Global Environments Projects

Research at CEEP creates opportunities for thesis and dissertation development, as well as enabling students to pursue community and professional relationships. The Center’s research agenda evolves as a collaborative project of the faculty and students. Illustrative of CEEP’s work in the area of Global Environments are the following research initiatives.

GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE Sponsor:CEEP and foundation supporters CEEP’s participation in the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change has involved a number of individual projects and ongoing activities. As an observer organization and participant in the broader Conference of the Parties process, CEEP has conducted research for the production of position Publications, research monographs, and published articles. CEEP research has also contributed to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s scientific program. Additionally, CEEP has organized and participated in NGOs forums, individually and with collaborating organizations.

BIODIVERSITY AND INDIGENOUS PEOPLES Sponsor:CEEP and foundations Indigenous peoples often live in some of the most biologically diverse areas in the world. Flora, fauna and human cultures of North and South America interact in this special region. Indigenous peoples occupy many of the remaining intact biological areas, on which their livelihoods depend. Yet both the peoples and ecology of these areas are in crisis. The protection of social and ecological values requires an appreciation of the many-faceted and diverse links between culture and ecology. CEEP has been researching these issues, with particular attention to the effects of large-scale development projects such as the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor.

UNDOING ATMOSPHERIC HARM: POLICY OPTIONS FOR DECARBONISING THE HUMAN FOOTPRINT Sponsor:CEEP Funding As serious impacts of our violation of the atmospheric commons approach, policy strategies that go well beyond the Kyoto Protocol framework may be the only hope of averting social and ecological crisis. Options, which adhere to principles of democratic equality and sustainability are analyzed to gauge what, if any, choices are available to decarbonise the human footprint and restore the atmosphere to its commons status. The project will produce a computer model that links emissions paths of Annex 1 and non-Annex 1 countries to interrelated goals of per capita CO2 parity and atmospheric GHG concentrations consistent with long-term sustainability.

LOCAL CLIMATE CHANGE ACTION PLANNING Sponsor:US EPA State and Local Climate Change Program and others Working with a community stakeholder group consisting of representatives of government, business, labor, civil society and academia called the Delaware Climate Change Consortium, CEEP has identified a range of policy initiatives across the sectors of the state’s economy to reduce GHG emissions in ways that would be cost-effective and technically feasible. A wide array of technologies, planning tools, and policies were evaluated and the final choices were determined by the Consortium, with the report, “The Delaware Climate Change Action Plan,” produced by CEEP. This research built on an earlier CEEP project that produced Delaware’s greenhouse gas inventory. Both the Action Plan and the Inventory projects were supported by the U.S. EPA. The Action Plan is available at: http://ceep.udel.edu/publications/energy/reports/ energy_delaware_climate_change_action_plan/deccap.htm. CEEP is working with non-governmental organizations in and beyond the U.S. to utilize this tool in community planning for sustainability.