International climate finance (ICF) is part of a broader climate justice movement, which is concerned with the tension that while the developed states in the Global North pollute the most, the...Show moreInternational climate finance (ICF) is part of a broader climate justice movement, which is concerned with the tension that while the developed states in the Global North pollute the most, the developing states in the Global South have to bear the consequences. ICF not only aims at reducing emissions, but mostly focuses on reducing the vulnerability of populations in developing states, through financial transfers from the Global North to the Global South. Climate justice movements insist on bottom-up policymaking, whereby power is handed back to non-state actors (NSAs) from the Global South. While the role of NSAs in international climate policies has been researched, their role in the specific finance programmes has been largely overlooked up until now. This paper therefore tries to contribute to the field through researching what role NSAs play in the design, implementation and evaluation of ICF programmes. This is done on the basis of content analysis of four of the United Nation’s climate financing programmes as part of its Green Climate Fund (GCF). This research concludes that the role of communities is only limited in the design and implementation stage, but much more present in the evaluation stage. The projects still have a very top-down focus and the involvement of the communities is hampered because of cultural and practical reasons. Strict objectives help to formalise the involvement of communities. While models of democratic pluralism and functionalism are already in place, a neocorporatist model could help the GCF to overcome difficulties in involving NSAs and to make their policies more effective and legitimate.Show less
Master thesis | Crisis and Security Management (MSc)
open access
This thesis examines the specific mechanisms through which non-state actors involved in the civil wars in Iraq, Syria, and Yemen have purposely targeted, employed, or manipulated water resources...Show moreThis thesis examines the specific mechanisms through which non-state actors involved in the civil wars in Iraq, Syria, and Yemen have purposely targeted, employed, or manipulated water resources and infrastructures as instruments and tools during conflict. The presence of violent non-state actors seeking military expansion, combined with prevailing dire water situations, underline the importance of examining and clarifying the intersection between water and conflict in these countries. To critically examine how violent non-state actors can actively instrumentalize water-related resources and infrastructures to form part of warfare tactics and strategies, this thesis will focus on two specific non-state actors operating in episodes of conflict and analyse the following research question: How have the Islamic State and the Houthis instrumentalized water resources and infrastructures as a part of military tactics and strategies in Iraq, Syria, and Yemen?. To study this phenomenon, this research applies the categories proposed by the conceptual model from Gleick who argued that water can become a target or a weapon during episodes of conflict. Chapter 2 provides a critical discussion of the existing academic body of knowledge on the connections between water and conflict before focusing on the literature theorizing the instrumentalization of water during episodes of conflict more particularly. The review of existing relevant literature leads to the theoretical approach employed for the current research project. Next, chapter 3 specifies the research design, including a justification of the adoption of a descriptive comparative case study model, as well as its operationalization. Chapter 4 and 5 apply the theoretical framework on the instrumentalization of water during conflict to the case studies of IS in Iraq and Syria between 2013-2020 and the Houthis in Yemen between 2014-2020. Based on the comparative analysis of the water-related military tactics and strategies of these two non-state actors, chapter 6 provides an answer to the research question and discusses the limitations to these findings. Chapter 7 discusses the conclusions of this study in relation to its academic and practical relevance.Show less
