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Rising global temperatures will bring changes in weather patterns, rising sea levels and increased frequency and intensity of extreme weather events. Climate change impacts will range from affecting agriculture- further endangering food security-, sea-level rise and the accelerated erosion of coastal zones, increasing intensity of natural disasters, species extinction and the spread of vector-borne diseases. Climate change is therefore the greatest environmental challenge facing the world today. The effects will be felt here in the Turkey and internationally there may be severe problems for people in regions that are particularly vulnerable to change. The recent Fourth Assessment Report (AR4) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) leaves us in no doubt that human activity is the primary driver of the observed changes in climate. The main human influence on global climate is emissions of the key greenhouse gases. The concentrations of these gases in the atmosphere have now reached levels unprecedented for tens of thousands of years. For Turkey, climate change means hotter, drier summers (more droughts, heat waves, wild fires, etc.), milder and drier winters, higher sea levels and an increased flood risk to coastal areas. Across the globe, there will be more intense heat waves, droughts and more flooding. There may be severe problems for regions where people are particularly vulnerable to changes in the weather. Food shortages and the spread of disease are commonly predicted. The social, environmental and economic costs of climate change could be huge. There are also enormous opportunities if we are willing to take action. Government, business and individuals all have a part to play, and all of us can benefit from rising to the challenge of climate change. This paper briefly explains what climate change means for the world and Turkey and what we should do about it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While some degree of competition is present in many authoritarian regimes, the implications of such controlled competition on international issues have not received much consideration, including towards international environmental accords. We attempt to rectify this through a framework where we focus on internal political competition in a hybrid, nondemocratic system where national elections are held regularly. Specifically, we argue that the presence of multiple actors competing in elections in nondemocratic settings results in them assuming positions on various issues, justifying their positions, and attempting to mobilize their supporters with considerable implications for international environmental policies. We display our argument in the context of Iranian debates on the ratification of the Paris Climate Accords. Our findings demonstrate that the competing Iranian sides rely on different justifications for their environmental positions, resulting in extensive (negative) competitions of rhetoric where the international dimension emerges as an important feature in the internal competition. Overall, we show that political competition within non-democracies is likely to add to the complexity of international (environmental) negotiations and cooperation. Keywords: internatonal negotatons on climate change; competng narratves and electons in authoritarian regimes; politcal factons; environment and sanctons; regime survival, Introduction The Paris Climate Change Agreement, a legally binding international treaty that sets goals for temperature increases, was adopted by 196 parties at the United Nations (UN) Climate Change Conference [...]