Climate Migration by Mary Hospedales

Climate Migration

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The Poseidon Principles: A Groundbreaking New Formula for Navigating Decarbonization 

June 17, 2019: For the past 18 months, Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) has worked behind closed doors with an unprecedented coalition to establish the Poseidon Principles. Today, June 18, 2019, the Principles become public as 11 banks representing approximately $100 billion become the founding signatories of the agreement.

The Poseidon Principles are a new type of climate change agreement, the significance of which is difficult to overstate. As the first global, sector-wide, and self-governing climate alignment agreement among financial institutions, these principles redefine the role of banks in the maritime shipping sector and lay a clear path for the broader financial sector to make new, significant contributions to global decarbonization.

The Poseidon Principles are the first example of financial players joining forces to drive greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reductions in line with a climate target. Signatories to the Poseidon Principles will work to foster the decarbonization of the maritime shipping sector, which represents two to three percent of global GHG emissions—around the same amount as the nation of Germany. They will do this in line with the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO’s) climate target of 50 percent absolute GHG reductions by 2050. Read More

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The real cure for our environmental problems is to understand that our job is to salvage Mother Nature. 

Jacques Yves Cousteau

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Snipers ordered to shoot children, Israeli general confirms | 

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An Israeli general has confirmed that when snipers stationed along Israel’s boundary with Gaza shoot at children, they are doing so deliberately, under clear and specific orders.

In a radio interview, Brigadier-General (Reserve) Zvika Fogel describes how a sniper identifies the “small body” of a child and is given authorization to shoot.

Fogel’s statements could be used as evidence of intent if Israeli leaders are ever tried for war crimes at the International Criminal Court.

On Friday, an Israeli sniper shot dead 14-year-old Muhammad Ibrahim Ayyoub.

The boy, shot in the head east of Jabaliya, was the fourth child among the more than 30 Palestinians killed during the Great March of Return rallies that began in Gaza on 30 March. Read More

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St. Vincent and the Grenadines breaks a record, as smallest ever Security Council seat holder 

Following a secret ballot held on Friday, the UN General Assembly elected five countries to the Security Council, including St. Vincent and the Grenadines, the smallest nation ever to secure a seat.

Speaking to the press outside the General Assembly Hall, Ralph Gonsalves, Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, described the election of his multi-island nation of around 110,000 people, as a “historic occasion”.

Mr. Gonsalves added that the country is committed to the principle of sustainable development and, as a Small Island Developing State in danger of inundation by rising seas, is very concerned about the consequences of adverse climate change and intends to work very closely with the other members of the Security Council. The UN, he added, has limitations, but it also has “profound strengths.”

Following a 2014 General Assembly resolution, elections to the non-permanent Security Council seats were moved from October to June, to give incoming countries more time to prepare for their terms, before assuming their responsibilities.

Watch Mr. Gonsalves’s remarks to reporters below, following the Security Council vote at UN Headquarters in New York. Read More

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The UK’s offshore oil and gas sector “is listening” to teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg, according to a leading industry figure. 

Greta Thunberg

She claimed the sector “can find and deliver” solutions to tackle the issue.

Miss Thunberg sparked an international youth movement after she staged a “School Strike for Climate” last year.

Since then school students around the world have gone on strike to demand action on climate change.

In a recent speech to MPs, the 16-year-old Swede criticised the UK for supporting new exploitation of fossil fuels and exaggerating cuts to carbon emissions.  Read More

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The western idea of private property is flawed. Indigenous peoples have it right 

Indigenous Peoples

Who has a scythe sharp enough to fell the stalks of capitalism today? It’s not Marx, Lenin and Mao

 One promising precedent on this path to a post-imperial future has emerged in Aotearoa/New Zealand, where the Whanganui Maori iwi just won a 140-year legal battle to recognize that their ancestral Whanganui river has legal rights equal to a human being.

 In the fight for climate justice, indigenous people set the path – and lead the way

The Whanganui settlement, which was signed by the Whanganui iwi in 2014 and enacted into law by New Zealand parliament last week, established two guardians to act on behalf of the river, one from the crown and one from the iwi. In addition to legal recognition of the personhood of the Whanganui river, the settlement provided financial redress to the iwi of NZ$80m, and an additional NZ$1m contribution to establish the legal framework for the river.

Less than a week after the legislation went into effect, India’s Uttarakhand high court cited the Whanganui decision when it ruled that the Ganges and Yamuna rivers have the legal status of a person. Read More

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