GCAP Blog

This is our 5th quick summary of highlights from COP22 in Marrakech.

Our colleague, Ben Smith, has had the opportunity to reflect in a bit more depth on the potential impact of the US presidential election outcome on the world of climate resilience.  His conclusion - while there's a lot of uncertainty, there are some glimpses of possibility...

In this summary of the second day at COP22 in Marrakech, Tom Downing explores the present focus and some of the history and context to the process and the key goals for this year.  However, as he says, overnight the world changed.  A new US president, Donald Trump, was elected.  A man who has said that climate change is a myth created by the Chinese...

The first day of COP22 might have been dominated by the exciting news that over 55 countries had signed up to the Paris Agreement from 2015, and so, that milestone having been met, on November 4th the Agreement became binding.  Perhaps more important still, that had led to a renewed zeal for others to do so, and to-date over 100 countries have joined.  Had this tipping point not been reached the business of COP22 would probably have been very different.  So the air of some presentations was definitely celebratory.  But not all...

We thought it might be of interest to our network of partners if we were to try to follow progress at this year's COP, in Marrakech, by recording short voice-blogs generally every evening.  The conference runs from tomorrow, the 7th, to the 18th of November.  We may not have much to report on some evenings, but we will try to keep you up to date. To begin with, I thought I'd try to set the scene, and along the way to explain a few of the terms and acronyms used as I'm aware that some of us are not approaching this event from a climate perspective and perhaps for the first time.  Please use the comments space below to share your thoughts and ideas of this and subsequent summaries. Thank you, Graham. About us Established in 2010, GCAP (http://climateadaptation.cc) ranks among the top 10 leading climate think tanks globally, providing knowledge services related to national adaptation investment and finance, climate economics, climate adaptation strategy and planning and climate risk screening.  A world class organisation, we support managers holding over $1 billion in funds.  Our flagship, Oxford Adaptation Academy (http://www.climateadaptation.cc/our-work/adaptation-academy), is a unique incubator for leadership and innovation within the field of climate adaptation. Dr Graham Wilson leads the personal development and leadership strand of the Adaptation Academy.  With a background in ethology and behavioural science, he is an Executive, Leadership and Political Confidant, Tutor in Psychology and Counselling with the University of Oxford, and Co-Director of the Oxford Adaptation Academy.  His research interests include coaching and visual anthropology.  [LinkedIn = http://tinyurl.com/drgwli]