Moravian College at the UNFCCC

As COP17 concludes....

2011-12-11T08:57:00.000-08:00

Well, I have skimmed some of the documents that came out of the final marathon negotiations sessions and while there is still a lot of kicking the can down the road, there are some encouraging provisions.

A legally binding agreement for emission reductions to be finalized by 2015 and go into effect no later than 2020. (The U.S. timeframe was accepted here, but the U.S. didn't want the legally binding part.) Such is the give-and-take world of negotiations.
The commitments will include 194 countries - developed and developing. So unlike the Kyoto Protocol, the provisions won't apply only to the Annex I countries. This is a recognition of the major development that has occurred in countries like China, India, and Brazil since the original development of the Kyoto Protocol and is a pretty significant change.
The Green Climate Fund (a concept that came from Cancun/COP16) was formally launched. The agreement sets up the bodies that will collect, govern and distribute tens of billions of dollars a year for poor countries. It will be an operating entity of the Financial Mechanism of the Convention (the UNFCCC) -- not the World Bank, so this is a "win" for the developing nations that opposed the World Bank involvement.
The Ad Hoc Working Group on Long-term Cooperative Action under the Convention will be extended for one year in order for it to continue its work and reach the agreed outcome pursuant to decision 1/CP.13 (Bali Action Plan).
An agreement was made to launch a new process to develop a protocol, "...another legal instrument or an agreed outcome with legal force under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change applicable to all Parties, through a subsidiary body under the Convention hereby established and to be known as the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action to complete its work no later thatn 2015. This group will plan its work in the first half of 2012, including, inter alia, on mitigation, adaptation, finance, technology development and transfer, transparency of action, and support and capacity-building, drawing upon submissions from Parties and relevant technical, social and economic information and expertise." It is expected to deal with the emissions (gigaton) gap of greenhouse gases to try to limit global warming to 2 or 1.5 degrees C. [Good luck to this group!]
Countries are to develop national adaptation plans. "...Enhanced action on adaptation should be undertaken in accordance with the Convention, should follow a country-driven, gender-sensitive, participatory and fully transparent approach, taking into consideration vulnerable groups, communities and ecosystems, and should be based on and guided by the best available science and, as appropriate, traditional and indigenous knowledge, and by gender-sensitive approaches, with a view to integrating adaptation into relevant social, economic and environmental policies and actions, where appropriate." Assistance to developing countries in creating such plans will be needed. Members of the constituency group RINGOs (Research and Independent NGOs) should take an active role here in helping to develop this capacity in developing countries.
It appears that REDD+ is to be continued, but with a greater transparency in the processes and a greater respect for local and national policies and practices. In other words, I believe this is an attempt to address the fear from many, especially indigenous groups, of a new form of colonialism by the global north.

There are many documents posted on the UNFCCC page that I won't have a chance to review in more detail until finals and grading are done (see: http://unfccc.int/2860.php).

The agreement is being criticized by environmental groups and developing countries as it really delays the tough task of significantly reducing emissions *now* to prevent continuing warming and extreme weather events.

Reactions from others?

A cost issue?

2011-12-10T07:28:00.000-08:00

A major focus of the U.S. at COP17 has been the economic interests of our country (and more specifically, on the interests of large corporations). As if often the case, the environment vs. economy dichotomy arises. But what is the cost of inaction?

See this article from CNN about the extreme weather events of 2011:

http://www.cnn.com/2011/12/09/world/americas/impact-year-in-review/index.html?hpt=hp_c1

$50 billion for this year for the U.S. alone. And just during the 2 weeks of COP17 in Durban, there were 8 extreme weather events:

http://thinkprogress.org/green/2011/12/09/385819/top-eight-climate-disasters-during-the-durban-climate-talks/

The dollar estimates, of course, totally neglect the plight of millions who are currently suffering from extreme droughts and floods. Delaying any real action on greenhouse mitigation and climate change adaptation until at least 2020 will likely be a death sentence for millions more -- most of whom will initially be from impoverished parts of the world.

Do we call this fiscal responsibility? How about genocide? Or crimes against humanity?

COP17 Week 2 from afar

2011-12-09T19:21:00.000-08:00

It is a bit difficult to follow the events at COP17 from across the Atlantic, especially while grading and writing finals and still feeling the effects of jet lag. I feel a bit like a junkie, having to get my fix of the latest updates, which frankly were not too impressive most days.

The protests and frustration seemed to magnify this week. On Wednesday, Canadian youth were permanently ejected from COP 17 due to a silent protest in which they turned their backs to their Minister of the Environment (Mr. Kent) in return for his turning his back on the youth of that country.

On Thursday, as U.S. climate negotiator Todd Stern was about to speak at the summit, an American youth (Ms. Abigail Borah from Middlebury College) interrupted him to express her views that the U.S. delegation doesn't represent the youth of America. She was promptly removed and stripped of her credentials. There are official guidelines from the U.N. as to what is and isn't allowed at the COP meetings, but how do we get the delegations from supposedly democratic nations to listen to *all* people that they represent?

"I am scared for my future," Borah told Stern. "2020 is too late to wait. We need an urgent path to a fair, ambitious, and legally binding treaty. You must take responsibility to act now."

http://www.democracynow.org/2011/12/8/im_scared_for_my_future_student

Today, Inside Higher Ed posted this on Facebook and asked the question “What do you think about what Borah did?”

My response: I would be fascinated to know how many campuses are discussing the nitty gritty details of the UNFCCC processes, agreements and proposals and what the implications are for our students. I have attended the last 3 COP meetings, and there are a number of U.S. colleges and universities represented, but by far, the youth (meaning college-aged students) from other countries are more deeply engaged and have a fuller understanding of the issues. I salute this student for representing the voice that hasn't been heard enough by the U.S. delegation. Delegations (parties) from other nations, many of which are not democracies by our definition, function in a much more collaborative and interactive (dare I say democratic fashion) than ours in terms of their composition and interaction with civil society.

Hours later, there were no other comments. Sigh.

If anyone reading this has followed our postings on this blog over the past few years, you will know that I greatly admire the late Wangari Maathai. Yesterday, Amy Goodman interviewed her daughter Wanjira (who sounds a lot like her mother). Her message to the U.S.: “Shape up or get out!”

http://www.democracynow.org/2011/12/8/wanjira_maathai_us_should_shape_up

Yesterday, I posted this on Facebook: One day left to get an agreement in Durban that will have real impact. The U.S. should be leaders in addressing this challenge, not a nation that appears to deny the science and seems reckless to many in the world.

It appeared that the UN climate talks and perhaps the entire UNFCCC process was once again in serious trouble. This had been the chatter during week 1—something the media back here in the states would love to jump on. The proposal of the United States negotiating team to delay global climate action until 2020 has resulted in our country further alienating itself since many believe that this is likely to be a “death sentence for the people at the front lines of the climate crisis.”

The Fossil-of-the-Day awards for Thursday, December 8^th pretty much summed up the status of things:

http://climatenetwork.org/fossil-of-the-day/busy-fossil-awards-target-us-new-zealand-japan-canada-russia-africa-group-earns-ra

From afar, it appeared that tensions rose further today. http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2011/12/09-10#.TuKRFi4HkLU.facebook

Protests outside the venue grew louder on Friday, and according to several reports, delegates from the worlds most vulnerable countries joined Kumi Naidoo of Greenpeace International, a high level official from the Maldives (reports are conflicting as to whether this was the Environmental Minister or the President), and more than 150 youth climate activists in occupying the main plenary. For twelve days, security had been tight and any “actions” were limited to less than 15 people, so I don’t know how they pulled this off! Of course, U.N. security forces quickly moved in and the protesters were removed from the premises. I wonder what happened to the Party from the Maldives?!

On the last morning, it is tradition to allow 2 minute comments from a various of constituencies that normally don’t get a chance to address the Parties. Anjali Appadurai, a student at the College of the Atlantic in Maine, addressed the United Nations Climate Change Conference on behalf of youth delegates. Her message was simple: "Deep cuts now. Get it done” She went on to say “What's radical is to completely alter the planet's climate, to betray the future of my generation, and to condemn millions to death by climate change."

http://www.democracynow.org/2011/12/9/get_it_done_urging_climate_justice

The talks went into extra time Friday with yet another Indaba being held at midnight South African time! According to the UNFCCC website, a document will be posted on Saturday morning and the meeting will resume sometime after the Parties have had an opportunity to review this. This extension into Saturday occurred in Copenhagen as well. I remember being in the airport trying to catch tidbits of the news reports even though they were in Danish.

