The UN Environment and Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment-partnered Climate Initiatives Program (CIP) is a platform dedicated to sharing information on current initiatives combating climate change across the world. The number of initiatives is currently 224 and counting. Initiatives are grouped under Themes that range from Finance to Waste to Energy. You can search for specific terms or events or simply browse the data base and sort by Theme. Creating an account helps you stay up to date on all the latest developments in the climate change topics you are passionate about. You can keep initiatives up to date without having to request approval from the administrators.
Perhaps the most interesting parts of this website are its Success Stories and Impacts sections. The former gives the impression that this is not a losing battle and that contributions to this cause do have real, positive effects on the environments around us. You can even opt to create your own success story if you have been active in a certain project in your community. The impacts of international climate initiatives (ICIs) section also offers external information and sources that offer more information on pending and current initiatives covering cities and regions throughout the world.
I believe it is beneficial to see the large amount of projects that exist to combat climate change. I agree, it is encouraging to see over 200 projects and having success stories definitely positively influences others to consider attempting their own climate change project. The amount of information available on this site is important because it adds scientific legitimacy to many of these projects and having an outside source to back up data is helpful. Also, having an open sourced platform is essential for these efforts so many people can take part and have an impact on climate change. I wonder if this could be expanded to be a global effort with other countries backing the project, not simply the Dutch and the UN council?
Well, this is a lot more encouraging than a lot of what we’ve come across in class! It’s nice to see that there are some initiatives that have been so successful, although 224 is actually quite a small number if you think about the number of countries in the world and the vast sweep of climate change’s effects. I was recently reading about sustainable development in another class, and there was a lot of gloom and doom surrounding issues of international governance and regulations. Do you think with more smaller initiatives that we will see these impacts magnified? I think this website raises important questions about the role of human development in combating climate change and taking care of our planet (atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere, biosphere, and all!).