What is Climate Change Policy Now Trying to Achieve?
Almost all advocates of international climate change policy hope and expect that the Climate Change Conference to be held in Paris in November–December 2015 will reach an agreement to reduce global anthropomorphic greenhouse gas emissions. Yet more than 25 years of international climate change policy has failed to reach such an agreement; emissions, far from having been reduced, have greatly increased. In the author's view, no such agreement will be reached in Paris. Anticipating this, Lord Stern, a highly influential figure in international climate change policy, has restated the case for continuing with this policy while relinquishing the objective of reaching such an agreement, though it had previously been claimed that this was essential to ‘save the world’. Advocating the continuation of climate change policy while disavowing a formerly acknowledged condition of its success seems to represent a further stage in the abandonment of rationality in climate change policy formulation.
Social environmental vulnerability approach on the COVID-19 epoch: a case study in Blumenau (SC), Brazil
There is a strong correlation between poverty indicators and the occurrence of diseases associated with environmental inequalities; therefore, it is highly necessary to explore the linkages between these inequalities and COVID- 19. This article describes a research designs made to study aspects of social environmental vulnerability that underlies the linkages between inequalities and COVID-19. This article aims to address this linkage. The objective is to explore aspects of social environmental vulnerability that underlies a case study at Blumenau, Brazil. The analysis is based on the critical question: Is there a relationship between social environmental vulnerability and COVID-19 at Blumenau? In Blumenau, where the study was carry out, the poor people are more likely to be affected from the risks arising out of the location of their homes, and this situation increases their vulnerability to floods, landslides, lack of water and exposure to open sewage. The methodology was divide into two steeps: (i) analysis of multi-temporal spread pattern of COVID-19 around the site; and (ii) analysis of the social environmental vulnerability and COVID-19 relationship. Results have shown that in Blumenau, there is a relationship between social environmental vulnerability and COVID-19. It can be said that COVID-19 emphases’ the social environmental situation in Blumenau. Based on our experience, we contend that an effective way to examine the linkages between inequalities and COVID-19 is to employ concepts and theories drawn from existing research to support guidelines, indicators and methods.
Reforming China's S&T System
Intergovernmental coordination, funding distribution, and performance evaluation must all be improved. There is growing anxiety among Chinese political and scientific leaders that, despite more money, better-trained talent, and sophisticated equipment, the domestic innovation system is still underperforming (1). Chinese scientists have yet to produce breakthroughs worth a Nobel Prize. Research and business sectors have been disconnected for decades, with few research results turned into innovative technology and products. With few exceptions, Chinese enterprises depend on foreign sources for core technologies (2). We discuss interwoven roots of these problems at macro, meso, and micro levels of governance of the science and technology (S&T) system and the need for political will if they are to be overcome.