International Reports 3/2010

Ausgabe 3/2010 der Auslandsinformationen der Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung

by Gerhard Wahlers

Consequences for the World's Poorest Countries

For the poorest countries in the world, climate change means an additional threat which they must helplessly face. Besides underdevelopment, a scarcity of resources, sovereign debt, or overpopulation, climate change brings with it a further threat to livelihoods, and therefore to development potential. Scientific investigation into the consequences of climate change for nutrition, water supply, health, land, and ecosystems clearly reveal the negative consequences which result from the rise in the average global temperature.

by Susanne Dröge

The Brazilian elite are well aware of the importance of the UN climate debate. There is widespread anxiety that the world community (UN), under the leadership of the USA, could use the threat to the climate as a reason to place the Brazilian Amazon under international administration.

by Peter Fischer-Bollin

The biggest climate change conference in history is over and one month on, opinions are still divided over its significance for the fight against climate change and the future of global climate change negotiations. The Copenhagen Climate Change Conference took place from 7-19 December 2009 and was by far the largest climate change conference ever held. It attracted enormous public attention, more than 100 heads of state attended the conference and 40,000 people had registered for participation.

by Regina Betz, Johanna Cludius

In the future, Asia’s growth economies in particular will, in the course of their economic development, have an enormous influence on the increase of global energy demands. The People’s Republic of China, globally speaking, is already an important energy consumer, as it consumes over two-fifths of the world’s coal and almost a tenth of the world’s petroleum. Although this means that Chinese energy demands are already assuming a significant scale, the energy demand per head remains at only around 30 percent of the average for OECD states.

by Antje Nötzold

Sebastián Piñera Wins Presidential Elections against Eduardo Frei

Sebastián Piñera Echenique from the oppositional center-right ”Coalición por el Cambio” is Chile’s next president after defeating his closest rival Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle from the ruling center-left grouping ”Concertación por la Democracia” in a run-off vote on January 17, 2010. Piñera was able to obtain 51.61 percent of the popular vote, making this the second-closest result of the last twenty years.

by Winfried Jung, Martin F. Meyer

The Reshaping of the Political System in Croatia in 2009/2010

The year 2009/2010 altered the political system of Croatia more than any other in the last decade. Besides local and presidential elections, the country also received a new prime minister. In this article, the political changes of the past year in Croatia will be clustered and related to one another. As an introduction and by way of understanding the political system, the background to the constitutional rank of president will be illuminated

by Reinhard Wessel