a number of countries announced plans to expand
coal production and use.
Despite
the overall decline in coal production, relatively low global prices
for oil and natural gas during much of the year continued to
challenge renewable energy markets, especially in the heating and
transport sectors.
Fossil
fuel subsidies, which remained significantly higher than subsidies
for renewables, also continued to affect renewable energy growth.
Building
on international commitments to phase out fossil fuel subsidies –
such as the 2009 commitments by the Group of Twenty (G20) and by
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) – by the end of 2016 more
than 50 countries had committed to phasing out fossil fuel subsidies.
Subsidy
reforms were instituted during 2016 in Angola, Brazil, the Dominican
Republic, Egypt, Gabon, India, Iran, Kuwait, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi
Arabia, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia,
Ukraine, Venezuela and Zambia.
As
of 2015, renewable energy provided an estimated 19.3%
of
global final energy consumption. Of this total share, traditional
biomass, used primarily for cooking and heating in remote and rural
areas of developing countries, accounted for about 9.1%, and modern
renewables (not including traditional biomass) increased their share
relative to 2014 to approximately 10.2%. In 2015, hydropower
accounted for an estimated 3.6% of total final energy consumption,
other renewable power sources comprised 1.6%, renewable heat energy
accounted for approximately 4.2%, and transport biofuels provided
about 0.8%
The
overall share of renewable energy in total final energy consumption
has increased only modestly in recent history, despite tremendous
growth in the renewable energy sector, particularly for solar PV and
wind power. A primary reason for this is the persistently strong
growth in overall energy demand (with the exception of a momentary
pull-back in 2009 following the onset of a global economic
recession), which counteracts the strong forward momentum for modern
renewable energy technologies. In addition, the use of traditional
biomass for heat, which makes up nearly half of all renewable energy
use, has increased, but at a rate that has not kept up with growth in
total demand.
In
2016, the power sector experienced the greatest increases in
renewable energy capacity, whereas the growth of renewables in the
heating and cooling and transport sectors was comparatively slow. As
in 2015, most growth in renewable energy capacity was in solar PV
(which led by a wide margin) and in wind power; hydropower continued
to represent the majority of renewable power capacity and generation.
Bioenergy (including traditional biomass) remained the leader by far
in the heat (buildings and industry) and transport sectors.
Growth
rates of renewable energy capacity vary substantially across regions
and nations, with most new capacity being installed in developing
countries, and primarily in China.
China
has been the single largest developer of renewable power and heat for
the past eight years.
In
2016, an ever-growing number of developing countries continued to
expand their renewable energy capacities, and some are rapidly
becoming important markets. Emerging economies are quickly
transforming their energy industries by benefiting from lower-cost,
more efficient renewable technologies and more reliable resource
forecasting, making countries such as Argentina, Chile, China, India
and Mexico attractive markets for investment.
Nonetheless,
some unique challenges remained in developing countries during the
year, including a lack of infrastructure and of power sector
planning, as well as off-taker risks.
At
the global level, the 2015 Paris Agreement of the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) formally entered into
force at the 22nd Conference of the Parties (COP22) in Marrakesh,
Morocco in November 2016.
Renewable
energy figured prominently in a large portion of the Nationally
Determined Contributions (NDCs) that countries submitted in the
lead-up to November.
Renewable
energy markets were affected only indirectly by these developments
during 2016; more concrete policy developments resulting from
commitments to the Paris Agreement and new announcements had not yet
been enacted and/or implemented in most countries.
For
the whole document see:
Problems
with biomass energy resources:
The
EU Emissions Trading System
according
to the European Union:
criticism:
http://www.eubusiness.com/news-eu/carbon-emission.28lw
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