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Rainforest Blogs

Life behind the scenes with our animals, plants and people

Feb
26

Is the world ready for a Universal Declaration on the Rights of Mother Earth?

Following the Copenhagen Climate Summit which ended in stalemate last December, the President of Bolivia is seizing the initiative and hosting a People’s World Summit on Climate Change in Cochabamba this April. One of the key documents for discussion will be a Draft Universal Declaration on the Rights of Mother Earth.

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Jan
18

Magnificent Medinilla

Last week, we had a visit from a research student from Oxford Brookes University. She was studying the Medinilla magnifica plant.

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Dec
22

The Copenhagen Accord – Final Nail in the Coffin or a New Beginning for Climate Policy?

The Copenhagen Accord is a beautifully written document and full of good intentions. I encourage everyone to read it. It can be found on the UNFCCC website, is quite short and touches on many of the contentious issues in climate change policy. Unfortunately, it is almost entirely lacking of any consequence or even content. Today, this document is literally empty: it contains two tables that are intentionally blank. Let’s have a closer look.

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Dec
19

Nopenhagen

Over the last 48 hours, we’ve watched in stunned disbelief as the Copenhagen Summit has unravelled before our eyes. Post-Copenhagen, environmental governance will never be the same again.

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Dec
18

Obama’s Hopenhagen

COPENHAGEN – I have to admit, seeing President Barack Obama finally walk up to the podium did make my heart beat just a little bit faster. After so much hype about his arrival – the potential visit in the first week, then a firm commitment to support the process personally in the second week and, yesterday, some rumours that he may not come after all – it was exciting to finally see him there. Agile, hopping onto the stage, adjusting the microphone, obviously fully comfortable in his role of addressing the world on the most important issue of our time. It is all too easy to rekindle your hopes when you see President Obama speak.

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Dec
17

A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall

COPENHAGEN – Bob Dylan’s 1963 classic about floods and rising oceans is taking on new meaning in Copenhagen. The song has become a bit of a theme song for climate action. For the first time in its seventeen-year history, the United Nations climate summit is being bombarded with massive protests inside and outside the conference centre.

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Dec
14

Restricted Access – to Planet Earth

COPENHAGEN – The United Nations Climate Secretariat has acted on its threat – access to the Copenhagen climate summit will be restricted starting tomorrow. Observer organizations, such as my own, the University of Oxford, will be restricted in terms of how many participants can be allowed into the conference centre for the rest of the week. Forty thousand officially registered participants are being limited to a group of fifteen thousand participants who will actually be allowed access to the site of the historic climate negotiations. That means that many of the observer organizations can only bring in less than half of their delegates. The rest are to enjoy the day in Copenhagen city.

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Dec
14