Introduction

For thirty years, the UN Conference of the Parties (better known as COP) has arranged annual meetings to discuss, agree on targets, established protocols to reduce global greenhouse emissions, and assessed progress in dealing with climate change. Much of the statements coming out of COP meetings have focused on formal declarations, steps that countries have taken, and emphases on the need to achieve internationally agreed carbon emission goals to moderate climate change conditions. By now it should be painfully clear that the emphasis has been on raising awareness, ...