So now we wait again…

December 6th - Week 2 at COP17

2011-12-06T19:35:00.000-08:00

Well, I am back in the U.S. and having not only jet lag, but a bit of withdrawal from the COP meeting. Given the relative lack of coverage of the conference in U.S. media, one has to dig a bit deeper to find out what is happening.

First, some stories surrounding the issues being discussed:

CNN ran this story today http://money.cnn.com/2011/12/06/news/economy/oil_gas_supply/index.htm?hpt=hp_t1. It is not exactly on the COP meeting, but the content certainly speaks to the priorities of the fossil fuel industry. I was particularly struck by the fact that the story was out of Qatar, the site of the next COP meeting.

A photo essay posted by 350.org of the floods in Durban from a week ago (you have to be on Facebook to see this)

http://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=256945914363244&id=100001435115181#!/media/set/?set=a.331938783487661.96201.119748644706677&type=3

After the report last week that there had been record greenhouse gas emissions in 2010, a report today indicates that we are heading toward a 3.5 degree Celsius increase in temperature, far surpassing the stated goal of 2 degrees -- a target that already likely dooms millions. http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2011/12/06-6

If you have never seen them, I recommend the series of videos from National Geographic that depict likely scenarios on the planet if the temperature increased 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6 degrees C. (You can do a Google search to find these.)

A short but telling video from the march in Durban this past Saturday:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPVkJnIiUaM&feature=youtu.be

On Monday, people wearing "I 'heart' K.P." (Kyoto Protocol) T-shirts were denied access by U.N. security to the convention center where COP17 is being held. This led to a meeting between the U.N. Security Chief Officer and the UNFCCC Observer Organisations Liaison Office regarding NGO participation and a series of provisions were agreed to. For example:

As long as a formal negotiation meeting is on, the entire conference venue is deemed open. NGOs can stay inside the venue either in ICC or DEC (convention center and exhibition hall). However, once the negotiation meeting is over, they will be requested to vacate the venue.
T-shirts are fine, either in a group or as an individual, even to a plenary hall, provided that the message does not contravene the code of conduct.
UN Security Officers should use an appropriate tone and language when communicating. Gesture is totally unacceptable. They can be firm but should be polite.
UN Security Officers will call in a UNFCCC Observer Organisation Liaison Officer (OOLO) when they need judgement as to whether it is unauthorized distribution of material or chat with known delegates.
As long as it does not contravene the code of conduct (interfering with the movement of participants), people should be allowed to wait and approach negotiators they know in corridors.

There were also provisions regarding the heightened security during week 2 given that high ranking delegates have now arrived. My son Corey was not granted access during the second week since he was under the age of 18 (we had to submit a special request to the secretariat for him to attend at all). Not sure I understand why someone of this age constitutes a threat, but I wasn't going to argue with the security officials headquartered in Bonn a few weeks back given that they were hesitant to grant him credentials even for week 1.

A short but telling video from the march in Durban this past Saturday:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPVkJnIiUaM&feature=youtu.be

Any forms of protests (referred to as "actions") within the COP site were strongly regulated this year with rules that no more than 15 people could be involved at any one time. At one point last week, members of WAGG (World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts) were doing a rather harmless chant about sustainability and the ability of girls to save the planet. They were surrounded by armed security forces. Interesting juxtaposition. A far cry from the angry protests that were prevalent in Copenhagen two years ago.

The extremely threatening WAGG protesters!

An "action" by members of the Sierra Club
Putting coal to rest for good

Now to the COP meeting.

According to reports, 12 heads of state (compared to 120 in Copenhagen) and 130 ministers are in Durban to attend the high level segment of the conference.

A series of draft documents have been posted at the UNFCCC webpage (http://unfccc.int/2860.php). I haven't had a chance to browse through these but these are the documents being reviewed and debated by the official negotiators.

On Monday, China reportedly indicated that it would (could?) commit to a legally binding agreement. On Monday, China's chief negotiator, Xie Zhenhua, speaking through a translator, said: "It's time for us to see who is acting in a responsible way to deal with the common challenge of human beings." (From http://mg.co.za/article/2011-12-06-heat-is-on-as-highlevel-stage-of-climate-talks-kick-off/) This could be a significant change of position.

When the Kyoto Protocol was agreed to, China was not included in the Annex I nations that would have legally binding commitments for GHGcapita. China still has a high percentage of extreme poverty, but its rate of growth in terms of industrialization and its economy (along with India and Brazil) put these countries in a category not clearly delineated in previous agreements. Perhaps this move could lead to the U.S. budging on its position a bit.

From a December 5th press briefing with Todd Stern, Special U.S. Envoy for Climate Change

http://www.state.gov/g/oes/rls/remarks/2011/178273.htm

You can follow some of the civil society perspectives on the COP17 process through Climate Action Network International (CAN): http://www.climatenetwork.org/eco-blog and their daily newsletters available at http://www.climatenetwork.org/eco-newsletters. This is the same organization that does the daily Fossil-of-the-Day Awards. It appears that Canada is in the "lead" as of today but the U.S. continues to find itself on the podium fairly often as well.

A few notes from Day 4

2011-12-01T22:42:00.000-08:00

At a briefing given by the Executive Secretariat, Christiana Figueres, someone representing Greenpeace International noted that in talking to people around the world, they have lost faith in the UNFCCC process. Her response? What then would you replace it with? The G20, the G8? Would they speak for those who are currently most impacted? She indicated that only a U.N. process would be so inclusive even if the progress is (too) slow, but she would refuse to participate in a process when the majority of the voices of the world are not at the table.

From Yahoo News (http://news.yahoo.com/half-greenhouse-gases-emitted-five-nations-163130043.html;_ylc=X3oDMTNsdWtmczQyBF9TAzk3NDkwNzkyBGFjdANtYWlsX2NiBGN0A2EEaW50bAN1cwRsYW5nA2VuLVVTBHBrZwNlYzFmYWYyMC1lMjRhLTNlMTctODc0ZS05YTVkYTYwNDNmYzYEc2VjA21pdF9zaGFyZQRzbGsDbWFpbAR0ZXN0Aw--;_ylv=3)

"More than half of all carbon pollution released into the atmosphere comes from five countries, according to a national ranking of greenhouse gas emissions released Thursday....China, the United States, India, Russia and Japan top the ranking, with Brazil, Germany, Canada, Mexico and Iran just behind....
Three of the top six nations are energy-hungry emerging giants developing their economies at breakneck speed."

On a brighter, more hopeful note, I invite you to check out Corey's blog post on Youth and Future Generations Day below or at:
http://baypoll.blogspot.com/

Young and Future Generations Day at COP17

2011-12-01T22:05:00.001-08:00

Today, December 1, was Young and Future Generations Day (YoFuGe Day) at COP17, which is a day to create awareness for the youth involvement in the fight against climate change. Throughout the day, youth were involved in several side events, high-level briefings, and actions that focused on the importance of youth constituencies at UNFCCC as well as youth participation in climate action around the globe. Below are a few examples of youth activities at the conference today.

As with every day at COP, the Youth Non-Governmental Organizations (YOUNGO) started off with a meeting to discuss the upcoming events, make decisions, and work on other youth-related activities.

Some of the youth at the morning YOUNGO meeting

The meeting consisted of a lot of discussions and decisions including the addition of three new working groups to the constituency: adaptation, biodiversity, and Rio+20. Adaptation refers to changes people will have to make if climate change does occur and causes alterations in the environment. In terms of climate change and related issues, biodiversity refers to how organisms and ecosystems will respond to ecological changes that occur as a result of climate change. Rio+20 is a meeting that will occur in June 2012 to mark the twenty year anniversary of the Earth Summit in Brazil. This summit developed three conventions, one of which is the UNFCCC. As a result of the major climate change aspect, YOUNGO will be working towards attending and becoming involved with the Rio+20 convention.

