DiploNews – Issue 128 – 1 November 2008
Call for Applications: Climate Change Diplomacy
Diplo is pleased to announce the start of a new online course on Climate Change Diplomacy. Climate change is becoming an important issue in global and regional negotiation processes. In the past, a few negotiators trained specifically for the Kyoto process could cover climate change issues effectively, but today officials involved in a wide range of fields (such as energy, human rights, telecommunications, and health) need knowledge about climate change issues. This course will equip participants to represent and promote the interests of their own countries in the global climate change policy process. In addition, the course will broaden participants’ general understanding of climate change and the global policy response to climate change.
The first session of Climate Change Diplomacy will run from 1 December 2008 – 12 February 2009. Diplomats and civil servants from small developing states involved in climate change policy processes and negotiations are encouraged to apply. For this first session, the Maltese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation will provide full scholarships for diplomats and civil servants representing small developing states.
Please see the Diplo Climate Change Diplomacy website for further information and to apply. The application deadline is 16 November 2008.
Featured Online Course: Cyber Diplomacy
Diplomats make extensive use of computers and the Internet in their daily work. The sheer amount of information and software available has made information and communication technology a vital tool in most diplomatic activities. But are diplomats and other people interested in international affairs using these tools to their best and fullest advantage? This online course explores some of the possibilities offered by new technologies to improve diplomatic activities. The different components of the course will also highlight some risks (and opportunities) of the tools and the information available. To read more about cyber diplomacy, please go to the Diplo Cyber Diplomacy website.
The next session of this course will begin the week of 23 February 2009. The course is available as a University of Malta accredited course (application deadline: 22 December 2008). Credits earned can later be applied towards Diplo’s Master in Contemporary Diplomacy. If you are not looking for university credit, you can register in this course as a Diplo Certificate Courses (application deadline: 19 January 2009). Apply now to reserve your place!
New Publication: Le Bicorne et la Plume: Les publications de diplomates suisses de 1848 à nos jours
Diplomats normally spend considerable time writing. Writing belongs to their trade. But do they publish? The fact that at least six diplomats have won Nobel Prizes for literature suggests that they do. In Switzerland, however, strict administrative regulations often limit this activity. The author of this book, Jacques Rial, a retired Swiss diplomat, has looked into catalogues of main Swiss libraries and has made some surprising discoveries. For more information or to order this publication, please visit the Diplo Publications website.
Climate Diplomacy in Greenland
Next year, the UN Climate Change Conference will be held in Denmark to determine a successor to the Kyoto Protocol. Prior to this critical conference, Denmark’s Minister for Climate and Energy, Connie Hedegaard, has initiated pre-conference diplomatic efforts to arouse environmental concerns of the US and major Asian countries. Along with well-known columnist for the New York Times Thomas L. Friedman and other journalists, Hedegaard has visited a research centre in Greenland that studies records of climate change through history. For more information, see the website of The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark in Washington, DC.
–contributed by Jing Jing Xia
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