Posted By Halina Ward
on 10th March, 2010
FDSD is pleased to announce a collaboration with Schumacher College- the International Centre for Sustainability, Dartington Hall Trust, Salzburg Global Seminar and Goodenough College in London to present an international leadership seminar on ‘Mobilising Democracy to Tackle Climate Change’ in the centre of London on 19-20 April 2010.
The seminar will focus on the central question: what innovations are needed in democracy and participatory decision-making, if we want them to deliver the actions required to mitigate and adapt to climate change?
Priced at £75/Euro 85 for the one and a half day seminar, the programme has been designed for leaders and change makers in central and local governments, businesses, non-governmental organisations and communities, and anyone concerned with mobilising democracy to tackle climate change.
Places for the event are likely to fill soon so please book early to avoid disappointment.
You can read more about the programme, speakers and booking information on the Schumacher College website
To whet your appetite further, you…
Posted By Halina Ward
on 25th February, 2010
OFFICE OF THE HUNGARIAN PARLIAMENTARY COMMISSIONER FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS
EMBASSY OF THE REPUBLIC OF HUNGARY IN LONDON
FOUNDATION FOR DEMOCRACY AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
UK ENVIRONMENTAL LAW ASSOCIATION
PRESS RELEASE
Hungary’s Green Ombudsman puts environmental futures at the heart of decision-making
A unique environmental watchdog role – protecting the rights not just of present generations but also future ones – will be explained tonight (25th February) at the Ministry of Justice in London.
What lessons can the UK learn from the role of the Hungarian Parliamentary Commissioner for Future Generations, Dr Sándor Fülöp? Should we be considering a similar role to protect the interests of the most excluded – those who are yet to be born?
In 2007, the Hungarian Parliament created a new independent watchdog – the ‘green ombudsman’ – to safeguard the constitutional right of Hungarian citizens to a healthy environment.
In his speech tonight (25th February) to an invited audience of lawyers, non-governmental organisations,…
Posted By John Lotherington
on 2nd February, 2010
There is a narrative which is emerging on the fringes of green politics – in throw-away comments, or after a few drinks – which characterises Copenhagen as not just the failure of democracies but the failure of democracy itself. (Mark Vernon, for instance, has commented on it)
There have been 20 years and more consciousness raising, bringing the science to the attention of voters, waiting for the increasingly green rhetoric of politicians to turn into the real commitments needed to mitigate climate change. In the meantime, untold billions have been spent on the waste of war, at the whim of a cabal of leaders - though all in the West were democratically elected and all re-elected to further terms of office. The deep disappointment at this is understandable, and the sacred cow of democracy can start to look less sacred and more bovine.
As a consequence, some people are turning to look with some envy at…
Posted By Halina Ward
on 26th January, 2010
Adding to 
some of the themes explored in an earlier post on the idea of the ‘consumer citizen’, this post from guest blogger Jules Peck, over at Citizen Renaissance, argues that the mix between consumerism and citizen action for sustainable development needs to be reconfigured in favour of the citizen.
The entry is also posted here.
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By Jules Peck
As we remain firmly rooted in our Western economic bath-tub and emerge from the dusts of Copenhagen, it seems ever clearer that Citizens are the missing link for 2010.
Politics continue to fail us and fail to recognise, let alone confront and overcome, the greatest challenges of our time.
The message we put out starting 18 months ago with Citizen Renaissance, is now being taken up by the business community. Even the relatively conservative World Business Council for Sustainable Development is reporting on the need for a shift away from rampant consumerism to more citizen-centric values.
The Worldwatch Institute’s…
Posted By John Elkington
on 28th December, 2009
A reflection by Niall Ferguson in today’s Financial Times on the historical significance of the past decade struck me as particularly apt and insightful. He explores the reasons behind the astonishing – and accelerating – shift to the east in the world’s economic (and, ultimately, political) centre of gravity. In the process, he asks what it was that gave the West its “ascendancy”, through the Renaissance, the Reformation, the Enlightenment and the ensuing race around the world, as far as the Antipodes?