Biodiversity is important to solving climate change

Soon after the morning meeting, several young people "actions" took place. At a COP meeting, observer organizations can organize actions that often are designed to highlight a specific topic or idea. Often times, if an important decision is being made in the plenary sessions of the COP, concerned organizations will perform actions to show which side they are on and which decision they support. Other times, actions can simply be intended to reinforce an idea that is important for the organization or the conference as a whole. Many youth organizations (and YOUNGO as a whole) had actions today for YoFuGe Day. The World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts performed the "cha-cha slide" to express support for taking "one step at a time" towards a maximum temperature increase of 1.5 degrees Celsius. YOUNGO also supported an action involving 1.5 degrees, where youth handed free neck ties to negotiators in an attempt to bring awareness to the 1.5 degree campaign. The ties, which state "I <3 1,5" (for you Americans, the comma is commonly used for the decimal separator in other countries), were a big success. Many negotiators were interested, including the delegates from small-island states that will be the nations most heavily affected by a temperature rise of over 1.5 degrees.


"I <3 1.5" Ties

YOUNGO member with a tie

Later in the day, the chairs of the Subsidiary Body for Implementation and the Subsidiary Body for Science and Technological Advice held a briefing specifically for youth. Each chair gave an overview of key issues being discussed and then opened the floor to questions about the current negotiations.

Right afterwards, the executive secretary of the UNFCCC held an "Intergenerational Inquiry," where youth and negotiators discussed the role of the youth constituency at the COP. Christiana Figueres, the UNFCCC Executive Secretary, spoke about the importance of youth becoming involved now, so that in the future, when the "hot potato," as she put it, is entirely in the hands of today's youth, it will not come as an unexpected and unfamiliar burden.

Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary UNFCCC

The next speaker was a teenage girl from South Africa. She shared a story of how she traveled to the city with her father when she was younger, and loved to see the farm animals along the way. It became her dream to one day show her own kids these animals and see the expressions on their faces when the witnessed the beauty of these creatures. Unfortunately, the stream that provided drinking water to these animals dried up as a result of anthropogenic environmental changes. Her dream was destroyed. She then turned to the negotiators and begged that they develop steps forward that do not crush the dreams and hopes of today's younger generation. This inspiring message finished the day of youth celebration with a feeling of hope for the youth, who are not only the leaders of tomorrow, but the leaders of today.

Reading a poem to start the Intergenerational Inquiry

The girl on the left gave a tremendous speech that moved everyone in the room

This photo highlights the importance of using social media to spread messages from the youth. Within minutes, the video of the side event was online and shared with the world.

An Indaba

2011-12-01T05:17:00.000-08:00

Over the last two days, the COP17 President convened an Indaba – an isiZulu word that refers to a gathering of people, infused with wisdom and Ubuntu. I have heard the term Ubuntu several times while in South Africa and vaguely understand it as a philosophy that focuses on community rather than the individual. Desmond Tutu has said that you can't exist as a human being in isolation. Others, perhaps most notably Tim Jackson, former Economics Commissioner on the Sustainable Development Commission of the U.K. and author of Prosperity without Growth: Economics for a Finite Planet have used this concept as a means that will enable economic and environmental sustainability.

Apparently, Indabas are an important part of South African participatory democracy. It reminds me of the mingas that were held in Ecuador when I was there – community gatherings to make collective decisions based on discussion and consensus and aimed at problem solving or how to move forward in new directions. Given the complex challenges faced by negotiators at COP17, this is an interesting concept to try. A description of the Indaba process and goals here in Durban can be found at http://unfccc.int/files/meetings/durban_nov_2011/application/pdf/cop17_cmp7_indaba_explanatory_note.pdf .

The questions asked of the participants included:

In working towards the strengthening of the multi-lateral rules-based response to climate change that builds on the existing regime and with the view to keeping the average rise in global temperature below 2° C, what immediate actions should Parties agree to in Durban under the AWG-KP track and the AWG-LCA track?
What are Parties prepared to commit to now on the elements of future climate action? In particular, are Parties prepared to consider:

Objectives of a future multilateral rules-based regime; and
A process and timelines?

I did not attend the event yesterday, but today heard responses from Switzerland, Indonesia, Kenya, Columbia, Bangladesh, the Bahamas, Cape Verde (an African island country), Botswana, Ecuador, Norway, New Zealand, Jamaica, Tuvalu, Pakistan, India, the U.S., and Zambia. Aside from the U.S. (which was late to the venue and not ready when called upon), there was strong support expressed for a second commitment period for the Kyoto Protocol and retaining the legally-binding framework of this agreement. The U.S. indicated that it would not speak to the Kyoto Protocol. In the spirit of caring for others of our global community (namely, the countries experiencing the impact of climate change now), much was said about the need to align goals of agreements in terms of GHG emission reductions with the science, not the politics. The need for solidarity, the need for having a successful outcome from Durban that finishes the work from the Bali Roadmap and from Cancun (previous COP meetings), and appreciation for this format and space for open and honest dialog were expressed by many of the delegates. In contrast, the U.S. statement seemed to be vague and full of conditions that must be met before this country would “play”. Nelson Mandela has stated that “Ubuntu does not mean that people should not enrich themselves. The question therefore is: Are you going to do so in order to enable the community around you to be able to improve?” If there is a scale for how much an individual (or country) abides by this philosophy, the U.S. would be on the very low end.

My favorite testimony was from the delegate of Cape Verde. As typical in many cultures, elders or chiefs gather to tell stories so that the younger generations learn. He told of a story that is used in Cape Verde to explain what is happening with climate change and the politics to younger generations. He told of the trip of the Titanic sailing from Europe to the United States that came upon a small boat with many people calling for help. The captain of the Titanic said that the engines were working too hard to stop. Of course, the small boat and its passengers disappeared. But alas, not much later, we all know that the Titanic struck and iceberg; the boat sank and most passengers perished. I will leave you to think about this parable.

Day 4 of COP17

2011-12-01T01:24:00.000-08:00

So, besides the educational side events, COP session days are filled with meetings of contact groups and informal consultations of the Convention and Protocol Bodies. Each day, delegates and observers can check the Daily Program (hard copy) or online http://unfccc.int/2860.php to find out what is happening, where, and who is permitted to attend.

During the day 2 and 3, observers attended a number of such sessions and reports were given at today's morning RINGOs meeting:

- Some groups rejected text that was developed over the past year or at the interim meeting in Panama City; thus, some countries are currently working on new text to bring forward. I know that this sounds vague, but without any text to review, I can't tell you all what the issues are!

- As for mitigation (largely reducing GHG emissions), the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol is being discussed in terms of should it be a 5 year or an 8 year period.

- In the technology session, it was reported that there was strong support for research, including from academic institutions, there were several calls for the need for more regional data and downscale models (more refined in terms of resolution), and requests for capacity building at universities within developing countries.

- Under adaptation, there is talk of how the Nairobi Work Program which has been in existence for several years will link to the UNFCCC adaptation program and much discussion of funding for adaptation. The SBI is beginning to discuss loss and damage (risk assessment, risk transfer and sharing), and what the actual role of the Convention is in this. Should risk and coverage of loss and damage instead be in the private sector. The LCA Adaptation is trying to determine the composition of its committee. For example, should there be dedicated representation for groups that are in urgent need of adaptation such as the small island nations? Should there be non-party representatives who are experts?

- Text is being developed for National Adaptation Planning. Given that I set on one of the Adaptation Working Groups for Pennsylvania (natural resources), I can't even begin to imagine how this task can be accomplished on a national basis, especially for very large countries.

- Carbon capture and geological storage is being discussed under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) in terms of the state of the technology, how this can be monitored, and what risks would be associated with carbon capture and storage. Parties expressed a number of concerns that illustrated that there is difficulty in getting the current research data to be understood by the Parties. (Think Congress trying to debate issues that are highly scientific when very, very few have any scientific training.)

- Under REDD, there are concerns that have been raised in terms of how this will be in conflict with the new Forestry Code of Brazil and some indigenous groups have spoken out against REDD through reports and official statements.

