Reports by and about Cleo Paskal: Associate Fellow Chatham House, London, UK; Trudeau Fellow, CÉRIUM, Canada; Adjunct Faculty Manipal University, India. Author Global Warring: How Environmental, Economic, And Political Crises Will Redraw The World Map.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Article by Cleo Paskal in International Affairs Forum: The fallacy of growth
Review of Global Warring and Interview with Cleo Paskal by Patrick Lejtenyi of the Montreal Mirror
[...] in Paskal’s new book, Global Warring: How Environmental, Economic and Political Crises Will Redraw the World Map, the changing world is creating a new playing field in which the Great Powers will struggle for power and influence. A cool, clear-eyed analysis of the emerging geopolitics, Global Warring does not engage in climate change-induced scenario speculation nor does it offer emotional appeals to curbing emissions. It simply explains what the new realities are, and what we can do to adapt to them.
To read more, click here.
Review of Global Warring in The Rover
If you’re looking for a debate on global warming, however, you’ll have to look elsewhere. In Paskal’s analysis, climate change is a given. In fact, she often opts for the term “environmental change,” and prefers to look beyond specific theories of the causes of climate change to focus on its effects and implications on the ground. [...] This experienced journalist shows her academic chops when laying down the historical background of the geo hot spots discussed. She needs little time to make her synopses clear and condensed.
To read more, click here.
Interview with Cleo Paskal in the Montreal Gazette
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Review of Global Warring by Martin Walker on UPI
Martin Walker, UPI Editor Emeritus and Senior Director of A. T. Kearney's Global Business Policy Council, wrote a great review of Global Warring for UPI that brings to the fore some of the books key points. In it he also writes:
Paskal, a Canadian who is a fellow of London's prestigious Chatham House think tank and a consultant for the U.S. Department of Energy, has been a pioneering scholar of the new terrain where climate change confronts national security, where geopolitics, geoeconomics and global warming all collide.
To read more, click here.
Review of Global Warring by Tom Spencer in EurActiv
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Article By Cleo Paskal and Scott Savitt: Copenhagen Consequences for the U.S., China and India
In this commentary for UPI, Cleo Paskal and Scott Savitt analyze what really happened at Copenhagen and why it was a potentially groundbreaking moment in geopolitics.
"Coming out of Copenhagen, the narrative is clearer: This was geopolitics pure and simple."
Click here to read more....
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Profile in the National Post
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Interview with Cleo on Zocalo Public Square
Q. What are the effects now and what are the effects in the future?
A. A lot depends on what the reactions of the different players will be. For example, in the U.S., over 50% of the population lives in areas that are considered coastal. Unless there is a great understanding of what rising sea levels, increasing storm surges, and things like that will do to those areas, it’s going to become increasingly costly, and could have quite a series effect not only on economic development but also on social stability. China has a very serious water supply problem and it also has major infrastructure and industrial areas right on the coast, in a typhoon zone, such as in Shanghai. There are different regions that have different vulnerabilities. What will happen will depend very much on how much of an effort is made to integrate those changes into future planning, and to try to counter the detrimental effects.
We do know certain things are going to become increasingly problematic. Energy supplies will be increasingly compromised by environmental change. The offshore platforms in the Gulf of Mexico are very likely to face more shut downs due to increasing storm activity or intensity. Hydroelectric installations are designed for very special operating parameters — certain amounts of rainfall, particular river levels, glacier melts. All of that is in flux now. Nuclear stations require an enormous amount of water for cooling. In France, for example, increasingly high temperatures have made it difficult for plants to operate at maximum capacity in the summer. So energy sector disruptions are happening already, and are very likely to accelerate. It’s like putting together pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. We can see certain critical areas being affected but it’s hard to see what the whole picture will be, because so many of the pieces of the puzzle are changing as our reaction to these events changes.
Interview with Cleo on the Huffington Post
Jerry Cope writes in the Huffington Post about climate change and security in Copenhagen, and interviews Cleo on some specifics. Sample Q&A:
Jerry Cope: You seem to be quit clear that the concerns should be domestic as well as international.
