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Environment and Resources

Environment and Resources Program

Environment and Resources

The Environment and Resources program focuses on governance issues related to climate change, resource scarcity, energy security, and agriculture and food security. The aim is to research and develop innovative policy responses to these important global issues. The Environment and Resources working group’s research agenda also includes broad consideration of global environmental governance. Moving beyond isolated issues of environmental concern, the group's research focuses on sites of system interaction that highlight opportunities to respond to issues of energy supply, environmental degradation and security simultaneously.

Projects within the Environment and Resources program focus on innovations in governance in response to climate change; possible future trajectories for global energy systems, including nuclear and alternative fuels; and governance responses at the interface of global agricultural and food systems and the environment. Common to all research projects is the recognition of a unique space for novel non-state actors to influence governance architecture. As institutional reforms are proposed and non-state and hybrid governance mechanisms emerge, a clear need exists for incisive analysis and relevant policy advice.

Projects

A Blueprint for the Energy Partnership of the Americas
The purpose of this project is to develop a blueprint for an Energy Partnership for the Americas which goes beyond bilateral agreements and adopts a regional approach towards sustainable growth and clean energy. This blueprint document will explore, and ultimately define, pathways for delivering solutions to many issues
Agriculture, Food and Environment in the New Global Context
A highly successful conference in December 2008 brought key thinkers around the table to discuss the global food price crisis. The discussion focused on the rapidly changing global food and agriculture landscape, and the important implications for food security in the world’s poorest countries, the global environment, and for the global rules and institutions that govern food and agriculture.
Global Responses to Rapid Nonlinear Global Change
The purpose of this project is to address the economic, social and technological implications of ramping down carbon emissions to zero and moving to a steady-state global economy. Humankind faces an unprecedented crisis arising from the complex interaction of energy, climate, and security phenomena.
Impacts of Global Policy Responses to Climate Change
The potential economic impacts of global policy responses to climate change are highly uncertain, poorly studied, and central to the global policy process. The purpose of this project is to build a series of rolling sub-projects to contribute to the debate on the issues posed above, with a number of partners.
Nuclear Energy Futures: Implications and Options for Global Governance
CIGI's Nuclear Energy Futures Project is being conducted in partnership with the Canadian Centre for Treaty Compliance (CCTC) at the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs, Carleton University, Ottawa. The aim of the project is to investigate the implications of the so-called renaissance for nuclear safety, security and nonproliferation over the coming two decades and to make recommendations for consideration by the international community.