International climate diplomacy with Dr. Sinead Walsh
This month on Climate Conversations Aoife and Callum speak with Dr Sinead Walsh about international climate policy and diplomacy. Sinead has had a varied and fascinating career, culminating in her current role as Climate Director in the Department of Foreign Affairs. Her career has spanned both the NGO sector and government; she worked for ten years across India, Pakistan, Rwanda and South Sudan for Concern Worldwide before joining Ireland's DFA in 2009, where she has served as EU ambassador to South Sudan and Irish ambassador to Sierra Leone and Liberia, where she found herself playing a leading role in the Ebola response. Her experience during this crisis was captured in her incredible book 'Getting to Zero: A doctor and a diplomat on the Ebola frontline', which she co-published with Dr. Oliver Johnson. She has a BA from Harvard University, an MSc in Development Studies from University College Dublin and a PhD in Social Policy from the London School of Economics.
In this conversation they touch on Sinead's incredible career so far, the increasing impacts of climate change on the global south, the amplification of climate risk in those already vulnerable, the projected impacts of mass migration, Sinead's role in the Ebola response in Sierra Leone and how the lessons she learned there are still relevant in the climate fight,
the huge role of domestic policy in facilitating and blocking global climate action, the importance of realistic and long time frames for international development projects, Sinead's experience on the inside of COP26 and the need for high income countries to financially support low income countries in transitioning to net zero.
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