Dr Ted Christie: Environmental Dispute Resolution and Sustainable Solutions

  KEY WORDS: Paris Agreement; emission reduction targets; energy security; affordable energy; renewables;  equity; sustainable development; SDG13; scientific-round-table; ETS 1.0    To achieve the Paris Agreement goals, effective integration between energy security and action for climate change to reduce GHG emissions is crucial - but remains problematic. 2.0      The UN’s 2030 Agenda Sustainable Development Goal 13 for “ Climate Action ” requires climate change measures to be integrated into national plans, policies, and strategies. 3.0      A national plan for energy security and sustainable development should not only represent a power system that is affordable, reliable, and secure - but also have the optimum balance between renewables and other feasible and viable climate action options to achieve emission  reduction targets, sustainably. 4.0   A pathway for a national plan that integrates energy securi...

KEY WORDS:  Paris Agreement;  emission reduction targets;  energy security; power systems; dispatchability;  predictability; illusory promise; national plans; equity; sustainable development; SDG13; multi-objective analysis 1.0      Commitments by governments for reducing emissions in their NDCs, to date, fall far short of what is required.  2.0      A national plan should not only represent a power system that has the optimum balance between renewables and other climate action option(s) to reduce emissions sustainably and equitably; but also the plan should lead to a commitment that can be implemented.  3.0      W ithout a national plan on how to implement emission targets into climate action to achieve Paris goals and its binding obligations, there is a risk that the targets pledged could prove to be an “illusory promise” i.e., a promise made which is uncertain, indefinite, vague or impossible to fulfil. R...

  TAGS: Energy security; sustainable development; multi-objective analysis; methodology; scenarios; objective criteria; innovation; diffusion; adoption Climate action national plans relied on to achieve emission reduction targets must be made in accordance with the Paris Agreement’s binding obligations. A problem-solving pathway based on multi-objective analysis methodology is outlined which enables sustainable solutions for energy security and climate action to be found. The methodology would facilitate the preparation of viable national plans to reduce emissions as they would be made “on the basis of equity and in the context of sustainable development” - and so comply with the Paris Agreement.   READ MORE...

  TAGS: COVID-19; resilience; recovery; impacts – public health, economics, social, cultural; inter-generational equity; sustainable development; methodology - multi-objective analysis; public participation.      Any plan for recovery must focus on a future in which it may be improbable to reduce COVID-19 health risks to a zero level.       Co-existence with COVID-19 should be seen as the norm for a resilient society.   Recovery from the pandemic also needs to be seen as a classic sustainable development problem for Government to resolve – not simply public health or economic   issues.     Any recovery plan should minimize the extent to which costs and benefits are shared disproportionately between generations.    The recovery plan requires sustainable solutions that resonate with the principle of intergenerational equity – a concept of fairness between generations. The principle is the foundation for sustaina...

  TAGS : COVID-19; resilience; transition; recovery; public health; vaccine hesitancy; acceptable risk; trans-science; International Risk Governance Council; risk assessment; concern assessment; health literacy .       Whether society considers a COVID-19 health risk to be acceptable is, in part influenced by perceptions of its impacts. This question also raises a trans-science issue: "How safe is safe enough"?   Risk perception involves people’s feelings, beliefs, attitudes, and judgements. It is at the core of understanding vaccine hesitancy .     Risk appraisal based on both risk assessment and concern assessment would lead to better-informed decision-making by the public on COVID-19 vaccination.    It would also enhance public trust and confidence in vaccination and COVID‑19 vaccines as well as promoting health literacy .   READ MORE …

TAGS : COVID-19; resilience; response; conflict; vaccine hesitancy; health literacy; vaccination; scientific innovation; diffusion; adoption; economics; mental health .    Mixed messages on some vaccination issues have led to information conflicts causing confusion for people in deciding on whether to get vaccinated. Where the public health message is mixed, or not clear, it may ignite existing vaccine concerns or create doubt about the vaccine - and so be a trigger for vaccine hesitancy. The challenge for science is to promote better informed decision-making by the public on COVID-19 vaccination by communicating a clear public health message that promotes health literacy. The role that concepts for the diffusion and adoption of scientific innovations have to facilitate health literacy is outlined. READ MORE…

TAGS: COVID-19; resilience; response; transition; recovery; vaccine hesitancy; acceptable risk; trans-science; IRGC; risk assessment; concern assessment; inter-generational equity; sustainable development; public health; information conflicts; health literacy; scientific innovations; vaccination, diffusion, adoption.         Concern over the appropriate problem-solving pathway for Australia to adopt to effectively address the global COVID-19 pandemic has ignited public controversy and conflict.       One media critique of the response in Australia to the pandemic refers to the “lack of balanced analysis of the harm of lockdowns versus the harm of COVID ”.      Misinformation related to the COVID-19 pandemic - caused by different opinions on what scientific information is relevant, different interpretations of the same information or insufficient information - has created scientific information conflicts.      ...