In line with COP21 agreements, state-led actions regarding climate change mitigation and adaptation are being undertaken to transition to carbon-neutral, green economies. However, the capacity of many countries for action is limited and may result in a ‘boomerang effect’, defined as the unintended negative consequences of such policies and programs on local communities and their negative feedbacks on the state, including the risk of violent conflict. To avoid this from happening, there is a need to understand the policy drivers, decision-making processes, and impacts of such action to determine how negative effects can be minimized and mutually beneficial policy outcomes maximized.
The book “Water, Climate Change and the Boomerang Effect. Unintentional Consequences for Resource Insecurity”, directly engages in the policy debates surrounding water resources and climate actions through both theoretical and comparative case studies. It develops the ‘boomerang effect’ concept and sets it in relation to other conceptual tools for understanding the mixed outcomes of state-led climate change action, for example, ‘backdraft’ effect and ‘maldevelopment’. It also presents case studies illustrative of the consequences of ill-considered state-led policy in the water sector which often results in dramatic social and environmental instability, including mass migration and resource-related violent conflict.
Time and place: Wednesday, 5 December 2018, 5:00–6:30 pm at ZEF, Genscherallee 3, 53113 Bonn (ground floor; right conference room)
Speaker: Prof. Dr. Larry Swatuk, Director, School of Environment, Enterprise and Development (SEED), in the Faculty of Environment, University of Waterloo, Canada
Chair: Lars Wirkus, Senior Researcher at BICC
Discussant: Nikita Shah, co-author, Master of Global Governance, London
Please register by December 3 at pr@bicc.de
Source: Notification The Center for Development Research (ZEF), 26.11.2018