Dan Smith
Dan Smith is the secretary general of International Alert, an independent peacebuilding organisation, and a member of the U.N. Peacebuilding Fund's Advisory Group. Since his arrival at Alert in 2003 he has led the growth of the organisation's peacebuilding
activities in conflict-affected areas throughout the world. Before joining Alert, Dan served as Chair of the Institute for War and Peace
Reporting (1992-2006) and held fellowships at the Norwegian Nobel Institute and Hellenic Foundation for Foreign and European Policy (2003). He blogs on international politics at www.dansmithsblog.com.
Climate change and conflict: respecting complexity
The climate deal won't happen at Copenhagen in December. The work will continue. And as more people become aware of and motivated by the links between climate change on the one hand and conflict, peace and security on the other, both the possibility and the necessity of clarity about those links increase. It is an area of discussion where making an extra effort of care and precision is justified. ...
Adapting to failure in Copenhagen
It's official. A new treaty on mitigating and adapting to climate change will not be agreed at the Copenhagen conference in December. So now we have to mitigate the impact of that failure and at the same time adapt to it. There's undoubtedly a whole lot to be said about what has happened, why and what is the way forward. And it needs to be said and knocked back and forth so that we move on in better shape. ...
Don't oversimplify climate conflicts
The problem about the climate change issue - one problem among many - is that political leaders and ordinary citizens alike, as well as institutions large and small in all walks of life, have to act on it before we know everything there is to be known about it. So a lot of the argument comes down to risk. One of the key risks is increased insecurity and violent conflict. As we trace this risk, how should it shape the response we want on climate change from governments and ourselves? ...
Climate deal prospects dimming
September's UN Climate change summit convened by Secretary General Ban Ki-moon appears not to have succeeded. It was a good try and could have worked if national leaders had stepped up to accept the challenge. But most of them haven't. The regular conferencing to prepare the Copenhagen summit in December has resumed in Bangkok and the acrimony is at an unprecedented level. Everything suggests we should give up on expecting leadership from the Obama administration on climate for the rest of this year. Following the remark by U.S. Senate majority leader Harry Reid that the Senate probably won't pass a climate law this year, President Obama's energy adviser Carol Browner has been reported as saying the White House accepts that political reality. ...
Obama, Hu and climate change: a question of who leads
What just happened? - it might be a good question to ask about the UN climate summit convened by Secretary General Ban Ki-moon last Tuesday. "Not a lot" is the most likely answer. Hu smiled... ...
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