There are many other issues being discussed. For example, today CMP has 4 contact groups meeting. SBSTA has 7 informal consultations and 1 contact group meeting. SBI has 8 informal consultations. SBSTA/SBI has a joint contact group and joint forum. AWG-KP has a spin-off group meeting and AWG-LCA has a contact group and 4 informal group meetings. Unfortunately, many of these sessions are now being closed to civil society observers. There are also a series of observer organization meetings and press and NGO briefings.

Are you confused yet?! There are so many acronyms used in the UNFCCC process (there is a glossary online). And I have been coming to COP meetings for three years now and still don't have it all figured out! It is always a good idea to have different members of a delegation follow a specific theme during the time here to become a mini-expert on one or two topics rather than to try to "do it all". Unfortunately, Moravian College's delegation consists of two of us this year, so I am trying to get a general sense of as much as possible and share it with folks back in the States.

Off to another session!

So what is RINGOs?

2011-11-30T01:05:00.000-08:00

Moravian College first attended the U.N. climate conferences in 2009 at COP15 in Copenhagen. We were very green (in the sense of not knowing much about the complexities of how the UNFCCC functions or how crazy COP meetings could be). We quickly learned that tickets to special events were distributed through focal points or constituency groups. Subsequently, we requested to join RINGOs – the Research and Independent Non-governmental Organizations constituency group.

According to their website (http://www.ringos.net/), RINGOs is comprised of “organizations engaged in independent research and analysis aimed at developing sound strategies to address both the causes and consequences of global climate change. They form a constituency in their own right to contribute to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), in a parallel way to ENGOs (Environment), BINGOs (Business and Industry), LGMAs (Local governments and municipal authorities) and the IPOs (Indigenous peoples organizations).” The newest constituency group, YOUNGOs, is the focal point for youth groups; my son Corey has been actively participating with this group over the past two years both as an individual from the Moravian College delegation and representing Inconvenient Youth (http://www.inconvenientyouth.org/).

During meetings of the UNFCCC the RINGOs gather every other day to discuss the developments of the negotiations. We had the first meeting at COP17 on Day 2. Individuals in the group represented a wide range of countries, organizations, and fields of expertise. The latter range from geologists interested in carbon capture and sequestration, economists who consider things such as finance issues associated with negotiations (such as the Green Climate Fund) and carbon markets, missionaries, experts in peaceful dispute resolution or climate justice, and environmental lawyers. In this meeting, I was surprised to learn that I was the only one who does anything related to ecology and climate change or works in conservation.

In just two days, I have already noted a much stronger emphasis on climate justice by most in attendance -- a focus sharpened by the severe storms that hit Durban the night before the opening of the conference. Climate/gender issues seems to be a new theme this year. But I am quite surprised that conservation and biodiversity are themes that have now been marginalized. There is talk of water (but for people and agriculture) and there is talk of energy ranging from (cough) clean coal to carbon sequestration to biofuels to some renewable energy alternatives. But habitat and non-human species are certainly not front and center.

In the RINGOs meeting, the following were identified as key things to follow over the two weeks in Durban:

- Adaptation (not in the ecological sense)

- Carbon capture and sequestration initiatives

- Carbon markets

- REDD (reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation)

- Technology transfer (from those who have to those who don’t)

- The fate of the Kyoto Protocol and any future legally binding agreements as opposed to a deregulatory “pledge” (and trust) system with less accountability and no penalties for noncompliance. There have been comments by both Canada and the U.S. to the effect that it is “time to put Kyoto behind us”, largely due both to the extent to which China has developed since that international agreement (it is now the largest emitter of GHGs; but not per capita – that honor belongs to us) and the loss of political will in North America to commit to legally-binding GHG emission reductions and financial assistance to those countries experiencing the impacts of climate change.

- Clean Development Mechanisms (CDM) and the associated funding

- The formulation of the Green Climate Fund – a concept first conceived in Cancun

- The possible creation of an Annex C – that moves the Kyoto Protocol out of the U.N. framework – as a move to save it.

These are complex issues, so if you have questions, let me know!

An agreement out of Durban!

2011-11-30T00:35:00.000-08:00

Well - not the type we all hope for in terms of mitigation or adaption.
COP18 will be held in Qatar.

From the Guardian: "...Qatar is a huge energy exporter and, as an oil-rich state, has one of the world's highest per capita emissions." Hmmm.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/nov/29/qatar-bid-2012-climate-talks

Fossil of the Day Award - Day 2

2011-11-30T00:18:00.001-08:00

On day 2, my son Corey accepted the Fossil of the Day 2nd place award on behalf of the United States http://climatenetwork.org/fossil-of-the-day. Canada has been the 1st place winner two days running.

The Mitigation Gap

2011-11-30T00:15:00.000-08:00

At COP16 in Copenhagen two years ago, negotiators had proposals on the table that essentially found a 2° C increase in temperature acceptable. To put this into perspective, for January through October, 2011, the global combined sea and land surface air temperature was 0.4 °C ± 0.1°C above the 1961-1990 annual average according to the World Meteorological Organization. The 1961-1990 range is the current international standard period for the calculation of climate averages even though that average is higher than a century ago. When a 2° C increase in temperature is put into various models, it becomes apparent that the predicted associated sea level rise from this amount of global warming could lead to the demise of several small island nations. Thus, the slogan at COP16 quickly became 1.5 to stay alive.

The United Nations Advisory Group on Greenhouse Gases in 1986 reported that warming “beyond 1°C may elicit rapid, unpredictable and non-linear responses that could lead to extensive ecosystem damage.” Yes, the U.N. had groups working on climate change 25 years ago. (And those of us in academe think change comes slowly!) But then again, the Swedish chemist Svante Arrhenius predicted that warming (albeit without the other complex aspects of climate change) would occur back in 1896. The cause? The release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere from the burning of coal. Arrhenius' greenhouse law, not surprisingly, was met with criticism. Some things never change. Like contemporary atmospheric scientists (most notably Stephen Schneider and James Hansen), Arrhenius published a book aimed at the general population on the topic of climate change. Translated to English, the title was Worlds in the Making. Arrhenius predicted that the extent of warming would be sufficient to prevent future ice ages, that weather in many parts of the world would be more pleasant (remember, he was from Sweden), and that warmer climates were needed to grow sufficient food to feed the rapidly increasing population! The world population at the time was about 1.7 billion.

But I digress. Because of the growing calls for climate justice for all people including the poor and marginalized, discussions in Cancun at COP16 both recognized the need for deep cuts in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in order to limit global average temperature increases to 2° C, but the Parties also agreed to consider targets that would keep warming to 1.5° or lower. This would require developed countries (those with the largest carbon footprints) to adopt targets with at least 25 to 40% below 1990 levels by 2020. The Parties agreed to consider a more ambitious target of greater than 40% reductions at COP18. The 2020 timeline is important given the U.S. latest position that any significant agreement to mandate GHG emissions is not likely until 2020. Ironically, many poorer countries have goals of being carbon neutral by 2020-2021! (For example see http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/nov/07/developing-countries-climate-action?intcmp=239 and http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=19141333).

For the first time at this meeting, I heard reference to how much “carbon space” is left in the atmosphere (about 1000 gigatons or Gt). According to Martin Khor of the South Centre, at current rates of emissions, it is predicted that we will exhaust this space within 15 to 20 years. I should also point out that all of the models with “business as usual” (current GHG emission levels and rates of increase of emissions) predict that we are headed for much higher global average temperature increases (4 to 9° C). According to the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), climate pollution must be about 12 Gt lower per year by 2020 to have a reasonable chance of keeping warming below 2° C and about 14 Gt lower to keep temperature rise below 1.5° C. At COP15, developing countries pledged more than 5 Gt worth of reductions – with finance, technology, and capacity building support from developed nations. Developed countries have offered less than 4 Gt of reductions and there are many loopholes in the accounting measures. (A short article on this topic can be found at http://www.iol.co.za/business/international/greenhouse-gas-goals-need-to-double-by-2020-un-1.1187115). It is this difference between what is on the negotiation table (at least prior Durban) and what the science says that is referred to as the “mitigation gap” or the “Gigaton gap”.

