www'eparl'net

1

• www.e-parl.net

2

• Small.

Fragile.
Interconnected.
3
Global problem solving today

• 200 nation states focusing on national Interests
• No easy way to learn from experience of others
• Slow, difficult negotiations to reach agreement
• International institutions with weak democratic
  legitimacy
• Global problems unsolved or worsening - climate,
  deforestation, AIDS, wars, nuclear weapons,
  poverty, etc

4
New systems needed

• Fast, flexible, global
• Share best practice among law-makers
• Enable closer cooperation across borders
• Democratic

5
Connecting parliaments
6
e-Parliament process

• Poll legislators to set joint priorities
• Gather ideas that work for online Ideas Bank
• Discuss ideas in video conferences
• International parliamentary committee hearings
• Support national parliamentary action

7
e-Parliament Hearings

• Review the issues
• Examine policy options
• What can legislators do now?
• Action in national parliaments
• Working together across borders

8
(No Transcript)
9
A global agenda

• DEMOCRACY
• Democracy and Human Rights
• Parliamentary Affairs
• Global Governance
• ECONOMY
• Economic Policy and Trade
• Poverty and Unemployment
• Technology and the Internet
• RESOURCES
• Energy, Transport and Climate
• Environment
• Agriculture, Forests and Fisheries

• SECURITY
• Conflict Prevention
• Defence and Disarmament
• Crime, Terrorism and Justice
• SOCIETY
• Education and Culture
• Health
• Population and Migration

10
(No Transcript)
11
(No Transcript)
12
(No Transcript)
13
Weak democratic legitimacy
14
Strong democratic legitimacy
15
(No Transcript)
16
Melting Glaciers in the Bhutan-Himalaya
17

• NASA image showing the retreat of the Gangotri
  Glacier in the Himalayas.
• Due to climate change, the glacier has been
  retreating at a rate of 23 meters annually.

18
Record of retreat of some glaciers in the
Himalaya.
19
Melting ice
19
20
20
21
21
22
Upsala Gletscher, Patagonia, Argentinien
22
23
Upsala Gletscher, Patagonia, Argentinien
23
24
24
25
Flood victims in eastern India
26
The glacial lake in Dig Tsho, in Nepal,
overflowed when it burst through its moraine,
visible in the foreground.
27
(No Transcript)
28
IPCC on Asia
The gross per capita water availability in India
will decline by one third in 2050. India will
reach a state of water stress before 2025 when
the availability falls below 1000 m3 per
capita. Glaciers in the Himalayas are receding
faster than in any other part of the world. The
likelihood of them disappearing by the year 2035
and perhaps sooner is very high if the Earth
keeps warming at the current rate.
28
29
How Asia would be effected by a 6-metre rise in
sea levels
Source Environmental Studies Laboratory,
Department of Geosciences, The University of
Arizona
30
The Bangladesh delta
31
Areas Under Water Four Regions
32
The projected shift of permafrost boundary in
North Asia due to climate change by 2100
33
GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE RISKS IN ASIA THE KEY
FINDINGS OF IPCC 4AR _____________________________
_______________________________________
Dr Murari Lal Advisor (EHS) Reliance Energy
Limited Noida, INDIA March 1, 2008
34
IPCC 4AR - KEY FINDINGS FOR ASIA

• The Expansion of areas under severe water stress
  will be one of the most pressing environmental
  problems in South and Southeast Asia in the
  foreseeable future as the number of people living
  under severe water stress is likely to increase
  substantially in absolute terms
• Projected surface warming and shifts in rainfall
  in most countries of Asia will induce substantial
  declines in agricultural productivity as a
  consequence of thermal stress and more severe
  droughts and floods. The decline in agricultural
  productivity is likely to be more pronounced in
  areas already suffering from increasing scarcity
  of arable lands. The net cereal production in
  South Asia is projected to decline at least
  between 4 to 10 by the end of this century under
  the most conservative climate change projections

35
IPCC 4AR - KEY FINDINGS FOR ASIA

• Increased risk of extinction for many flora and
  fauna species in Asia is likely as a result of
  the synergistic effects of climate change and
  habitat fragmentation. With average temperature
  increasing by 1C the duration of wild fire
  season is likely to grow by 30
• Rise in surface air temperature and decline in
  precipitation is likely to reduce pasture
  productivity in parts of Asia by the end of this
  century
• Increases in endemic morbidity and mortality due
  to diarrhoeal disease primarily associated with
  floods and droughts are expected in East, South
  and Southeast Asia. Increases in coastal water
  temperature would exacerbate the abundance and/or
  toxicity of cholera in South Asia

36
IPCC 4AR - KEY FINDINGS FOR ASIA

• Projected sea level rise is likely to result in
  many million additional people being flooded each
  year
• Sea water intrusion is likely to increase the
  habitat of brackish water fisheries but coastal
  inundation is likely to damage the aquaculture
  industry significantly. Changes in currents,
  water temperature, salinity, strength of
  upwelling and mixing layer thickness in the West
  Pacific and North Indian Oceans are expected due
  to climate change and sea level rise will
  exacerbate the already declining fish
  productivity in Asia
• Stability of wetlands including mangroves, and
  coral reefs around Asia is likely to be
  increasingly threatened

37
37
38
38
39
39
40

• Getting

hotter.
41
Rise so far 0.6 C 67 chance avoiding 2.0C
2030 if 440 ppmCO2e (current level) Earth
absorption 2.7 billion tonnes 8.2 billion
people 0.33 tonnes per person by 2030
42
Per capita CO2 emissions
Figures for 2004, in metric tonnes

• United States 20.6 tonnes
• Taiwan 12.4 tonnes
• United Kingdom 9.8 tonnes
• China 3.8 tonnes
• India 1.2 tonnes
• Philippines 1.0 tonnes

Source UNDP Human Development Report, 2008
Figure for 2003 sourced from EIA
43
CO2 Emissions per capita, by region.
44
No shortage of technologies
45
Nanosolar Powersheet
46
Powering Seville
47
(No Transcript)
48
The real shortage Political will
49
e-Parliament Climate Hearings

• Threat to the planet
• Powering an energy efficient economy from the sun
• Working together
• What can legislators do now?
• Energy efficiency
• Renewable energy
• Energy access for the poor
• Forest protection

50
Benefits of action, with or without global
agreement

• Protect the planet
• Stop worrying about price of oil
• Energy for as long as the sun shines
• Less lung disease
• More jobs

51
The moral equivalent of war