C02 - Climate Governance
Date: Jun 12 | Heure: 10:15am to 11:45am | Salle: UQÀM, Pavillion DS: DS-2950 (2nd floor, enter off of St-Catherine Street, métro Berri-UQAM or St-Laurent)
Chair/Président/Présidente : Soham Das (O.P. Jindal Global University)
Discussant/Commentateur/Commentatrice : Andrew Heffernan (University of Ottawa)
Climate Finance and Nigeria’s Quest for Net Zero Emissions: Problems and Prospects: John Shola (Landmark University)
Abstract: Abstract
The issue of climate change and its attendant global challenges have become issues of global priority in recent times simply because there is no country that is completely shielded from its havoc. Despite the anthropogenic nature of climate change and its associated challenges, low climate finance is worrisome most especially in Africa. It is evident that the developing countries have contributed the least to the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, they are however the most vulnerable to the threats of climate change because of low capacity to adapt to the various threats posed by the climate. It is projected that developing countries will need hundreds of billions of dollars to adapt to the inevitable warming of the climate change and other attendant consequences. However, it is obvious that Nigerian fragile economy has a low proclivity to contain the required finances needed to mitigate the causes and effects of climate change without over-reliance on foreign donors. In 2009, under the Copenhagen Accord, developed countries agreed to jointly provide succor with USD 1 billion a year by 2020 to developing nations to help them adapt to climate change and mitigate further rises in temperature. In spite of the euphoria that greeted the promise, it was not fulfilled. The study intends to assess Nigerian financial stance and its projected quest for Net Zero Emissions. The study adopts methodological triangulation. The primary data were generated through the utility of Key Informant Interviews (KIIs), the secondary data were sourced from textbooks, journal articles and web-based materials. The data generated were analyzed using logic inductive method and thematic analysis. The study recommends more comprehensive financial parameters beyond what is captured in the Climate Act coupled with the full implementation of carbon tax system across the federation with required legislations
Keywords: Climate Change; Climate finance; Climate mitigation; Anthropogenic factors; Nigeria
Climate Change, Mobility, and Resilience: Politicizing the Gaps of the Global Governance Response to Climate-induced Migration and Displacement: Chelsea Dunn (Queen's University), Sarah E. Sharma (University of Victoria)
Abstract: Climate change has ignited a crisis of mobility. The Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre estimates that in 2022 alone, 32.6 million people fled environmental disasters within the borders of their countries, marking a near 38% increase from the previous year. And yet, the climate-induced crisis of mobility remains marginalized in political science. While migration scholars understand that climate change exacerbates other social, economic, and political factors influencing migration, there remain significant gaps of knowledge related to 1) the different approaches required to address long-term compared to sudden disaster-driven forms of climate-induced mobility, and 2) the novel ways climate mitigation initiatives drive displacement amidst land conflicts—particularly in the global South, which experiences the brunt of this crisis. Responding to these silences, this paper employs an international political economy (IPE) approach to investigate the historical, institutional, discursive, and material landscape of global climate-induced mobility governance. To do so, we examine six flagship global governance publications on climate-induced mobility, including the field-defining 2018 World Bank Groundswell Report. In so doing, we investigate how global institutions frame and govern climate-induced mobility, particularly in terms of equity and justice. We find that global institutions claim that climate-induced mobility can be effectively managed through forms of resilience-building and strategic adaptation despite the growing evidence that this crisis requires systemic changes around key issues like housing and border control. Drawing on the concept of disposability, we argue that this approach leverages xenophobic logic to justify the shortcomings of resilience in governing the climate-induced crisis of mobility.
Transnational Climate Governance, Foucault, and the Neo-Liberal Turn: Similarities and Dead-Ends: Mark Purdon (Université du Québec à Montréal), Olivier Ruchet (Université Paris 2)
Abstract: This paper examines the uncanny resemblance between Foucault’s initial embrace of the politics of neoliberalism and current interest in Transnational Climate Governance (TCG). We show in the paper how TCG dovetails closely with several elements of the Foucauldian neoliberal framework, from attempts to decenter the state as an essential political actor in global efforts towards climate change mitigation to the designation of non-state actors are key catalysts of climate governance and a preference for “bottom-up” processes to take climate action. Just like Foucault might have failed to appreciate hidden mechanisms of power in governance through markets, we argue that there has been insufficient attention to the potential for regressive political consequences of TCG, particularly in the developing world. Exploring the parallels between Foucault, neoliberalism and TCG, the paper brings debates in global climate governance into dialogue with broader trends in global political economy and opens new theoretical approaches to global climate governance that resonate with declining enthusiasm for globalization amongst developed countries as well as growing interest in the developmental state model in the developing world.
(Practice) Tracing the Rise of Subnational and Indigenous Governors in Global Environmental Politics: Marjolaine Lamontagne (McGill University)
Abstract: How do new governors emerge in world politics? Since the establishment of the UN "Constituencies" at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992, the environmental arena has witnessed a significant rise in the involvement of so-called "non-state" actors in global policymaking and conferences, particularly within the domains of climate, biodiversity, and the Sustainable Development Goals. This Ph.D. dissertation employs a practice tracing methodology, incorporating interviews, participant observations, archival research, and analysis of social media content, to illuminate how subnational governments and Indigenous Peoples have effectively expanded their presence and engagement in UN-sponsored global events, including the HPLF and climate and biodiversity COPs, from 2015 to the present. By tracing how informal practices developed over two decades of advocacy and activism have led to more formalized types of participation for these territorial actors in recent global summits, it seeks to examine two interrelated processes of cognitive evolution of great significance for national and global politics.
Firstly, this research explores how local governments and Indigenous communities integrated into global diplomatic networks have come to redefine their understanding and practice of local/regional autonomy and/or sovereignty within the context of global environmental governance. Secondly, through a comparative analysis of practices related to the inclusion and exclusion of subnational governments and Indigenous Peoples across the climate, biodiversity, and Sustainable Development Goals fields, this study sheds light on the transformation of shared assumptions and background knowledge among UN personnel and member state representatives, which may have fostered greater receptivity to "non-sovereign" territorial representatives in global policymaking.
(Supervisor: Vincent Pouliot, vincent.pouliot@mcgill.ca)
Shifting Grandiose Visions of Sustainability and the Making of an Arid Sahara Desert: Khaoula Bengezi (York University)
Abstract: The Sahara Desert in Morocco has long been a subject of ambitious techno-scientific visions. These visions often contrast the Orientalist perception of a barren desert with the Sahara's transformative potential. This is exemplified by various large-scale development initiatives introduced throughout history, including the French administrations' dam projects, Morocco's Green Plan, and more recently, elaborate and futuristic large-scale solar power projects. The focus of my paper is to examine how these temporal notions of 'sustainability' are situated within a specific time and space and prioritize the visual grandeur of the projects at the expense of their long-term viability and their benefits to local communities and the nation. The current global preoccupation with the construction of expansive solar power plants is exemplified by the Noor Ouarzazate Solar Power Plant, the largest of its kind in the world with approximately two million solar power mirrors. My paper emphasizes the cost of these grand imaginaries by highlighting how these projects require a significant amount of water to operate, thereby posing a threat to an already water-scarce region and the communities that surround them. I argue that these water shortages are not solely the result of climate change drought, but also the consequence of internationally envisioned and nationally implemented grandiose development projects.