Newsfeed Wageningen UR at climate conference COP 21
Wageningen UR is present at the COP 21 in Paris.
On this page all news articles and blog posts will be collected. Use the Wageningen Guide to Paris to find out more about the events that researchers of Wageningen UR will be attending.
Who can and should hold states to account for how they live up to their commitments last Saturday made in Paris and beyond? The provisions on the table for formal mechanisms for states to hold each other to account within the agreement are weak at best, says Sylvia Karlsson-Vinkhuyzen at Wageningen University. States’ reluctance to voluntarily subject themselves to strong compliance mechanisms under particularly international environmental law is well-known, she says. “Accountability must be seen in a much broader context.”view_News
December 14, 2015
COP21: the next step
COP21 has ended. For some people the work is nearly done, for others the work is just starting with new opportunities to work on climate change. Research is one of the areas where the agreement will provide new opportunities to work on. Wageningen UR researchers reflect:view_Additional information
December 13, 2015
Blog: The Final Day of the Beginning
12 December 11.40. The suspense is rising. I am sitting in the overflow room – one of the big plenary rooms where we can watch the action of the Paris Committee on screen. The meeting is scheduled for 11.30 but we do not know if there will ‘just’ be the announcement of the new and hopefully final text, or whether the Parties will be asked to approve it here, on the spot. Seeing US foreign minister Kerry in the room makes us expect the latter. Perhaps. Someone told me President Hollande was going to come. Rumours in your ears and on twitter. Let’s see what actually happens.view_Additional information
December 11, 2015
Blog: A day of conversations, waiting and late reading at COP21
It is 21.00. The Committee of Paris is about to start. This is COP President Fabius’ construction for the second week of negotiations. At least once per day all delegates are gathered in the big plenary and observers are welcomed in the room (and on webcast mind you). The purpose is to update everyone on where the negotiations are – allowing comments from countries. This time all we expect is the delivery of a new version of the negotiation text. All night they negotiated, until 5 and 8 in the morning I am told.view_Additional information
December 10, 2015
Special virtual issue of Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability.
In order to support the COP21 in Paris the editors Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability (COSUST) published a Virtual Special Issue. Among its contributors are Rik Leemans, Aarti Gupta, Carolien Kroeze and Holger Meinke on behalf of Wageningen UR. view_Additional information
December 5, 2015
Blog: Bridging week 1 and 2 of COP21
Saturday 5 December. Morning. I see to my great amazement the first twitter I see having just in Paris is that the ADP text, the draft negotiation text, has been submitted to ministers. The French presidency had set Saturday as a deadline for the negotiations on the text to be concluded…view_Additional information
December 4, 2015
Blog: Pick up the pace
In an article of the Guardian, the French minister of environment, Mr Laurent Fabius, urged the climate negotiators to work harder as the progress is too slow. Well, as I write this I am sitting in the Thalys on my way home. This train certainly has picked up the pace….view_Additional information
December 4, 2015
COP21: Climate change adaptation in Europe, tracking progress and sharing know-how
An increasing number of initiatives are being put in place to adapt to the impacts of climate change at all levels. It is now critical to understand better which actions work in which contexts and why. Judith Klostermann, Rob Swart and colleagues worked on an overview of national monitoring, reporting and evaluation systems in Europe. Attention was paid to their report during a side event at COP21.view_News
December 2, 2015
Blog: 'Little' Things
A long evening walk along the Seine is perfect to clear the mind from all the big impressions. The terrorist attacks have already been mentioned before in previous blogs, but I find Paris still very accessible. Not at all how I imagined a ‘city under siege’. I was standing on one of the bridges of Ile de la Cité and looking at the massive amounts of cars driving along side the Seine. To my right, a young couple in love was kissing. ‘Little’ things like that make Paris appear almost normalview_Additional information
December 1, 2015
EFI study sets out new role for the forest sector in EU climate targets
EU forests and the forest sector play a significant role in the EU greenhouse gas balance. These forests and their products reduce emissions, enhance sinks, store carbon and provide a continuous stream of ecosystem services, including wood products, energy and biodiversity conservation. EU forests and the forest sector currently produce an overall climate mitigation impact that amounts to about 13% of the total EU emissions. view_News
December 1, 2015
Biodiversity enhances carbon storage of tropical forests
Tropical forests store 25% of the global carbon and harbour 96% of the world’s tree species. But it was not clear whether this high biodiversity really matters for high carbon storage. Now, researchers of the ROBIN project have found out. This is especially important giving the United Nations climate negotiations in Paris, where countries need to agree on a mechanism to preserve the carbon locked up in forest biomass, while at the same conserving biodiversity as an additional benefit.view_News
December 1, 2015
Blog: Wageningen UR presents itself at COP21
This morning, Wageningen UR presented itself at the Dutch Climate House at COP21. Unfortunately, our Chair of the Board of Directors, Louise Fresco, who was supposed to open and introduce the meeting, could not make it, due to severe delays of the Thalys between Brussels and Paris yesterday.view_Additional information
December 1, 2015
Blog: Logistical struggles
After arriving by train in Paris last night, I immediately travelled through to the COP venue at Le Bourget, which is just outside of the city centre. The whole train ride was hopelessly delayed because of copper thefts on the Belgium railroad. But thinking I could quickly swing by the COP to register before my dinner appointment proved a bit naïve.view_Additional information
December 1, 2015
4 per mille statement from Research institutions
To support the French 4‰ initiative 10 top research institutes drafted a statement in support of the French proposal. Wageningen UR was one of the participating research institutes.view_Additional information
December 1, 2015
Wageningen Climate Solutions: we need resilient productions systems
Solutions for the climate issue and greenhouse gas emission reductions should contain climate smart agriculture, climate resilient soils and forest conservation in a trans-disciplinary approach. This is the heart of the ‘Wageningen Climate Solutions’ to meet future food and bio-based demands like energy, materials and chemicals. The required higher production levels need to be accompanied by greenhouse gas emission reductions. Wageningen University & Research centre therefore appeals to governments, business and colleague researchers to co-invest in transdisciplinary and collaborative projects for a climate smart future with local tailor-made climate solutions.view_News
November 30, 2015
Blog: The climate summit has begun…
Had a special meeting at Place d’Anvers, near the Sacré-Coeur, last night. I went to have dinner with two students from the ‘green office’ of Wageningen University (and one student is the son of good friends of mine, which made it even more special). They are here in Paris to visit the large ‘Youth Conference’ on climate and to give shape to a project of theirs. They hitchhiked to Paris, or at least partly (it did not go so well…),view_Additional information
November 29, 2015
Blog: Forest management by local communities as part of the solution?
Last night I woke up because of a huge bang. Immediately I sat upright in my bed. A bang in Paris cannot mean anything good in this day and age. Tensely I listened to what would follow: screaming, or not, sirens, or not. It remained awfully silent. After a few minutes I checked the NOS app on my phone; it still showed a lot of cruelty in the world, but luckily not right then in Paris.view_Additional information
November 28, 2015
Blog: FLARE and COP21
Paris lives and shivers (a little). At first the state of emergency is barely noticed. However, when talking to people they say they feel ‘different’. For me it was different as well, the trip from Gare du Nord to the city centre I felt a bit more tensed than other occasions I visited Paris. I am here to visit the FLARE (Forests and Livelihoods: Assessments, Research and Engagement) conference. Climate and forests are strongly interlinked: deforestation and degradation of forests would cause 15 to 20% of global warming.view_Additional information