His answer is that the West benefited from six “killer apps”. These were: “the capitalist enterprise, the scientific method, a legal and political system based on private property rights and individual freedom, traditional imperialism, the consumer society and what Weber probably misnamed the ‘Protestant’ ethic of work and capital accumulation as ends in themselves.”
Some of these, Ferguson argues, particularly numbers one and two, China has already replicated. Other, and among…
Posted By Halina Ward
on 22nd December, 2009
I’m back in London after a week in Copenhagen at various climate events. Almost everything climate-related that happened in and around Copenhagen over the past two weeks offers rich pickings for reflection on the changing relationship between democracy and climate change.
As we start work on our project here at the Foundation for Democracy and Sustainable Development on ‘the future of democracy in the face of climate change‘, we’ll be reflecting on the big question: what next?
We’ll be looking, not just at the critically important coming twelve months, but beyond, to 2050 and 2100.
So in this blog post I highlight some of the ‘democracy and climate change’ themes that emerged in Copenhagen.
Public protest and climate change
One of the most headline-grabbing issues in Copenhagen concerned the methods used by Danish police to manage very largely peaceful protest.
The images of (mostly police) violence and mass detentions on the streets of Copenhagen run the risk of…
Posted By Halina Ward
on 18th December, 2009
In a new paper published on this website, sustainability campaigner Charles Secrett sets out a possible pathway for achieving revolutionary change towards democracy, environmental justice and sustainable development.
As Charles explains: “Currently, we have no visionary text explaining the intersect between (those heavy but crucial concepts) democracy, environmental justice and sustainable development. The task now upon us, as chaos increasingly bites the world over, is to find a development path that can sustain and improve life, without chasing the chimera of perfect answers to all problems.
With no convenient scripture to hand, is there another way to bring about the kind of revolution that is needed? Can we find that transformative, non-violent route-map that can lift us out of the mess we have created and toward a more fulfilling society, moulded by the principles and practice of democracy, environmental justice and sustainable development?”
We invite your comments. Feel free to post thoughts…
Posted By Halina Ward
on 15th December, 2009
Week two of the COP15 climate summit. The outcome remains uncertain. We now post a piece by FDSD Vice-Chair Ian Christie which cautiously welcomes the debate over ‘climategate’.
Meanwhile so-called ‘climate sceptics’ continue to publicise what they suggest amounts to muzzling of their legitimate questions inside the COP15 meeting space, and just one week has passed since Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Vice-Chair Jean-Pascale van Ypersele complained that “[w]e are spending a lot of useless time discussing this rather than spending time preparing information for the negotiators”.
Climategate, Ian argues, teaches us that
1) climate science is not a ‘done deal’ and never can be;
2) the science is a human process and inevitably bound up with values, worldviews and interests;
3) climate science has implications of such scale and impact that debate and assessment of evidence must be as open as possible; and
4) those in the ‘climate consensus’ need to be far more sensitive to issues…
Posted By Halina Ward
on 4th December, 2009
FDSD has been awarded a ‘Future of Humanity’ grant by US-based Foundation for the Future for a research project on ‘the future of democracy in the face of climate change’.
Future of Humanity grants are awarded following an annual competition for proposals from scholars undertaking research at a macro level that is directly related to better understanding the factors affecting the long-term future of humanity.
The 12-month FDSD project will develop scenarios around the question: “how might democracy and participatory decision-making have evolved to cope with the challenges of climate change by the years 2050 and 2100?”
The Foundation for the Future award comes as the relationship between science, democracy and climate change enters the media spotlight as never before.
With the UK public bombarded with a media and internet storm over the stolen emails and the scientific evidence at the heart of what has been dubbed ‘climategate‘, the risk is that public trust both in scientists and politicians will plummet.
