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IDENTIFY THESEFLOWERS AND HERBS

1 2

4 5

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1. Brahma Kamal 2. Plumeria3. Dill 4. Sage5. Parsley

“The Earth is what we all have in common.”Wendell Berry02 ENVIRONMENT

DIFFERENTIATION: This is one of the principles ofthe 1992 convention that set up the UN climate talksand one of the main friction points. It holds that indus-trial and developing nations shouldn’t have the sameobligations because the poorer countries aren’t as richand need to focus resources on alleviating poverty.Common but differentiated responsibilities (CBDR):This wording from the original climate treaty embedsthe principle of differentiation in the talks. The USand Europe are concerned that China and India hidebehind CBDR to limit the action they must takeagainst global warming. The developing nations wantto strengthen CBDR in all parts of the discussion. Tothem, it’s only fair to let them enjoy what richercountries have built up.

LOSS AND DAMAGE: A mechanism envoys are talking about that would compensate developingnations for costs they incur from climate-relatedevents. Those might include extreme weather, risingsea levels and extended periods of drought.Developing countries see it as essential. Industrialnations worry they’re being asked to write a blankcheck for aid payments.

MITIGATION AND ADAPTATION: Two of the maingoals of these talks. Mitigation is any effort to cut orprevent emissions from hitting the atmosphere.Adaptation is about about coping with climatechange, such as building walls to restrain rising seasand making cities more resilient in the face ofextreme weather.

JUST TRANSITION: Pressure groups are anxious thatthe wrenching changes required to slash fossil fuelemissions don’t hit the poorest. They want to see atransition that the affected people adjust. The empha-sis seems to be on helping poor nations, not necessari-ly coal miners in rich countries. BLOOMBERG

KEY BUZZWORDS

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T he annual Comedy Wildlife Photography Awardscompiles the most hilariously candid photos of an-imals in the wild, from dramatic facial expressions

to perfectly timed coincidences. But the contest is aboutmore than just about silly photos. Founders Tom Sul-lam and Paul Joynson-Hicks started the competition toraise awareness about wildlife conservation. They hopethe pictures encourage people to shop responsibly, bemindful of their water use, and speak out about envi-ronmental issues – in addition to making people laugh.This year's winners were chosen from a pool of 4,000entries from 68 different countries and whittled downto 40 finalists. Next, a panel of judges deter-mined the most hysterical winning pho-tos. Here are some of the funniest pho-tos taken this year:

Photo: VLADO PIRSA/ COMEDY WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHYAWARDS

2019

Photo: ©TOM MANGELSEN/COMEDY WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHY AWARDS 2019

Photo: © ROIE GALITZ/COMEDY WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHY AWARDS 2019

Photo: © ALASTAIR MARSH/COMEDY WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHY AWARDS 2019

Photo: ©TXEMA GARCIA/ COMEDY WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHY AWARDS 2019

Photo: ©GEERT WEGGEN / COMEDY WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHY AWARDS 2019

LAID BACK CHIMP!

WALTZ GONE WRONG!

SQUIRREL SNIFFLE

TO BE OR NOT TO BE

SPACE MAN

Activist Greta Thunberg has declared 2020 to be the ‘Year of Action’ against climateaction. Here are titles/phrases even she would have had to memorise for her speeches

December’s COP25 climate meeting in Madrid (Spain) was host toenergy and environment ministers from almost 200 countries, andthey share one common language: the jargon of carbon diplomacy. Now the language of carbon diplomacy is a complex lexicon, thatcombines the United Nations terms of art, with technical shorthand absorbed from the energy industry. The result? Avocabulary that scarcely existed two decades ago, but now allowsover 15,000 delegates to conduct minute deliberations on themechanics of pollution credits...

BODIES AND TREATIES

Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) These arethe pledges set out by individual countries to cut back ongreenhouse gases. The first word emphasises that it’s indi-vidual countries that decide the level of commitment forcutting greenhouse gases and not a super-national body.

UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) They’reincreasingly coloring everything in the climate talks. Agreedto in 2015, these 17 targets everything from alleviating pover-ty and hunger to cleaning up water and ensuring gender equi-ty. Climate is only a part of the movement.

Sustainable Development Mechanism (SDM) This is themain instrument meant to emerge from the Madrid talks, away to channel aid to projects that meet the UN SDMs. Thefirst word in the name suggests this is much broader thanprevious measures focusing on climate.

ARTICLE 6: This section of the 2015 Paris Agreement that says countriesshould be able to use market mechanisms to meet emissions pledges. Itsays if one country makes deeper reductions than it has promised, it cantransfer those savings to another nation. That might mean global carbonmarkets. Or it could be a more limited mechanism that is meant to channelaid for projects that help poor nations cut emissions.

CLEAN DEVELOPMENT MECHANISM (CDM): This early form of car-bon allowance emerged from the Kyoto Protocol in 1997. It led to morethan 8,000 projects and fed more than $138 billion into lowering green-house gas emissions in developing nations. There’s more than 2 billionCDM credits, each representing 1 ton of carbon dioxide emissions. Theypeaked in value at more than 21 euros ($23) each in 2008. Then theyplunged to about 17 cents after the European Union quit, accepting themfor compliance in its Emissions Trading System. Reviving the CDM was themain point in Madrid.

UNFCCC: UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, a1992 treaty that established the annual talks on globalwarming. It’s often referred to as ‘the Convention.’ The US,under former prez George HW Bush, was the first industrialcountry to ratify it. Under that deal, 196 countries acknowl-edged global warming was probably a reality, that richcountries caused the problem and should extend financeand technology to developing nations to fix it.

COP25: The 25th Conference of the Parties to theFramework Convention on Climate Change. This was thegathering that took place in Madrid from December 2 to 13.Its ambition was to elaborate on previous deals, especiallythe Paris Agreement.

PARIS AGREEMENT: The 2015 deal where all nationsunder the Convention pledged to reduce fossil-fuel emis-sions and work towards limiting temperature increases towell below 2 degrees Celsius. The innovation of this deal isthat all nations, rich and poor alike, agreed to make reduc-tions and deliver more ambitious pledges over time.

KYOTO PROTOCOL: A 1997 treaty that called on 37 industrial nations plus the European Union to cut emissions on average 5 per cent from 1990 levels by 2012. No obligations were placed on developing countries, which under the Convention didn’t include China or India.

G77: A group of about 135 developing countries including China. They negotiate as a bloc to get leverageover industrial nations. The state of Palestine is the chair ofthe group in 2019.

AOSIS: The Alliance of Small Island States, a group of 39 countries and five observer nations that has anoutsized voice at the UN talks. Key members includeMaldives, Bahamas, Nauru, Papua New Guinea and theMarshall Islands, all places that may be swamped by rising sea levels. Belize has the chair this year and is calling for rich nations to start putting their hands intheir pockets to pay for the damage that comes with climate change.

FAMILY DISAGREEMENT

ABBREVIATIONS FOR NEGOTIATORS

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