David Miliband

Climate Champions

150 school children gathered in an ex-sewage works (honestly) for presentations from the international climate change champions and QandA with me. I was impressed that the small seeds of a Defra idea that it was possible to multiply youth effort on climate change should be bearing fruit in presentations to environment ministers meeting recently in Kobe Japan for the G8 plus 5.

Posted at 04:15 08 July 2008 by David Miliband  |  Comments[2]

Japanese bloggers unite

I met 100 Japanese bloggers tonight at the Mori Art Museum in Tokyo to debate how the internet can fuel the drive to meet the challenge of climate change.  The event will be at www.uknow.or.jp .  The predominantly young audience did not give the panel a tough time - you can see the Japanese chief government advisor at www.kiyoshikurokawa.com but did show a zeal and studiousness that was impressive. 
 
I hope they found time to visit the roving highlights of the Turner modern art exhibition three floors up - including Damien Hirst's incredible halved cow.  300 000 visitors in three months are getting a taste of not-so-traditional Britain.

Posted at 17:32 27 June 2008 by David Miliband  |  Comments[5]

G8 plus 5

I met the Mexican Foreign Minister yesterday to discuss her country’s key bridging role between the G8 “leading industrialised countries” and the plus 5 “emerging economies (Mexico, China, India, Brazil, South Africa).  I support their inclusion in G8 discussions but this is a sore point; their participation in G8 meetings is limited.  I think that is a pity as most of the big G8 issues eg climate change or energy require a deal between the emerging and developed economies.  Not much chance of a deal if they are not at the table.

Posted at 12:06 18 June 2008 by David Miliband  |  Comments[0]

Memories of San Francisco

I haven't been to San Francisco since 1978 when I spent a year in the US as a junior high school student and my parents took us to California for a holiday. Four or five hours doesn't make up for 30 years. I remember the trolley cars from 1978 and didn't get onto one this time. Last time I didn't meet the mayor; this time I did meet Gavin Newsom who has just been re-elected. He hosted a seminar for me on San Francisco's experience as the (admittedly self-appointed) US gateway to China and the common cause he is trying to forge over climate change policy.  He reports that 860 US cities have now signed up to the Seattle Mayor's initiative which effectively gets cities onto a Kyoto emissions reduction track.

Posted at 11:22 28 May 2008 by David Miliband  |  Comments[2]

Green Peace

The day of a record oil price of $122 a barrel was a good day to give a lecture at the LSE on the geopolitics of high carbon dependence. The common feature of the resource crunch on fuel, food and water is the hydrocarbon economy. We are being hit in our pockets for being locked into the electricity, heat and transport systems that cause climate change, turning on its head the argument that we cannot afford to take action on climate. See what you think of the argument.

Posted at 13:41 08 May 2008 by David Miliband  |  Comments[9]

Climate Cool

I promised to provide a link to the British Council China website where the debate about the role of young people in tackling climate change is being developed.  My Q&A in Beijing was part of this.  Here is the link http://www.britishcouncil.org.cn/climatecool/en/

Posted at 16:58 03 March 2008 by David Miliband  |  Comments[2]

Flat and Wet

The helicopter ride across the southern and central plains of Bangladesh showed the dangers of climate change and climate change in action.  I am here to discuss and celebrate the special links between Britain and Bangladesh but Bangladesh occupies a possibly unique place in the debate about climate change - able to issue a warning to rich nations that climate change is a fact not a theory, and able to urge urgency and engagement on poorer nations tempted to dismiss climate change as a rich man's problem. 

The islands (Char Islands) in the middle of the Bramaputra River bear testimony to rising tides- and the washing away of homes and livelihoods in the wet season show the consequences.  The DFID project I visited is putting houses on plinths to protect the people, loaning people a cow (maybe it was giving them the cow) as a source of income, and trying to develop an infrastructure measured in years rather than months. The idea of income generation through asset transfer is more Hernando de Soto than Mohammed Yunus (see below - Grameenphone) but the women I talked to, through translation, seemed to believe it had given them dignity and not just livelihood.

Bangladesh now has the opportunity to take its experience of climate change into the international arena.

Honestly - they like ID Cards...

In Gazipur province this morning I saw the construction of Bangladesh's first national voter roll and ID scheme.  Cards are being issued to some 80 million people,  noting photo, signature, and thumb and forefinger prints, as a way of ensuring credible and fair elections.  36 million have been registered so far by the independent electoral commission and the army.  I met men and women who arrived at an appointed time for their card.  Honestly - they conveyed a sense of enfranchisement, especially the women, who said it gave them for the first time the sense that their worth was equal to that of others.  One woman said she would follow her husband in who to vote for - that is her right - but the sense that the process was creating a democratic base for the country was palpable.

Democratic Institutions

Bangladesh has been governeed by caretaker government (not the same as martial law) since 22 January 2007.  There is a universal desire for elections to proceed this year - commitments to that end have been made by the government and all the parties.  But party leaders are on trial for alleged corruption, and the political system is in limbo.  The local elections that should come sooner rather than later will release some of the tension, but there are fundamental choices for Bangladesh this year.  Can it follow the Indian path of democratic development, or will it fall away?

The desire for a democratic voice is strong - see above.  But just a year ago there were people dying in the streets in riots and demostrations.  So the stakes are high.  I cannot pontificate on the rights and wrongs of the charges - but I can insist that everyone charged with a crime is judged without deference or discrimination, party leader or petty criminal.  And I also know that political parties need to be about more than personality because while politicians come and go political parites need to endure.  So there are responsiblities this year for the caretaker government - to fulfil its commitments to a fair elevtoral process and independent judiciary.  But there are also responsibilities on the political parties - to reform themselves so that thay are credible vehicles for the articulation of popular will.

I will have more to say about the development of democratic values in my speech on Tuesday.

Posted at 18:13 09 February 2008 by David Miliband  |  Comments[13]