But what could this mean…
Posted By Halina Ward
on 2nd December, 2009
[Cross-posted from www.thesamosa.co.uk]
This is a post about terrorism, sustainable development, and the power of diaspora. And it’s a post that asks whether we might find ourselves in a different place now had Osama Bin Laden been poor.
There was a moment, back in September 2001 (but only the days that followed the 11th of the month), when people active in the environment and development movements thought we might, just possibly, be about to have our day.
The common ground for proponents of ‘sustainable development’, which links environment to development concerns, is that as nations and societies we need to develop in ways that take account of economy, environment, and society in an integrated way.
Motherhood and apple pie? Apparently not, because wherever you might be reading this, it’s fairly clear that we’ve failed to tackle poverty and inequality on the scale necessary to ensure that we are able to meet the needs…
Posted By Halina Ward
on 6th November, 2009
The UN Democracy Fund has asked us to post information about a forthcoming funding round for civil society-led work on projects that can advance and support democracy.
We’re happy to do so, in the hope that NGOs based in middle and low income countries will have project ideas that can make advances in getting democracy working for sustainable development.
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The United Nations Democracy Fund invites civil society organizations to apply for funding
The United Nations Democracy Fund invites civil society organizations to apply for funding for projects to advance and support democracy. Project proposals may be submitted on-line between 16 November 2009 and 31 December 2009 at www.un.org/democracyfund, where applicants can also find guidelines, FAQs and lessons learned from previous rounds. Only on-line applications in either English or French will be accepted.
This is the Fourth Round of Funding to be launched by UNDEF, which was established by the UN Secretary-General in 2005 as a…
Posted By Ian Christie
on 6th November, 2009
The signs are that expectations for the Copenhagen climate conference are being seriously downgraded. There is so much disagreement still, and so much uncertainty about when and whether the USA will make substantial commitments, that a binding global deal at COP15 seems out of the question.
The summit is being redefined as a way-station en route to a proper binding deal with targets and funding attached, sometime next year or 2011.
The evidence and modelling of climate change indicate the great urgency of action now to enable GHG emissions to peak in the coming decade. If not, we risk very major climate disruption and mounting costs at best, and calamitous disruption to economies and societies at worst.
The main barrier to a deal has been the USA, for many years now.
Why has the USA been such a block and drag on the process of taking meaningful action to avert climate dangers? One obvious…
Posted By Halina Ward
on 3rd November, 2009
I went to an excellent Sustainable Development Commission/Earthscan panel discussion yesterday afternoon for the launch of Professor Tim Jackson’s new book, “Prosperity without Growth”. Other panelists were Professor Lord Tony Giddens, Jo Swinson MP and Ed Crooks.
The discussion was based on Professor Jackson’s central argument that building a new economic model fit for a low carbon world is ‘the most urgent task of our times’.
There was some discussion at the event about the extent to which getting to this economy ’fit for purpose’ depends on the state of our democracy.
In his book, Professor Jackson argues that “..we must ask searching questions about the balance of the institutions that characterize modern society. Do they promote competition or cooperation? Do they reward self-servicing behaviour or people who sacrifice their own gain to serve others? What signals do government, schools, the media, religious and community institutions send out to people? Which behaviours are supported by public investments and…
Posted By Halina Ward
on 28th October, 2009
When in 2008 the government of Madagascar agreed a deal with Korean Daewoo Logistics for the company to access 1.3million hectares of agricultural land to grow maize and palm oil for export, protests, political crisis and ultimately the fall of the government and the cancellation of the deal followed. Madagascar’s citizens were not consulted.
In this guest post, IIED’s Lorenzo Cotula suggests that the ’land grab’ phenomenon is a key issue of democracy and sustainable development.
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Over the past year, large-scale land acquisitions for agrifood and biofuel investments in Africa, Asia and Latin America have made headlines in media reports across the world.
Lands that only a short time ago seemed of little outside interest are now being sought by international investors to the tune of hundreds of thousands of hectares – a phenomenon that the media has dubbed ‘land grabbing’.
A key issue is the way in which investors gain access to land for these…