But with a population that continues to grow and has higher demands for resources including energy and meat (i.e. livestock and, therefore, methane), with Canada announcing that it will pull out of the Kyoto Protocol, and with the United States indicating that they won’t or can’t agree to significant cuts at this point (and prefer 2005 as a base year and expect China to make major concessions), I suspect that this mitigation gap will widen rather than shrink.

What is at stake in Durban?

2011-11-29T13:48:00.003-08:00

By the afternoon of the first day at COP17, two mantras for the conference seemed to have already emerged:

“It always seems impossible until it is down.”

“Durban must not be the burial ground for the Kyoto Protocol.”

I attended a side event (panel) sponsored by the Third World Network (TWN) that focused on the question of what Durban must deliver. I picked up a handout entitled: “At stake in Durban: A climate deal for the 1% or the 99%?” Sound familiar?

Earlier in the day, José María Figueres, former President of Costa Rica and brother of Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretariat of the UNFCCC had this to say:

“…the now growing global Occupy Wall Street movement is a sign of frustration felt by many given we are not addressing their economic needs; so with respect to climate, maybe we need an Occupy Durban, a sit-in, by the delegations of those countries that are most affected.”

Many of the speakers during the panel spoke about various provisions needed to achieve a low carbon economy – details of which I will elaborate on in subsequent posts. What struck me, however, was how many times the United States was referred to as a “special case” and sometimes with the work “basket” in between special and case. On almost every provision, the U.S. is seen as an entity that has not shown leadership, has reneged on its responsibilities, and perhaps worse, as a bully hell-bent on delaying or hijacking the multilateral negotiations. Our country is accused of trying to dismantle the current agreements, even though we are the only developed nation that did not sign and ratify the Kyoto Protocol.

The analogy between the disastrous deregulation of the banking industry and the subsequent need for a bail-out was made to our trying to deregulate “the climate regime” (the existing framework). Only for climate change, no one is quite sure what the bail out would need to be except that some will suffer more and suffer earlier than others. Throughout the semester, I have told my students that from the perspective of many other countries, everyone in the U.S. is part of the “1%”. This is certainly the sentiment here in Durban. (Actually the U.S. population is a little over 4% of the world’s 7 billion people and about 14% of us live below the poverty level according to http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/00000.html).

The panelists questioned our democracy given the dysfunctional nature of Congress and the power of corporations (“the polluters” as they were frequently referred to) on the decision making process. I heard today from the head of Greenpeace International that every Congressman in Washington has 3 lobbyists paid for by the fossil fuel industry. I don’t know if this is true or not, but think of the subsidies for fossil fuels (listen to a recent story on this issue from NPR at http://www.npr.org/2011/11/16/142364037/solyndra-highlights-long-history-of-energy-subsidies), the power of the oil, coal, and natural gas industries in our country, and all the influence of the Koch brothers and it doesn’t seem like an exaggeration.

There is discussion of moving the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol (post 2012) out of the UNFCCC framework – solely to keep the U.S. from stalling the process any longer and blocking an agreement that will finally start to have true impact on reducing greenhouse gas emissions and provided funds to developing countries for climate change adaptation.

Today, on Day 2 of COP17, the U.S. received 2^nd place in the “Fossil of the Day Award” given by the Climate Action Network International. From the press release:

“It is one thing for certain governments in Durban to be complacent about the urgency of global climate disruption. It is another issue to be complacent when their respective countries are the main culprits, such as the

United States

who is the worst historical climate polluter. But yesterday, the

United States

position degraded well beyond complacent by rationalizing the collective mitigation targets as in keeping with what climate scientists say is needed to avoid global disaster.

Referring to the fact that he himself was an IPCC contributor, Jonathan Pershing, the U.S. Deputy Special Envoy, said yesterday that ‘there are an infinite number of pathways to staying below 2 degrees.’ And yet, the

U.S.

has managed to avoid all of them. Pershing nonetheless argued that the current targets are sufficient enough through 2020.

There is scientific consensus about anthropogenic climate disruption, the urgency to have an emissions peak to avoid runaway global warming, as well as the gross inadequacy of pollution targets. The

United States

is either in denial about the science, or is trying to thwart justified pressure to improve its own ambition.”

How’s that for a scathing commentary? This comes on the day that scientific reports show that 2011 is the warmest La Nina year on record and the 10^th highest on record. The 13 warmest years on record have occurred in the 15 years between 1997 and 2011 (See http://tcktcktck.org/2011/11/2011-marked-by-high-temperatures-low-sea-ice-wmo-report/). This year, we also had record lows for sea ice volume, numerous extreme weather events around the planet including a record number in our country – by June (before the hurricanes and tropical storms wreaked havoc on the northeast). Part of a natural cycle or are we reaching a tipping point?

Day 1 Pictures

2011-11-28T22:19:00.001-08:00

If you are interested in pictures from COP 17, they can be found here:
http://www.iisd.ca/climate/cop17/

COP17 Day 1

2011-11-28T12:45:00.000-08:00

The 17^th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP17) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) began today in Durban, South Africa. These conferences typically begin with a high level plenary of the Parties (official delegates for each party nation who signed onto the original treaty), the press, NGOs (non-governmental organizations), and IGOs (intergovernmental organizations). In other words, there is some procedural business such as formally electing the COP president to preside over the meetings, and a welcoming ceremony with some local entertainment and lots of speeches by the dignitaries on the stage. More on that in a minute, but for now, suffice it to say that this event falls short of the opening ceremony for the Olympics in terms of entertainment value. (IMHO)

Anyway, I somehow managed to secure one of the limited admit tickets for NGOs through the constituency group or focal point that Moravian College is part of -- RINGOs (Research and Independent Non-Governmental Organizations). These surprisingly coveted tickets don’t necessarily guarantee access as the U.N. and South African security forces can sometimes decide that a section is full (even if it is not) or that your credentials are not sufficient. This is not unique to this venue; I first experienced this at COP15 in Copenhagen in a major way. But today I made it through along with other RINGO representatives from Amsterdam and South Africa. (There were a few others, but these are the two that I sat with – both of whom worked with universities and had an economic focus in their work vs. my ecological/climate adaptation/climate justice/educational interests.)

As I settled into my NGO seat which, of course, had an obstructed view, I was wishing that I had my binoculars along so that I could actually see the front stage instead of watching things on one of the large screens. But I had the feeling that binoculars would have gotten me singled out as suspicious and promptly removed from the venue.

The emcee of sorts was the Daughter of the Province. (I learned from my South African peer means daughter of the king of the province; Durban is in Kwa-Zulu Natal Province.) I didn’t catch her name so looked up her father Goodwill Zwelithini kaBhekuzulu on good old Wikipedia thinking I would find her name. It turns out that this Zulu king has 27 children and several wives! After entertainment by African drummers, the talks were supposed to start, but South African President Jacob Zuma was delayed. At least part of this delay was due to photo-op sessions; the ceremony resumed about an hour later. An awkward situation for any emcee. And from my perspective, rather rude to all the delegates convened in the room.

The session began with a memorial statement read by a delegate from Mali for Mr. Mama Konaté, Chair of the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA) and the National Focal Point of Mali who died unexpectedly. The transmitter that allows me to hear an English translation (I don’t know French) turned out to have a dead battery, so I can’t share any details. Outgoing COP16 President Patricia Espinosa Contellano reflected on the outcomes of the sessions in Cancun last year and what has been worked on since. She spoke in Spanish so I caught the gist of what she was saying, but decided I had better get a new transmitter, even if it meant facing security again.

Ms. Espinosa called for the election of Ms. Maite Nkoana-Mashabane from South Africa as the COP17 president. Of course, after risking the wrath of security, her comments (available at http://unfccc.int/files/meetings/durban_nov_2011/statements/application/pdf/cop17cmp7_opening_stat_mashabane.pdf, and the subsequent ones by Ms. Christiana Figueres, the Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC (http://unfccc.int/files/press/news_room/statements/application/pdf/111128_opening_address_durban.pdf), were in English. Both of these statements were essentially optimistic about the upcoming negotiations that will occur over the next two weeks (you can read the details if interested).

