How many delegates does it take to install a light bulb?

Danish newspaper humor on the COP: How many delegates does it take to install a light bulb?

The answer is here: http://blog.politiken.dk/ytournel/2009/12/10/cop15-pa-15-sekunder-dag-4/ and translates to:

12 to discuss which direction the light bulb should be turned
157 to insist on having the light bulb produced in their home country
13 to oppose the installation of the light bulb
19 to question the very existence of the lamp
38 to discuss whether to use an energy saving light bulb
1 immigrant to do the dirty work.

Prostituting our natural forests to the higher bidder

By Juan Carlos Soriano

Over the weekend the Secretariat circulated Non-paper No. 11 with consolidated text for the negotiations to establish a mechanism to Reduce Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in developing countries (REDD). I felt that the REED discussions were sort of moving forward, the text was shorter but the number of contentious issues remained the same. The facilitator of this discussions – Tony La Viña from the Philippines – formed three drafting groups to work in closed sessions on three sets of safeguards for the REDD mechanism:

1. Stakeholder participation

2. Integrity issues related to environmental co-benefits

3. Governance

This morning at 10am the Secretariat released a revised Non-paper No. 18. And oh surprise, the provision to “include safeguards against the conversion of natural forests to forest plantations” was DELETED!

I just came out of the session on REDD and watched over 20 countries call on the chair to bring the language back in the text. When the chair asked if there was consensus on that petition the EU with support from the DR Congo and Gabon blocked it. It seems to me that the Europeans have a strong economic interest to convert the Congo basin into a big plantation, not only that, they want to get credits for it so they can reach their reduction targets. Boooo!

International youth sound the alarm

All the youth attending the talks here in Bangkok gathered for a press conference this afternoon. Below is our press release.

INTERNATIONAL YOUTH SOUND THE ALARM:

WE ARE ON ROAD TO FAILURE!

International Youth have declared “No Confidence” in the road to Copenhagen.

Bangkok – A declaration of “No Confidence in the Road to Copenhagen” was announced today by the International Youth Delegation attending the UN climate change talks. The delegation cited the failure of reaching a commitment from developed countries on strong targets, a growing concern that a second commitment period in the Kyoto Protocol will not be secured, and a lack of guarantees for protection of Indigenous peoples’ rights and interests, in its Declaration. The current text of the draft climate deal is so weak and so full of “false solutions” – measures like offsetting that actually make the problem worse – it is currently unacceptable.

“Youth are sounding the alarm. These talks have been polluted by self-interested corporations and countries looking to profit off of our crisis,” said Joshua Kahn Russell from the U.S. and Rainforest Action Network. “We cannot allow rich countries to use U.S. inaction as an excuse to kill the Kyoto Protocol. Our future cannot be held hostage to the politics and interests of the United States or any other single country. We see Copenhagen as a beginning, not an ending. We will not accept a dirty deal.”

One young person from each continent, organizers from an international youth climate movement of hundreds of thousands, addressed those attending the negotiations today.

“My people are experiencing the severe effects of climate change,” said Anil Rimal from Nepalese Youth Climate Action. “This is happening now, not in 2050, and people are losing their lives, homes and livelihoods. We can not afford to delay global action.”

“The youth have been looking to the rich developed countries like in the EU to take a leading role to secure an ambitious climate change deal in Copenhagen,” said Anna Collins from the U.K. Youth Climate Coalition, “They are failing us.”

With less than two weeks of negotiations remaining before the Copenhagen meeting, the pressure is on developed countries to commit to providing finance and at least a 40% reduction in emissions by 2020. “If they do not, we will witness the derailment of this climate deal in Copenhagen,” said Grace Mwarua from Kenya.

Paulina Monforte from the Youth Environmental Network of Yucatan, Mexico continued by saying “any agreement in Copenhagen must include the numbers 1.5 degrees and 350 ppm order to safeguard the survival of all nations peoples.”

“Young people all around the world are working locally and internationally for genuine solutions.” Concluded Gemma Tillack from the Australian Wilderness Society. “We are building a strong civil society and working in our communities and will not give up on a strong and fair climate agreement. We will never give up, because it is our future at risk.”

Negotiating their forests

By Juan Carlos Soriano

Every living person on this planet depends on forests for our survival, and the 60 million indigenous people who live in forests worldwide have been their primary guardians. An agreement on reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) under the climate negotiations will affect the rights of indigenous peoples.

Currently the language of the negotiating text on REDD is vague; “Forest” can be interpreted as “monocrop plantations.” The “Right to participate” does not mean  “Indigenous rights, as some are trying to say. This afternoon The Indigenous Environmental Network rejected having REDD as part of a climate agreement. They call for language in the text that acknowledge the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the principles Free Prior and Informed Consent.

Despite the opposition, an agreement on a REDD mechanism is likely to be adopted in Copenhagen.

By Lauren Nutter

This morning as soon as we hit the conference center and felt the building energy of youth gather for an action our morning grogginess subsided.  The youth in Bangkok hosted an action calling countries to sign onto a pledge and agree to protect forests and the rights on indigenous peoples in a climate agreement.  We all put on our bright blue “forests for our future” t-shirts, pulled out our banners, and were even joined by a Thai student drum choir.  We chanted loudly, and tried to stop every party member entering the center to ask if they would support the pledge.  We were elated to have Papa New Guinea and Indonesia, among others, sign our petition.

Talking climate in Bangkok

(Our bikers Juan Carlos Soriano and Lauren Nutter are currently attending the Bangkok Climate Change Talks 2009)

by Lauren Nutter

After waking up at 3:30 in the morning to head to the airport, and finding frost on my car already thanks to the lovely Maine climate, I was happy to arrive to the warmer weather of Bangkok.  More importantly, I was excited to see some progress at the next negotiating sessions under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) here in Bangkok.  After an array of global summits and meetings this past month—G-20 meeting, the Major Economies Forum, UN General Assembly high-level on climate change—I hoped that there would be a renewed sense of urgency and commitment from countries to take the next steps needed to combat climate change.

Under this international negotiating framework, countries are set on a path to design what will hopefully be the next global commitment to stop climate change and deal with its current effects.  They have been working up to this for almost three years now; and there is still much left to do.  With an overwhelming 200 pages of varying ideas for how to tackle all of this, countries are voicing their concern to finish on time and pushing for full negotiating mode.  However as one negotiator from the Philippines commented, “We are late, but not too late on our work: negotiation is the art of the possible”.

So far in my time here, I have been focusing on the discussion around technology transfer—how will we get developing countries the technology they need to mitigate and adapt to climate change?  The chair of this discussion started of the session giving all the negotiators nutcrakers and referring to the challenges of reaching a consensus agreement said, “as we talked about in Bonn, we have hard nuts to crack, but I hope the outcome on technology transfer will be more then peanuts”.  Hopefully, we can make progress here and crack some of these “hard nuts” from the divergence of country’s views.

The COA bike path to Copenhagen

Welcome COA community, family, and friends.

Earth in Brackets is now hosting the College of the Atlantic delegation that will participate in the United Nations Climate Change negotiations this coming December in Copenhagen, Denmark. The outcome of the agreement in Copenhagen will determine if the world transitions to clean energy; and moves forward to a cleaner, healthier and independent future for our children and our countries.

We are 13 passionate students (intros and bios coming soon!) from the US, Finland, Saint Lucia, Peru, New Zealand, and India. Since last year – with help from professors Doreen Stabinsky and Ken Cline – we are learning all we can to engage internationally at these negotiations.

While we continue learning about the international process, we will share with you our reflections, insights, anecdotes, and analysis of this journey on our bike path to Copenhagen.