The Fast-Action Climate Mitigation Campaign
With abrupt climate change approaching faster than predicted according to scientists, fast-action mitigation strategies are essential in order to avoid passing the tipping points. The Institute for Governance & Sustainable Development has embarked on a “fast-action” climate mitigation campaign to promote non-CO2 strategies that will result in significant emissions reductions in the near-term, to complement cuts in CO2 which are essential for the long-term. These strategies include:
- Reducing emissions of short-term climate forcers, such as black carbon, methane, and tropospheric ozone
- Maximizing the potential of the Montreal Protocol ozone treaty to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, with a current focus on:
- Phasing down potent hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) that can have up to 11,000 times the warming potential of CO2
- Recovering and destroying ozone-depleting substances (ODSs) in “banks” of existing equipment, foams, and stockpiles
- Expanding bio-sequestration through biochar, a charcoal made from agricultural waste that has the potential to sequester carbon in soil for hundreds to thousands of years while also improving agricultural productivity
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Seminar Co-hosted by IGSD Focuses on "Other" Half of Climate Change and Role of Media in Raising Awareness, Mobilizing World to Act
24 May 2010: The Montreal Protocol’s success to date in protecting the ozone layer and the climate system was the focus of an all-day seminar as part of the 2010 Asia Media Summit in Beijing – an event drawing more than 700 broadcast journalists from all over the Asian region.
The “Ozone Protection and Climate Benefit” seminar was presented by the Asia-Pacific Institute for Broadcasting Development (AIBD), United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Institute for Governance & Sustainable Development, and the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
To read more, click here.
IGSD President Receives CIEL's International Environmental Law Award
In March, the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) presented Durwood Zaelke and the other co-founders of CIEL with its International Environmental Law Award, which
recognizes individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the effort to achieve solutions to environmental problems through international law and institutions:
"Without the vision, dedication and hard work of these individuals, CIEL would not exist today or be able to perform the extraordinary work for which it is renowned all over the world." (More information here.) Mr. Zaelke served as CIEL's president from 1989 to 2003.