The majority of the morning speakers talked about a transparent and inclusive process, balanced and fair outcomes based on science, multilateralism, environmentally-sound decisions, equity, and honoring international commitments. Ms. Nkoana-Mashabane also spoke of the pre-COP17 conference on the Impact of Climate Change on Women held in honor of all the females in leadership roles in the UNFCCC process. Judging from a review of the side event topics, climate change and gender promises to be an important theme this year. (Last year, I wrote about the emerging voice of the indigenous peoples calling for climate justice and their right to have seat at the negotiations table.) She expressed the need to operationalize the Cancun agreement, including the Adaptation funds, and to do “what we need to do now and determine what needs to be done in the nearest future.” I was pleased when she noted that this needed to be done to honor the work not only of the aforementioned late Mr. Mama Konaté, Chair of the SBSTA, but also that of Wangari Maathai, who also recently (and unfortunately) died too early from cancer.

Ms. Figueres (a Costa Rican native and a wonderful “product” of Swarthmore College by the way) invoked Nelson Mandela and South Africa’s struggle for freedom including in her comments repeated references to a quote from Mandela “It always seems impossible until it is done.” Appropriate comments for the difficult, if not impossible, task at hand. In her typical classy form, Ms. Figueres started and ended her comments with Zulu phrases, and included some aspects of the click language of the Bushmen.

The next speaker was the Vice President of Angola whose comments were focused on a common African platform, efforts that Angola has taken since ratifying the Kyoto Protocol in 2007, and the need for COP17 to develop an agreement that would lead to a low carbon economy that was based on scientific data and not just economic models. He ended with a call to save humanity, protect the planet, and maintain a commitment to sustainability. Just a few notes about Angola from UNICEF (http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/angola_statistics.html): 54% of the population lives below the poverty line of US$1.25 per day; the average life expectancy is 48 years; only 38% of the population has phones, and the female literacy rate (ages 15 to 24 years) is 65%.

The President of Chad and acting head of the Economic Community of Central African States spoke next. I was expecting more of the same, but instead of speaking positively about the outcomes of Cancun (COP16), he said that there had been no solutions coming from Cancun, “but only a story of saving face.” Ouch! He went on to refer to the G20 countries as “big polluters of the planet” and the critical need to protect Chad Lake, the last bulwark for the basin of Congo which is the second largest green lung of the planet. This lake apparently has less than 10% of its former surface area and should be a concern for all countries. As the speaker noted, if the lake is lost, it would be a threat to the ecological balance of the world, not just the countries that share a border with the lake and the millions of people who depend on it. The accusations were indeed a deviation from the normal celebratory tone of the opening session, but, in a way, I appreciated the raw honesty. As I was to learn later, this frustration with developed nations, especially the United States and Canada, and to a lesser extent, the European Union, would be voiced again in much stronger terms (the subject of a future post). For now, you can get a sense of this in this report from the Huffington Post (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kelly-rigg/durban-climate-talks_b_1115796.html?ref=green).

After this, I had a hard time concentrating on the remarks of His Excellency, President Jacob Zuma of South Africa. You can read them at http://www.info.gov.za/speech/DynamicAction?pageid=461&sid=23595&tid=50384.

Several speakers noted the vulnerability of Africa. This point was underscored by the storms that ravaged the province last night, leaving in their wake 800 destroyed homes, flooding, and at least 8 deaths. I know that this represents an extreme weather event, but it was a dramatic force of nature reminding each of us of our personal vulnerability. Those of us from the U.S. are well aware of the large number of extreme weather events that hit our nation this year resulting in billions of dollars of damage and the loss of many, many lives. So the challenges are immediate and immense and the week promises to be interesting.

You can follow the negotiation and meeting details at http://unfccc.int/2860.php, or if you prefer, listen to the snippets on NPR or read biased perspectives from your favorite media source. One suggested piece is found at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/28/climate-conference-durban_n_1116043.html ). I am always checking to see how much (or how little) coverage is given the the COP meetings in the U.S. You can also get a sense of how important this meeting is to South Africa from Ms. Nkoana-Mashabane’s address on the occasion of the launch of “50 Days to COP17/CMP” at a sports stadium back in October (http://www.cop17-cmp7durban.com/en/news-centre/speeches/08-october-2011.html).

Signing off for now,

dwh

UNFCCC Day 1

2011-11-28T11:06:00.001-08:00

Today marked the beginning of the UNFCCC COP17/CMP7, which stands for the 17th Conference of the Parties (COP17) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the 7th Session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties (CMP7) to the Kyoto Protocol. The convention is being held in a convention center and exhibition hall in downtown Durban, South Africa.

Bikes available free-of-charge for delegates

After riding the conference shuttle to downtown Durban this morning, I headed to the meeting of the Youth Non-Governmental Organizations (YOUNGO). YOUNGO's governing body is a "spokescouncil" that meets at these morning meetings. A spokescouncil meeting consists of the attending youth organizations each of which is represented by a single spokesperson or "spoke." The spokes sit in a circle and the rest of the organization sits directly behind this front person. The spokes are the representatives of each group or organization who suggest ideas, ask questions, and vote throughout the meeting. During the meeting, the various youth groups discussed briefings to the negotiators as well as various actions and programs throughout the day. At this particular meeting, about 15 organizations with a total of close to 100 youth were present.


YOUNGO Spokescouncil meeting

"Spokes" discussing a vote with their groups

After the meeting, the youth involvement continued. At a side event discussing the politics of the parties negotiating at Durban was well attended by the youth constituency. Later on, the Canadian youth climate delegation held a press conference to present their new jackets (in the style of NASCAR) sporting the logos of oil and gas companies to the Canadian negotiators. None of the invited negotiators were in attendance. Although this press conference was mostly a joke, the youth highlighted an important issue slowing the climate negotiations: nations like Canada are working to do what is best for the oil industry and other powerful and rich corporations rather than working to protect the people and environment.

The press conference held by the Canadian youth delegation was poking fun at the Canadian negotiators, but was treated as a legitimate press conference at the UNFCCC

The "big oil" jackets

As a result of Canada's work against the climate negotiations, this country was awarded both first and second place in the Fossil of the Day award, a prize given to the countries that have had the greatest negative impact on the progress of the climate talks. Although Canada received the award, other countries such as the United States and Japan also made statements that they will not agree to a second commitment period for the Kyoto Protocol (which expires in 2012). Unless these countries can realize that they should be focusing on what is best for the people they represent rather than the large, profitable industries, the climate negotiations in Durban will not develop agreements necessary to effectively continue international discussions on climate change.

From the pre-COP17 Interfaith Rally in Durban

2011-11-27T12:07:00.000-08:00

"This is the only home you have… if you destroy it, it’s finished with you as it will be finished with us. For your own sake, you who are rich, we are inviting you, come on the side of right. "

Desmond Tutu's message as the COP17 talks begin.

Moravian College at COP 17

2011-11-21T17:38:00.001-08:00

In less than a week, the UNFCCC COP 17 begins in Durban, South Africa. This year, the Moravian College delegation will be attending the first week of the negotiations. Be sure to check this blog for updates and photos throughout the week.

For more information on the meeting, visit the host country website:

http://www.cop17-cmp7durban.com/

Blue Carbon- Protecting Coastal Environments

2010-12-13T15:47:00.000-08:00

The concept of Blue Carbon is gaining interest as an innovative solution to protect and improve coastal areas. These valuable coastal areas are mainly covered by sea grasses, salt marshes and mangrove forests. Scientists and economists are working together to develop ways in which these areas can be put on the market for their ability to capture carbon naturally and also to prevent them from being cleared for other opportunities. Many mangrove forests are being cleared to be used for shrimp farming. Blue Carbon would help to store carbon in these high carbon areas as well as preventing further emissions from deforestation. These areas would be a great investment because of their high importance for local communities as well as their carbon value.

For more information on Blue Carbon visit http://nicholasinstitute.duke.edu/oceans/

We have a deal!!!

