In vielen Weltregionen werden bei ungebremstem Klimawandel Millionen von Menschen ihre Lebensgrundlage verlieren - ein Konfliktpotenzial ungeahnten Ausmaßes. Germanwatch sucht aktiv nach Lösungen zur friedlichen Bewältigung - und möglichst Vermeidung - dieser Probleme.

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Publication
- English summary of German Background Paper -

Under the motto "Time to act", the 25th Conference of the Parties (COP25) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) will take place from 2 to 13 December 2019 in Madrid, Spain, under Chile's presidency. After all, it is finally time for action in the logic of the UN negotiations. Following the decisions of the Paris Climate Agreement in 2015 and its implementation rules last year, nothing stands in the way of decisive action.

News

Multi-Actor-Partnerships offer an approach to address complex challenges through cooperation between actors from civil society, politics, the private sector and academia. The short film outlines the relevant framework conditions and criteria for a successful partnership. An example from India illustrates the advantages of this approach.

News

The short film illustrates how cooperation between actors from civil society, politics, the private sector and academia helps to incorporate different perspectives and backgrounds in solutions to complex challenges. The example of climate risk insurance in Kenya illustrates the implementation of this approach.

Press Release
2017 year with highest weather-related losses ever recorded / Increased intensity of storms takes a toll particularly on poor countries / Puerto Rico, Sri Lanka and Dominica hardest hit in 2017 / In the past 20 years over 525,000 people have been killed by more than 11,500 extreme weather events that caused trillions US$ in damages

Tropical cyclones have heavy impacts on an increasing number of countries. In 2017, the hurricane season in the Caribbean Sea was particularly strong and left several islands destroyed. Furthermore there are some developing countries that have difficulties to recover as they are regularly hit by weather catastrophes. Especially poorer countries like Sri Lanka, Nepal or Vietnam are facing great challenges. All in all, in 2017 11.500 people died because of extreme weather events. Economic damages amounted to approximately US$ 375 billion (calculated in purchasing-power parity, PPP). So it was the year with the highest weather-related losses ever recorded.

Publication
Loss and damage (L&D) due to climate change impacts is already a reality for many people, especially the most vulnerable. So far, there is no prospect of sufficient financial support for dealing with actual L&D within the climate regime (UNFCCC). Where international climate diplomacy doesn’t advance, affected people start to take the legal avenue to address the problem of L&D. Based on this assessment, this paper analyses the status quo of international climate change litigation, revealing how the current court cases are turning an abstract risk of climate claims into a concrete one.
Press Release
Parallel to the political negotiations at the UN Climate Summit in Bonn, the legalities of climate change and its consequences will be on the agenda in Hamm. The Peruvian mountain guide Saúl Luciano Lliuya is taking his suit against RWE to the court of second instance.
The 5th Civil Chamber of the Higher District Court Hamm (Germany) has scheduled an oral hearing for the appeal of Peruvian mountain guide and small farmer Saúl Luciano Lliuya for 13 November (Monday). The public hearing is set to take approximately two hours. The scheduled date lies in the middle of the two-week UN Climate Change Conference in Bonn (Germany, 6 – 17 Nov.), which will likely attract added international attention to the case. The attorney for the claimant, Dr. Roda Verheyen (Hamburg), is pleased by the Higher District Court’s decision. “I am confident that this initial hearing will now be followed by an evidentiary phase."
Blogpost
Blog post by Noah Walker-Crawford, March 2017
Due to heavy rainfall the risks in Huaraz increase, but no considerable damage has happened yet. Hundreds of thousands of people in Peru are hit by floods and landslides which are the result of unusually strong rainfall. Poorer populations in particular are confronted with the consequences of those rainfalls. Many people lost their homes and are now facing an unsecure future.
Blogpost
Blog post by Prof. Peter Höppe, Chairman of the Munich Climate Insurance Initiative (MCII), and Christoph Bals, Vice-Chairman of MCII, March 2017
Weather extremes are about to become the new norm: For the third time in a row, 2016 was the warmest year since the beginning of the weather records. In Asia, unprecedented heat in spring burst temperature records in India, Thailand, Laos and Cambodia. A drought in Africa, caused by one of the strongest ever experienced El Nino events, triggered a food crisis with more than 36 million people affected. In Haiti, the devastating impacts of hurricane Matthew left 1.4 million people dependent on humanitarian aid. Repeatedly, developing countries are the most affected. The long-term analysis of Germanwatch’s Climate Risk Index, covering the past 20 years, finds that the ten most impacted countries are exclusively developing countries.
Press Release
Today, the Regional Court Essen dismissed the civil suit of Peruvian mountain guide Saúl Luciano Lliuya against RWE. The legal process is likely to continue: Attorney Verheyen announced that her client will “most likely” present an appeal at the Higher Regional Court Hamm.
Press Release
After the initial hearing at the regional court in Essen, the civil chamber will announce on December 15 whether the first European civil court climate case against a big emitter will proceed to the evidentiary phase. The Peruvian mountain guide Saúl Luciano Lliuya wants to achieve that the energy giant RWE covers a share of the preventative measures against climate effects needed in his hometown.
In the “climate suit” of Peruvian mountain guide and small farmer Saúl Luciano Lliuya against RWE, the regional court in Essen has announced that it will decide on December 15 whether the suit will proceed to the evidentiary phase. Thus it remains unclear whether, for the first time, a German civil court will probe in detail the question to what extent big contributors to climate change must pay for the costs of preventative measures against the risks that others face in the course of global climate change. The claimant Saúl Luciano Lliuya and his attorney Dr. Roda Verheyen (Hamburg) are optimistic. “In an open proceeding, we laid out why our claims are valid and legitimate, and why this is a matter that the regional court must consider”, says attorney Roda Verheyen.
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Referentin für Klima und Entwicklung – Indien