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- Convenors:
-
Malayna Raftopoulos
(University of London)
Marieke Riethof (University of Liverpool)
- Location:
- Malet 254
- Start time:
- 4 April, 2014 at
Time zone: Europe/London
- Session slots:
- 1
Short Abstract:
Climate change has become a key area of public debate and concern in recent years. This panel seeks to examine what strategies are being implemented by Latin American governments as they prepare to address the effects of climate change.
Long Abstract:
Understanding and responding to climate change is high on the global environmental agenda, not least because of its potential impact on development and environmental sustainability. The world's climate and weather patterns are changing, global temperatures are rising and extreme weather events are becoming more frequent; the effects of which are particularly severe in Latin America. It is widely recognised within the international community that action is needed to address the issues and effects of climate change and Latin American governments and societies have also responded in a variety of ways. While the scope, severity, and pace of future climate change impacts are difficult to predict, it is now widely accepted that there is a need for action to prepare for the effects of climate change, and particularly those who are most at risk. However, efforts to combat climate change in Latin America also face a number of economic, political and social challenges and contradictions, which this panel seeks to address. This panel examines what strategies to combat climate change are being implemented in Latin America by a variety of actors as the world faces one of its biggest challenges today. Comparative and interdisciplinary case studies are encouraged.
Accepted papers:
Session 1Marieke Riethof (University of Liverpool)
Paper short abstract:
An analysis of Brazil's participation in international climate negotiations.
Paper long abstract:
With Brazil emerging as an economic and political power with global leadership ambitions, its commitment to environmental protection has also come under increasing domestic and international scrutiny. While the Brazilian government tends to stress national autonomy and sovereignty over natural resources, it has more recently committed itself to a unilateral and voluntary reduction of carbon emissions and has shifted its policies away to some extent from the traditional emphasis on developing countries' differentiated responsibilities. However, significant discrepancies remain between Brazil's domestic and foreign environmental policy priorities, which can be explained by conflicting commitments to economic and green development strategies, as well as its foreign policy agenda. Civil society has also drawn attention to these very discrepancies and are playing an increasingly significant role in policy-making in Brazil through their use of protest and lobbying strategies. This paper examines Brazil's participation in international negotiations on issues such as climate change and sustainable development in the light of these discrepancies, including the impact of domestic environmental controversies such as the expansion of hydro-electric power generation and rainforest protection, which have provoked vocal international and domestic opposition.
Malayna Raftopoulos (University of London)
Paper short abstract:
Climate change has become a key area of public concern and questions have been raised regarding the relationship between tourism and climate change. This paper explores what policy framework is in place in Peru to prepare the sector against the challenges of climate change.
Paper long abstract:
Climate change has become a key area of public debate and concern and is now widely recognised within the international community as 'a significant social and environmental issue facing the global population and its resources' (Amelung, Nichollis and Viner, 2007: 286). In 2003 the first international conference on Tourism and Climate Change was held Djerba acknowledging 'the need to align the tourism sector's activities with the concerns, objectives and activities of the United Nations system in relation to climate change, and more generally with respect to sustainable development' (Becken and Hay, 2007: xvii). Since then, questions have been raised regarding the relationship between tourism and climate change and the urgent need for the tourism sector to adapt to and take preventative measure against the ever changing climate conditions and to address tourism's contribution to climate change. This paper explores what policy framework has been put in place in Peru to assess (i) the impacts of climate change on tourism and (ii) to prepare the tourism sector against the challenges and issues that climate change and global warming present. It will also consider the level of political interest in adopting and financing a framework to cope with these adverse changes on tourism.
References
Amelung, B. Nicholas, S. and Viner, D. (2007) 'Implications of Global Climate Change for Tourism Flows and Seasonality', Journal of Travel Research 45 (2) 285 - 296.
Becken, S. and Hay, J. E. (2007) Tourism and Climate Change: Risks and Opportunities, Clevedon: Channel View Publications.
Karen Siegel (University of Glasgow)
Paper short abstract:
This paper takes a regional perspective and examines how cooperation across national boundaries in relation to shared environmental concerns has evolved in the Southern Cone.
Paper long abstract:
This paper takes a regional perspective and examines how cooperation across national boundaries in relation to shared environmental concerns has evolved in the Southern Cone. The paper starts by setting out a paradox. On the one hand regional environmental cooperation has increased significantly since the early 1990s. This is evident in an increasing number of formal agreements made by governments as well as a rise in joint or coordinated activities between partners in different countries such as joint monitoring of environmental problems or shared projects of conservation or mitigation. Yet, all of these initiatives of regional environmental cooperation have remained marginal and subordinate to other political priorities. Many agreements are thus vague or non-binding and there is a high dependence on external funding. Despite the pressing environmental concerns which the region faces, environmental cooperation has thus not become a central pillar of regional cooperation. This paradox is due to the specific political and economic context of the region which has shaped regional environmental cooperation in contradictory ways. While democratisation made increased regional environmental cooperation possible, this coincided with the consolidation of a development model based on the export of natural resources which leaves very little space for environmental concerns. Although the current leftist governments have introduced some changes, notably using revenues from natural resource sectors for much needed social programmes, this has not changed the basis of the model. Economic and social development is thus highly dependent on natural resource exploitation and consequently regional environmental cooperation remains marginal.
Perla Polanco (The University of Sheffield)
Paper short abstract:
Resource nationalism in Mexico has deep historical roots. The oil expropriation of 1938 was a key element to construct a new national identity. However resource nationalism seems to be an obstacle for the goals of the general law of climate change.
Paper long abstract:
The use of fossil fuels has been linked to climate change. Mexico is particularly vulnerable to climate change, due to its ecosystem diversity and geographical location For Mexico; oil not only represents a main source of income, but also a symbol of national identity. In 2012 the Mexican government decreed the general law of climate change, which proposed a set of objectives to help mitigate climate change, such as, reduction of greenhouse gases and improving the cost-efficiency relationship in the energy sector. However the success of this law may be challenged by resource nationalism in Mexico. Resource nationalism seems to pose an obstacle to reform the energy sector. The Mexican energy sector appears to be governed by inertia and tradition. Since the oil expropriation in 1938, oil represents a symbol of national union and sovereignty. The oil expropriation was a key element to legitimate a new political regime and to construct a new national identity. After the oil expropriation the nation shared the idea of the need to protect oil from external intervention. In this paper I will discuss the institutionalisation of resource nationalism and its role in the construction of a national identity.