Barış Karapınar teaches graduate courses in the areas of climate change economics and international trade at Boğaziçi (Bosporus) University in Istanbul. He also serves in the Civil Society Organizations Panel of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). He was a lead author of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC) Fifth Assessment Report on climate change impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability. He is currently part of the IPCC's technical committee.
Karapınar has worked as the Managing Director of the TEMA Foundation. He was a leader of a research program on trade and climate change at the University of Bern in Switzerland. He has also worked for the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) in London. Karapınar holds a PhD in Development Studies from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). He pursued his undergraduate studies in Political Science and International Relations at Boğaziçi University. He is the lead editor of Food Crises and the WTO (Cambridge University Press, 2010) and Rethinking Structural Reform in Turkish Agriculture: Beyond the World Bank’s Strategy (Nova Science Publishers, 2010). He has engaged in policy consultancy for a number of international policy institutions, including the Swiss Agency for Development, the European Parliament, and the German Development Cooperation (GIZ).
Project: “Climate Change and Land: Leveraging the Synergies Between Adaptation and Mitigation through Sustainable Land Management in Turkey”
Land-related greenhouse gas emissions—from agriculture, forestry and other land use (AFOLU)—account for almost one-quarter of global total emissions. According to the IPCC, almost half of this amount is emitted from agricultural production while the rest come from land use and land-use change activities. Hence, limiting and reducing emissions in land sectors is critical in meeting global emission reduction targets in the context of the Paris Agreement. On the other hand, land and related livelihoods are increasingly exposed to the impacts of climate change, requiring substantial measures of adaptation too.
Land is a major natural sink of carbon, offering substantial capacity and potential for carbon sequestration. According to estimates, the total carbon in land systems amounts to 2500 GtC which is contained by vegetation and by soils in the form of carbon organic matter. The higher the organic matter of soil, often the higher its fertility. Hence, while soil offers ample capacity for carbon sequestration, and thus mitigation, higher soil organic matter improves vegetation productivity, which enhances the adaptation capacity of both ecosystems and societies that depend on land. In this context, this research study will assess the climate and land nexus in Turkey. It aims to identify areas of synergies between adaptation and mitigation, which could be unlocked through sustainable land management. It will review the scientific background of the composition of land-based GHG fluxes, it will estimate the carbon sequestration capacity of land and will assess how climate change affect both the natural and human systems that rely on land in Turkey. It will develop a set of policy recommendations.
Pandemic and Society Webinar Series: Climate, Energy, Food and Water
IPC organized the webinar Pandemic and Society Webinar Series: Climate, Energy, Food and Water during the Pandemic (Salgın ve Toplum - "Salgın ve Toplum: "Salgın Döneminde İklim, Enerji, Gıda ve Su") with the participation of Akgün İlhan, Barış Karapınar, Değer Saygın and Ümit Şahin on May 18.
Please click here for the event.
National Geographic On Campus! Climate Change and Our World II
The second event in the “National Geographic on Campus!” series took place on May 7, 2018 at Boğaziçi University. The joint event by Sabancı University, IPC, Boğaziçi University Agricultural Platform, and National Geographic, brought together photographer and author Reza Deghati, whose photographs have appeared on the covers of various magazines such as National Geographic, Time, and Newsweek, and 2017/18 Mercator-IPC Fellow Barış Karapınar, climate change expert from the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The panelists discussed the effects of climate change on food security and poverty.
National Geographic On Campus! Climate Change and Our World
For the first event of the “National Geographic on Campus!” series, National Geographic photographer Reza Deghati and 2017/18 Mercator-IPC Fellow Barış Karapınar shared their views on the impacts of climate change. The event was moderated by Onur Kumbaracıbaşı from National Geographic. The event took place on April 17, 2018 at Sabancı University Cinema Hall.
Climate Café Talks 2 – How Do Farmers Adapt to Climate Change?
As the second event in the Climate Café Talks series, 2017/18 Mercator-IPC Fellow Barış Karapınar’s talk on “How Do Farmers Adapt to Climate Change? Survey Results with 700 Farmers (Çiftçiler İklim Değişikliğine Nasıl Uyum Sağlıyor?)” took place on February 6, 2018 at IPC Karaköy.
Please click here for more information about the Climate Cafe Talks.
2017 Bonn Climate Summit – Impressions from COP23
The Initiative convened a panel titled “2017 Bonn Climate Summit – Impressions from COP23” on November 28, 2017 at IPC. Climate Studies Coordinator Ümit Şahin, 2017/18 MercatorIPC Fellows Pınar Ertör Akyazı and Barış Karapınar, 2014/15 Mercator-IPC Fellow Ethemcan Turhan, and Marmara University Department of Political Science and International Relations Faculty Member Semra Cerit Mazlum shared their general observations on the summit, as well as Turkey’s official position on the climate change regime, with academics, civil society representatives, and journalists in this field.
Welcoming of the 2017/18 Mercator-IPC Fellows
The Welcoming of the 2017/18 Mercator-IPC Fellows was held on October 16. The event marked the 6th cycle of the Mercator-IPC Fellowship Program, which is coordinated by the Istanbul Policy Center, Sabancı University and Stiftung Mercator Initiative.
The event began with welcoming remarks by IPC Director Fuat Keyman, followed by remarks from the Chairman of the Advisory Board at Stiftung Mercator, Rüdiger Frohn. The welcoming remarks were followed by a movie screening which introduced the 2017/18 Mercator-IPC Fellows Gabriele Cloeters, Souad Osseiran, Simon Waldman, Banu Karaca, Pınar Ertör Akyazı and Barış Karapınar.
Green Economy Policies for Climate
IPC, Green Thought Association, and Green Europe Foundation convened a conference on June 1, 2017 at IPC, Karaköy, to introduce the end report of the Green Climate Green Economy project, titled “Green Economy Policies for Climate.”
Beyond Special Circumstances: Turkey and Global Climate Change Politics
The circumstances such as increasing investments in renewable energy sector and development of sectoral climate adaptation policies in many countries provide a unique opportunity to take action for sustainable development through the prism of climate change. In order to address these issues and prepare towards the 2015 Paris Climate Conference (COP21), the Agence Française de Développement (AFD), Marmara University Research Center for International Relations (MURCIR) and IPC-Sabancı University-Stiftung Mercator Initiative organized a two-day event (conference-debate and scientific workshop) on climate change on April 16-17, 2015.
On April 16, the conference-debate brought together French and Turkish representatives from public authorities, private sector, financial sector, academia and civil society to discuss the topic “How to reconcile climate and development?” The conference was followed by a cocktail and an exhibition of photographs titled “60 Solutions for Climate Change” by acclaimed photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand.
On April 17, the Young Scholars Workshop titled “Beyond Special Circumstances: Turkey and Global Climate Change Politics” gathered junior and senior academics as well as presenters from government institutions, NGOs and think tanks from around the world to exchange broadly on various aspects of climate change. This workshop also hosted two high-level keynote speakers:
Prof. Hilal Elver, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food; Professor of Global Studies at the University of California at Santa Barbara, USA
Prof. Franck LeCocq, IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) AR5 WGIII Lead Author; Director of CIRED (International Center for Environment and Development), France
