Ecology and Sustainability

by Nicolas al-Ferzly - Lebanon is blessed with an abundance of water, wind and sun. Yet so far this potential is so far nearly not explored while citizens even in the center of Beirut face daily power cuts of at least three hours. So how could tapping the country’s renewables be an asset for the Government of Lebanon to provide stable electric services throughout the country?

The Katowice climate package brings minor progress, but COP 24 failed to deliver on the most fundamental issues such as raising ambition of national contributions, implementing human rights, and ensuring support for developing countries.

This short briefing paper gives an overview of the state of negotiations and key issues at stake for COP 24. It puts the UN climate talks into a broader context of climate diplomacy and climate science and summarizes the state of play with regard to some specific issues that are of major interest and concern to the Heinrich Böll Foundation and its partners.

The IPCC Special Report on 1.5 opts for a rigorous interpretation of the 1.5 limit on global warming. It has good reasons to do so: "Overshooting" that target risks irreversible impacts and damage for societies and ecosystems, and increases reliance on unproven, high-risk geoengineering technologies.

On the topic of “Citizen Participation in Urban Sustainable Development”, Heinrich Böll Stiftung (hbs) represented by its offices in Palestine & Jordan, Lebanon, Tunisia and Morocco concluded a five-day regional summer school in Tunis, hosted and organized by hbs Tunisia Office. The event took place between July 15th – 21st, 2018. It brought together 23 environmental activists, architects, artists and young community leaders from the MENA Region and provided them with a platform for capacity building, debate, and the exchange of ideas, opinions and experiences from the region on civil participation and sustainable urban development.

The Horsh Beirut Festival is a public event held each summer in Beirut’s largest green park bringing together people of all backgrounds and age groups to enjoy the green scenery and landscape and partake in a variety of free cultural, artistic and recreational activities.

Heinrich Böll Foundation (hbs), represented through its offices in Palestine, Lebanon, Tunisia and Morocco, welcomes applicants from Arab countries in the Middle East and North Africa to apply for its Regional Summer School 2018 that will take place between 15 - 21 July 2018 in Tunis, Tunisia.

‘What is it about food?’ I ask Jihane. She replies, as though it was obvious, ‘Food unites everybody, don’t you like to eat?’ This attitude pervades everything Souk el Tayeb does. From their weekly farmers’ market selling locally sourced and grown products, to their Capacity Building Programmes, to their restaurant Tawlet, Souk El Tayeb actively fosters a culture of positivity, promoting the idea that food can heal the wounds of political and personal conflict. Jihane continues, ‘Our slogan is “make food, not war.”’

The 23rd session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 23) to the UN Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is taking place from 6 to 17 November 2017 at the headquarters of the UNFCCC Secretariat in Bonn, Germany. The conference will be convened under the Presidency of Fiji.       Delegates from the Heinrich Boell Stiftung Offices worldwide and their partners are represented in the COP 23. The Heinrich Boell Stiftung, MENA Beirut office has supported journalists from the region to travel and report on the conference from Bonn.     The following web-dossier includes media coverage of the Bonn Climate Change Conference from delegates and journalists in English, French and Arabic.