Last week, the federal government launched a consultation process to help bring together a national climate adaptation strategy for Canada by November, in time for COP-27, the next global climate conference to be held in Egypt. Building resilience against climate disasters will be high on the agenda.
In 2021, the Group of 78 marked the 40th anniversary of the signing of the original advocacy statement addressed to Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau that led to the creation of the Organization. As part of its anniversary activities, G78 wanted to acknowledge with gratitude the 78 signatories to that statement. They were a varied assembly of prominent Canadians who never met together but had many commonalities in their views of Canada’s role on the international stage. Building on a booklet of brief biographies produced at the time of G78’s 25th anniversary to commemorate those who had passed on by 2006, we have added the rest of the “Originals” to acknowledge them as well. Find all 78 here.
April 5, 2022, G78 calls on Government of Canada to do what is necessary to support a peaceful resolution of the conflict, including the potential provision of security guarantees if agreed and to undertake a responsible and balanced approach to ensure stability returns to the region, while recognizing Ukraine’s rights as a sovereign and independent state.
Russia and Ukraine are on the brink of hostilities. The NATO powers led by the USA are poised to retaliate with draconian sanctions on the Russian leadership and economy This paper by John Foster illuminates the course of events and (thus far) failed diplomacy that brought us to this point, where NATO’s eastward expansion over the past two decades has clashed with Russia’s security interests
The report emanates from the Group of 78’s 2021 annual policy conference, which brought together experts on infrastructure, health, food and agriculture, municipal planning, and finance. They discussed how communities and households could bolster their adaptation to a world in which temperatures in some regions could rise considerably more than 3 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. Such actions must be taken alongside measures to mitigate, or slow down, rising temperatures. However, the reality is that both in Canada and most of the world, adaptation has been critically neglected in contrast to mitigation.
The G78 Board and members are grateful and honoured to have had Clyde Sanger as colleague, friend and an anchor for our work. While sharing our condolences to his sons and their families, we salute Clyde’s remarkable life and the richness he brought to others in this post; which includes a personal, heartfelt tribute to Clyde by the Honorable Douglas Roche, O.C.
The following letter was sent to the Prime Minister as well as the Ministers of Global Affairs, Finance (& Deputy Prime Minister), Environment & Climate Change, International Development, Trade Agriculture, Health, Infrastructure, Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, and Natural Resources Canada, requesting action with the recommendations from our 2021 Annual Policy Conference.
Overarching Messages: As the climate becomes increasingly destructive of lives, property and biodiversity, it is abundantly clear that human communities must act with urgency—must adapt—to protect themselves from further devastation. Climate change adaptation refers to adjustments in ecological, social, or economic systems in response to actual or expected climatic stimuli and their impacts. In simple terms, countries, communities… Read More »
The Hill TimesMonday October 11, 2021, p.19 Canada needs to demonstrate sincerity in its climate adaptation actions It is not too late. Canada can still pledge to increase its contribution, by doubling it again to $2-billion a year. That would still amount to less than half its fair share, but would reflect much greater sincerity in its commitment… Read More »
The video of our webinar has been posted to our YouTube channel. Seminar Theme Our webinar will address the interrelated issues of short-term pandemic relief, medium-term recovery and, in the long term, reshaping the world economy. There are choices at every stage, with implications for distributional equity among and within countries. There can be no return to the… Read More »