9 December 2009

News from the inside

What about the logo!

We observed the COP15 negotiations this morning. My conclusion was that too much time was wasted arguing about side issues like the conference logo! (China and others thought it didn’t make reference to Kyoto) and the negotiators also wasted time by toadying up to the Chair, Connie Hedegaard, – every country had to start their comments with “Congratulations on your presidency of the negotiations… we have every faith in your judgement” blah, blah blah… Come on people get on with it!

When they finally got round to talking about the agreement Tuvalu, on behalf of the Alliance of Small Island States, wanted to make some changes to the Kyoto agreement to reflect the needs more strongly of the small islands. They claimed to have gone through the proper process to table the amendment – having submitted it at least 6 months beforehand. The negotiator accompanied this with an impassioned speech on climate change being a matter of life or death for small islands – he got a round of applause from the observers.

India piped up first saying that COP15 was about finding a way forward not amending the Kyoto protocol which was perfectly good and that Tuvalu’s concerns could be addressed within the existing document. They said that amending it would hold up the negotiations. China, Saudi Arabia and others supported India and not surprisingly other small islands such as Barbados, Sao Tome and Principe & Cape Verde sided with Tuvalu.

As there was a disagreement Connie said she would make sure a contact group was set up to discuss the changes. India and Co. didn’t like this; they thought it should be discussed here and now, or on a more informal basis. Tuvalu said “No” we went through the proper process and the issue should be treated formally with a contact group. The parties couldn’t agree and Tuvalu said that the negotiations should be stopped – cue concerned mumbling from the room. So Connie did indeed halt the negotiations and said she’d try to find a way through the situation by 3pm when they reconvened for the next session. Then lots of the negotiators walked out and the second meeting (not COP15) was brought forward to fill the gap of the now halted COP15.

It was quite dramatic, and I think that Connie has an extremely hard job. It’s a lot of responsibility on her shoulders to try to find ways forward when countries do not agree, and I’m sure there’ll be tougher disagreements than this – things are bound to heat up as the negotiations progress.

Back at KlimaForum, Sue gave a talk about our work to the visitors and delegates. It was well attended even though it was in a room away from the main centre with posters directing people there that you could barely see in the dark! KlimaForum is definitely an easier sell for us than COP15, we have been working out a strategy to target key COP15 players with our solutions, will let you know how that goes…

Jennie Organ
Communications Manager