A Brighter Tomorrow
Maladaptation: The Post-2015 World and the Liminal State
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Glen Kuecker
In 2015 UN agencies working on the challenges facing the modern world system entered a progression of renewing long-term planning agendas that are collectively known as the Post-2015 World. These included the UN platform for disaster risk reduction’s Sandia Agreement in March 2015, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in September 2015, the Paris climate Accords in December 2015, and UN Habitat’s New Urban Agenda in October 2016. We are now past the half-way point for the agendas, and many prognosticate their failure. This paper analyzes what went wrong by positioning the Post-2015 World within the context of systemic collapse. I argue that modernity’s collapse brings us into a liminal state of transition to a new, yet to be name civilization. The liminal state is a period of disruption, instability, and confusion that renders modern ways of being, seeing, thinking, and acting anachronistic. In this paper I argue the UN agendas constituting the Post-2015 world, are anachronistic, which makes them a form of maladaptation to the perfect storm. Given the existential threat of the perfect storm, this maladaptation threatens to push humanity into hard collapse. The paper identifies technocratic rationality as the culprit causing the maladaptation. This paper is a preliminary version of Chapter One to a book manuscript entitled, Lost in Transition: Technocratic Rationality and the Post 2015 World, which I am co-authoring with Kris Hartley at the School of Sustainability at the Arizona State University.
Are FDI Inflows Determinants of CO2 Emissions in the 20th and 21st Century?: Evidence from Four ECOWAS Nations
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session David Dauda Lansana
To analyze the impact of CO2 emissions in the 20th and 21st centuries, this study employs four ECOWAS nations from 1980 to 2000 representing the 20th century, and 2001 to 2021 representing the 21st century. The main objective of the study is to test the validity of the pollution haven hypothesis and the pollution halo hypothesis on these countries in the 20th and 21st centuries. However, the second objective of this study is to assess how foreign direct investment and other variables influence CO2 emissions. After employing the generalized least square (GLS) and generalized method of moments (GMM), the research reveals a significant shift in the impact of FDI on environmental outcomes. In the 20th century, increased FDI inflows were positively associated with higher CO2 emissions, supporting the pollution haven hypothesis. In contrast, the pollution halo hypothesis found a negative correlation in the 21st century. The study also highlights the persistent positive impacts of GDP growth, population increases, and trade openness on CO2 emissions. According to this research’s findings, the authorities, policymakers, sectors, and interested parties of the countries studied should apply and uphold policies, laws, and regulations that deter polluting foreign investment while promoting environmentally friendly ones.
Featured On the Suitability of Action Plans for Facilitating Urban Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation: An Analysis of 257 Plans Worldwide View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Prince Dacosta Aboagye
Local governments are now more than ever expected to lead climate action planning as climate change intensifies and urbanization increases rapidly. However, studies indicate limitations in the comprehensiveness and level of integration of adaptation and mitigation in existing climate action plans. To develop suitable climate action plans that are comprehensive and consistent with globally accepted standards and benchmarks, this study proposed an Urban Climate Action Planning framework and pilot-tested it with 257 urban climate action plans. Overall, 43 criteria are included in the framework across three stages of climate planning. The pilot test revealed that more than half of the sampled plans have a medium level of suitability, with 39% having a weak level of suitability. About 51% of plans from Europe have a weak level of suitability. Surprisingly, none of the plans sampled from Africa and Latin America achieved a weak level of suitability despite lacking a significant share of global climate research and development funding. A Kruskal-Wallis test shows a statistically significant association between stages of climate planning and (a) city types (p-value of 0.004326) and (b) year of adoption or publication of climate plans and suitability scores (p-value of 0.0001027). Urban climate action plans adopted or published more recently (2018-2022) are likely more suitable than those adopted or published earlier. The sampled urban climate action plans from the Global South had higher average suitability scores than those from the Global North. The study presents key findings and considerations for urban climate action planning and future research.