Cleo: It's not a complete assessment and if anything contains the words climate change as opposed to environment change you know it's not a complete assessment. Climate change will feed into other environmental changes. If you are assessing climate change but not what the US Army Corps of Engineers is doing to your coastline you are not getting a complete picture.
Article By Cleo Paskal and Scott Savitt: New Security Beat blog post: The Real Take Home Message From Copenhagen Is Not What You Think
Article in Croatian?
Klimatske promjene opasnije za globalnu sigurnost od terorizma
Više nije dovoljno samo procijeniti koliko mi utječemo na promjene okoliša. Sad je kucnuo čas da procijenimo koliko će promjene okoliša utjecati na nas, poručila je Cleo Paskal iz Londona, kao da je naslućivala fijasko na summitu UN-a u Kopenhagenu
Global Warring review in The Varsity
Interview with Cleo on Central Asia
Faroe Islands tv interview with Cleo, mostly on the Arctic
Global Warring review from Quill & Quire
"As climate change increasingly becomes part of our everyday concerns, a need has emerged for international experts to help make sense of its potential consequences. In Global Warring, journalist Cleo Paskal does exactly that. Unlike so many other books on the subject, Paskal doesn’t limit her scope to the catastrophic environmental damage that climate change could wreak. Instead, she expands her scope to provide a thorough and detailed explanation of how this looming environmental crisis will impact global security and the geopolitical status quo.
[...]
"Global Warring is a pleasure to read, even though its message is distressing. It is neither a sabre-rattling activist’s rant nor a dreary policy tome, although it contains the most significant aspects of each. It is a book that makes the reader sit up and take notice and, with luck, take action."
By Cleo: New Security Beat blog post: Geopolitics of Copenhagen
By Cleo: Big lessons from little Tonga (Toronto Star)
Al Jazeera Writes about the Geopolitics of Copenhagen
CalicutNet Interview with Cleo
Cleo: It can, but it is not inevitable. With thought, effort and will we can get through this. We have to.
Think of a factory on the coast of Kerala. If it continues as usual, it might first have problems with erosion affecting its foundation; then power lines down the coast might fall over, affecting its electrical supply; then the building itself may flood. And flood again. It will face problem after problem until it is too much and it collapses.
Alternatively, it can defend itself, perhaps with anti-erosion techniques; can put in its own renewable energy supply, covering the cost of installation by selling off the excess energy it generates; and then become highly profitable as it develops and sells a new water purification system.
Business usual is not going to work anymore. But we all are in a position to turn that challenge into an opportunity and to create more stability and security for ourselves, our neighbors, our communities and our countries, and the world. We have to. The cost of failure is unimaginable.
Monday, January 4, 2010
Cleo quotes galore... (New York Times, The Telegraph, The Guardian, Bloomberg, BBC)
In an article on Bangladesh, the New York Times, wrote:
Paskal, of the Royal Institute, said Bangladesh, by pouring money and research into new ways to deal with climate change, is actually protecting the world from conflict.
"We need a stable India, and [climate migration] has the potential to destabilize India," she said. "If we try to put pressure on India to take in refugees, we're undermining our credibility in India's eyes."
But, Paskal said, Bangladesh "is a nation of serious, hard-working people. It is their adaptive capacity that is cushioning us from some of the worst impacts."
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In an article about the Arctic, Bloomberg quotes Cleo:
``The situation is changing very quickly because of climate change,'' Paskal said. ``There's unquestionably going to be dramatically increased traffic through the Arctic.''
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Another article about the Arctic, this time in The Telegraph, also quotes Cleo. You can read that one here.
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If you click here, you can read The Guardian's report on Cleo's work on maritime boundaries and the potential for countries to legally disappear.
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And in the lead-up to Copenhagen, the BBC's The World Tonight presented a panel to discuss the significance of metting. Host Robin Lustig was joined by Professor Steve Rayner of Oxford University, Mike Hulme Professor of Climate Change at the University of East Anglia, Chair of the House of Commons Select Committee on Climate and Energy, the Labour MP Elliot Morley and, yes, Cleo.
You can hear it by clicking here.