Hi, I'm looking forward to tomorrow's debate.
How do we get joined-up thinking on issues? Had a chat with Lester Brown of the Earth Policy Institute yesterday and he suggests getting top universities to start new "systems" degrees that include classes from a variety of key areas. "Our big problem is fragmentation and specialisation of knowledge. We've been so narrowly focused, looking at our own little piece, that very few people see the big picture."
Hi, I’m Kit Vaughan, Director of CARE’s Poverty, Environment and Climate Change Network. I was born and brought up in Tanzania and now dedicate all of my efforts to tackling climate change, recognising we owe it to current and future generations to solve the most important issue of our time.
Hi, I am Ruth Fuller I Co-Chair Beyond 2015 in the UK. Beyond 2015 is a global campaign aiming to influence the creation of a post 2015 development framework that succeeds the current UN Millennium Development Goals. Beyond 2015 brings together more than 700 civil society organisations in over 100 countries around the world. I also work for WWF-UK where I advise on International Development Policy.
Here’s a big-picture question to kick off the debate: How would you say climate change has fared in the post-2015 process so far?
Hello there.this is Mary Robinson, President of the Mary Robinson Foundation - Climate Justice, which focuses on how climate change affects the poorest and the steps we can take to address that. I'm looking forward to this debate.
To answer the first question: The Beyond 2015 process so far, together with the recent High Level Panel report, has made great progress to date, but it’s just a small piece of the puzzle. Overall, climate change has not been addressed prominently enough in the beyond 2015 discussions – and still there are no clear solutions as to how sustainable energy goals, or holding global temperatures to 2⁰C, and helping people adapt to climate impacts will be achieved – especially as we are now on a pathway to 4 degrees+ of global warming. We need a radical shift in our global political economy.
Definitely, the speed and scale of progress toward climate goals seems far too slow....
Hi Megan, to answer your starting question: I am encouraged by the recent report by the High Level Panel on the Post 2015 Development Agenda, which placed a strong emphasis on the need to get serious about climate change - – it is recognised as a cross-cutting issue which could have huge impacts on development gains. To quote from the report: ‘climate change will determine whether or not we can deliver on our ambitions’; ‘we must fight climate change’.
The report also reflected Climate Justice thinking. For example: ‘People living in poverty will suffer first and worst from climate change’; ‘Many people living in poverty have not had a fair chance in life because they are victims of…..climate change…..’
My Foundation (mrfcj.org) is passionate about climate justice, and so is encouraged that the High Level Panel acknowledges the injustices that climate change is causing to those people least responsible for it.