2010-12-11T06:43:00.000-08:00

In an overnight session, the COP president brought a proposed text to the plenary. With a bit of tweaking to accommodate different parties, it is a balanced deal with progress on all fronts. Check out the UNFCCC page for a list of the Cancun Agreements: http://unfccc.int/2860.php. Main texts include: AWG-LCA text and AWG-KP text. The press release from the UN can be found here: UN Press Release .

Transparency and openness were the watchwords for the president, and symbolically, the doors were all open for the final session and the talks were on streaming video. After a short negative statement by Bolivia, the rest of the parties unanimously praised the president and process, and then all agreed to the text as proposed. The Indian delegate mentioned that in India, there are many gods and goddesses: he believes that the COP President may be one of the goddesses. If you just want to feel good about the UN and the world, watch the final session at http://webcast.cc2010.mx/webmedia_en.html?id=310.

Welcome to Team KP

2010-12-10T07:15:00.000-08:00

Team KP: The Chair, Dr. Ashe, is third from right

The chairs of both the KP (Kyoto Protocol) and LCA (Long-term Cooperative Action) working groups have met on a few occasions with the observers to answer questions about the negotiating texts. The KP chair, Dr. John Ashe, represents Antigua and Barbuda. He completed his PhD in bioengineering from the University of Pennsylvania, and has a great sense of humor, evident with his opening remarks: "Welcome to Team KP. You know the line-up."

Both chairs were willing to answer questions about the recent draft reports. The reports are available online at http://unfccc.int/resource/docs/2010/awg15/eng/crp04r03.pdf and http://unfccc.int/resource/docs/2010/awglca13/eng/crp03.pdf. Of course, the negotiators are still working furiously to see if more agreement can be reached before the conference ends. The hope is that agreement can be made on some of the text, while leaving other parts to be decided at the COP 17 in Durban, South Africa.

Of course, the audience of NGO observers wanted to know what the potential was for a post-2012 agreement, which was impossible for the chairs to answer. The chairs reiterated the need for balance across the tracks and within the tracks, and they are hoping for some progress. They acknowledged the need for political input for a second commitment period and issues on the mechanism side. Some observers were concerned that there is no "gap" acknowledged in the texts (referring to the "emissions gap" set forth in the UNEP report) -- but the response from the KP team was that they were trying to avoid a "gap" altogether. For the LCA text, the concerns were that "just transition" (necessary for workers) remain in the shared vision text. There was a general sense that the observers wanted a 1.5 degree option, but a compromise may be 2 degrees with future review. The chair of the LCA is hopeful that at least some funding could be established and set into motion. The chair of the LCA noted that the Gt emissions gap relates to the "level of ambition" in the LCA text. The idea is that we need to establish a process with a view to increasing the "level of ambition" in the future.

Ban Ki-moon and Felipe de Jesús Calderón urge nations to reach modest deal

2010-12-09T20:50:00.000-08:00

The United Nations secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, yesterday urged to consent to a modest deal to rein in climate change without holding out for perfection. After the US president, Barack Obama, and other leaders were not able to work out a new climate treaty at last year's summit in Copenhagen, Ban stressed that Cancún has more modest ambitions: “We don't need final agreement on all the issues, but we do need progress on all the fronts. We cannot let the perfect be the enemy of the good,” Ban said in his address to the opening ceremony of the high-level segment of the COP 16 talks. “Business as usual cannot be tolerated for it would condemn millions – no, billions – of children, women and men around the world to shrinking horizons and smaller futures. Cancún must represent a breakthrough,” he added. The Mexican president, Felipe de Jesús Calderón, warned that time was running out and called on nations to act now. “I urge you, all parties, to make concrete here a balanced packet of agreements that will allow is to advance. A balanced packet of agreements that will allow us to already to take the first actions and steps because we can't wait any longer and time is running out,” claims Calderón.

YOUNGOs Creatively Advocate 1.5 degrees

2010-12-09T11:47:00.000-08:00

Around 1:30 today, some of the YOUNGOs (the youth at the conference), attracted a lot of attention with a creative idea and few supplies. They had a map of Asia, Europe and the Yucantan (part of Mexico where the conference is located). The maps showed only the landmass that would remain in each area if carbon emissions are not reduced, because sea level rise will wipe out significant parts of each area. To support a 1.5 degrees temperature rise maximum, they were asking people to dip their thumbs in green paint and leave a thumbprint where a dotted line represented land that would be lost. Once enough people had shown their support, thumbprints would fill the whole area that would be lost, effectively recreating the land to look like it does today, without any loss from sea level rise. The youth said that this was symbolic of people taking back what might be lost and not letting policy makers forget what is at stake. To further support their cause, some people are leaving the dried green paint on their thumb to show others at the conference where they stand on environmental matters.

Launch of U.S. Strategy for REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation)

2010-12-08T21:53:00.000-08:00

Special Assistant to President Obama, Joe Aldy, began the conference today by speaking about the U.S. commitment to “fast start” financing in the Copenhagen Accord. Over the fiscal year 2010-2012 we will be dedicating a billion dollars to REDD+ activities that help developing countries mitigate climate change impacts by reducing deforestation and preserving forests for their carbon sink capabilities. Other landscapes with significant mitigation potential such as peatlands and wetlands are also being addressed. This is a significant increase as compared to last year when the total budget for all adaptation measures including combating deforestation was as much as the governments current investment in deforestation. Even though this is an increase, compared to previous years, it certainly does not meet the true financial needs to prevent the loss of the crucial services that forests provide.

The benefits that REDD+ activities provide not only work to reduce emissions but also to encourage sustainable development, improvement of quality of life, and economic growth. The US strategy for REDD+ bases itself on three main objectives. The first of these objectives is architecture, which supports policies and programs that advance the coordination and precision of REDD+ efforts. The second objective is readiness, implementing programs that act on scale that can significantly reduce emissions and meet ambitious mitigation commitments. Investments pertaining to the third objective, demonstration, identify and implement the best practices for achieving a decrease in deforestation emissions.

Joe Aldy addressed the need for the U.S. to partner with governments and organizations in smarter, more efficient ways as well as shift from higher to lower carbon economic strategies. We must also scale up forest carbon monitoring and ensure that this process remains as transparent as possible.

Patrick Smith from USAID, outlined REDD+ projects that are being pursued in Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala, Guyana, Mexico, Indonesia, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Cambodia, Uganda, Zambia, and Gabon. USAID’s regional development mission in Asian countries has had considerable success in the past few years bolstering sustainable forest management and readying it for REDD+ actions.

There is much that still needs to be done, such as strengthening efforts in working with protecting the forest and native lands of indigenous people in the U.S. as well as in developing countries, and gaining more funding to begin making substantial strides for combating deforestation and mitigating impacts of climate change. It is hopeful however, that our country is beginning to address the importance of these issues by helping other countries take action.

Another Joint Post by Garth and Nelson

A German Call for Action

2010-12-08T21:11:00.000-08:00

In his speech at the High-Level Segment of COP 16 which was opened yesterday by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, the German Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, Dr. Norbert Röttgen, urged the parties to find solutions to fight Climate Change. In his speech the minister reminded the attending party delegates that “immediate action is needed now” and that there is no time for delay. It is questionable though if the parties will listen to the minister and produce results in the last three days of the conference.

Opening Ceremonies and Sacred Dances

2010-12-08T13:33:00.000-08:00

The opening ceremonies for the high-level segment included an opening ritual as seen in the photos. Just over 100 tickets were distributed to the civil society observers, so we, like most, watched the event on the screens. Now, however, all of the high-level ministerial statements are in an open plenary and it is possible to go in and watch each country's spokesperson make his or her statement in person. These statements are all online at: http://webcast.cc2010.mx/webmedia_en.html?id=181.

A Report Card for the Reef

2010-12-08T13:26:00.000-08:00

Rene at a side event on the reefs

Last night, over 100 people gathered off-site to learn of the health of the Mesoamerica reef. There were other draws as well -- the promise of food and drinks and remarks from Daryl Hannah. Unfortunately, the reef is not doing well. The complete report can be found at 2010 Report Card for the Mesoamerica Reef http://www.scribd.com/2010-Report-Card-for-the-Mesoamerican-Reef/d/44402207. In 2005/6, 6% of the sites studied were in critical condition. That percentage has increased to 30% in the most recent report.

Daryl Hannah, activist

Daryl Hannah speaks about reefs

Adapting to the impacts of climate change in mountain regions

2010-12-08T08:01:00.000-08:00

Ministers of Environment from Chile, Peru, and Nepal spoke beside a distinguished panel discussing primarily adaptation measures, along with mitigation efforts for climate change in the mountain areas. The Andean region in the nations of Chile and Peru are already seeing the harmful effects of climate change. Dramatic changes in precipitation patterns, water and food shortages, soil degradation, and biodiversity (in general, entire mountain ecosystems) are facing the impacts of climate change, and will require swift action regarding implementing adaptation measures. In the effort to adapt and mitigate these impacts, scientific support is essential for identifying the effects and vulnerabilities climate change imposes on the mountain regions. Mountains provide water through their glaciers and snowmelt, protect water basins (water used for energy supply, irrigation, and human consumption), soil quality, biodiversity, and promote economic activity in the tourism sector, all of which are being threatened by impacts of climate change. The Climate Change Adaptation Program (PPAC from its Spanish acronym) is a “bilateral initiative” of the Peruvian Ministry of the Environment and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation working with innovative approaches for adaptation at local and national levels. In Peru, the implementation phase of PPAC consists of a three year timeframe (Feb 2009-Jan 2012), in which it will build up the capacity of regional and local stakeholders in the mountain regions of Peru to tackle the impacts of climate change. So far, PPAC has identified the following observations adaptation measures need to address regarding water resources in the Huacrahuacho region (near Cuzco); 42% of the population lack access to water services, the Huacrahuacho watershed is diminishing at a rate of 12mm each year, increased precipitation intensity (correlating with erosive potential of the soils), and inequitable water access for irrigation purposes within the surrounding communities. These scientific observations help determine the unsustainability of economic activities and help redefine development and adaptation strategies. The PPAC is targeting the reduction of vulnerabilities in the context of communities and families, and therefore “pose a transformative dimension”. This method is the only way to help adaptation measures contribute to increasing quality of life and the development of local populations. More to come soon!

“My life is real, and so am I.”

2010-12-08T07:14:00.000-08:00

Walter P., Coralin, Mary Robinson and Yvo de Boer

Flooding in Belize

Walter P., a young boy from Belize was one of several children who spoke at a meeting focused on children in changing climate. Introduced by Mary Robinson (a human rights activist) and Yvo de Boer (past Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC), the children spoke of how climate change has directly affected them. Maya, from Indonesia, spoke of how a flash flood took the life of her friend. Coralin is only 14 years old, but she has lived through 14 hurricanes and one earthquake in her Haitian home. Gwendolyn, from Mexico, reminded the audience that “We have suffered,” and asked, “We are willing to work with you , are you willing to work with us?” Most directly, Walter recalled the flood in his village from two years ago when there was water surrounding his house and there was no dry ground. He ended his story by reminding us, “My life is real, and so am I.”

EPA's Steps to Combat Climate Change

2010-12-07T20:49:00.000-08:00

Once again, I sorted through the many events that were going on today to find one that I thought would be good to attend. I am always interested in policy regarding the United States, so I wasn't surprised to find myself attending a session run by the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) about policy in the federal government since Copenhagen and their plans for the future.

The official title of this side event was "Domestic Climate Change Activities." It was run mostly through a videoconference with Gina McCarthy, the EPA's Assistant Administrator of Air and Radiation. The purpose of this talk was to discuss what was going on at a federal level regarding GHG emissions. There had been policy changes regarding cars and trucks, clean air, and a GHG Reporting Program. In regards to cars, there is a 2012-2016 model year policy that raises fuel efficiency by 5% each year. There is something like that that will be implemented for trucks too, but one of the battles is to keep this in effect after 2016. Emissions will be cut by about 20% and gas will be saved. They also have in the works a new label system to explain to consumers how eco-friendly a car is. They showed us two of the examples of labels that they were thinking of using.

Under a new policy of GHG Reporting, all major emitters of GHG gases must report how much they emit, and this information will be made public. They ran through the new technology that companies would have to use to report their emissions. It is estimated that, this way, 85-90% of emissions will be accounted for. This is directly reported to the EPA who will then verify the information.

They also discussed voluntary initiatives that people have taken on a personal level, such as buying energy star products. There are a number of other programs that offer environmentally friendly products and services that were approved by the EPA. Another project that they spoke about was "clean" cookstoves. They wanted to spread these "clean energy" cookstoves internationally so that everyone could cook without hurting the environment. I'm not quite sure of how they work, but I plan on checking that out.

Lastly, there were a lot of good questions that were asked, in particular, my favorite: "How do the programs and policies set by the EPA help reduce emissions in relation to the U.S.'s pledge in the Copenhagen Accords?" (something like that) I was expecting the EPA representatives to say something like: our auto industry changes account for saving about ___% of the emissions that we said we were going to cut. I also wanted to know who else was responsible for these cuts if the EPA was not the ones behind most of it. They didn't really answer it though, they just reiterated the programs that they did have, so that was dissapointing. However, I'm glad to hear that America has taken some steps towards reducing emissions and hope the EPA can continue to make even stronger policies and even more appealing voluntary programs.

Voices of the Indigenous Peoples at COP16

2010-12-07T19:50:00.000-08:00

Last year, at COP16, there was a lot of discussion about climate justice, REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation), carbon credits to help invest in developing nations, and a green fund. I was particularly struck this year by how much more vocal various groups (whose voices have traditionally been minimized) – demanding justice and speaking out about the problems with “solutions” that have been designed by industrialized nations (the global north). In fact, they view this as a human rights issue.

Indigenous people from around the globe note they have sustainably managed their land for hundreds or thousands of years. Yet, the “agents of the north” typically aren’t coming to talk to them to see first-hand how climate change is impacting their livelihoods or to learn about their ideas for climate change adaptation. “So why do we need REDD?” they ask. There is much concern that the poor will be coerced into signing contracts with the lure of money, but then have restrictions placed on how they use their land. For example, if a country wants to protect a forest under REDD, they may set up conditions which would eliminate opportunities for the local people to obtain food or medicines from the forests they had managed sustainably for centuries or longer. Many of these indigenous people don’t read, haven’t had formal education, and don’t really know about climate change; thus, they won’t necessarily understand the political or legal complexities of the agreements they are being asked to enter into. Throughout history, they have been exploited and are afraid that this is happening again.

They have a clear sense of the challenges of adapting to climate change ranging from the impact on their traditional lifestyles to increasing pressures for land privatization (many indigenous people manage land communally). But they also see challenges with programs like REDD such as having security over land tenure, the need to map resources that include things that they value (despite the lack of a global market for such resources) and guaranteeing the role of women who are often the ones who gather products from the forest. They don’t want to be exploited by carbon markets and demand guarantees that they will share in future benefits arising from these markets and clean development mechanisms (CDMs).

In one side event, Joseph Ole Simel, a pastoralist from Kenya who works with MPIDO – the Mainyoito Pastoralist Integrated Development Organization, showed photographs of the Loita forest in the southwest part of the country near the border with Tanzania. This forest is one of the last remaining tropical forests in the country and has long been managed and controlled by the Maasai. The images showed a diverse and healthy forest. In contrast, the images of the Mau forest – under government control – showed smoke from the fires where trees are being cut to produce charcoal and fragmentation.

Joseph, along with indigenous representatives from Nicaragua and Indonesia, spoke of efforts to educate people and to garner a political voice for indigenous peoples in their countries – changing political rhetoric and even constitutional language.

In another side event focused on enhancing the leadership of women in climate change, Ms. Constance OKollet a peasant farmer from Uganda spoke about the profound and devastating effect that a series of flooding and drought has caused in the area that she is from since 2007. Homes, farm fields, lives and livelihoods were destroyed and people wanted to know why god was punishing them. Oxfam reached out to Constance to attend an educational meeting where she learned about climate change for the first time. Since then, she has become active in organizing her community and educating people about climate change, its impact and how they can adapt. She is a founding member of Climate Wise Women http://www.climatewisewomen.org/.

I doubt that there were many dry eyes as Constance told powerful stories of having to use moonlight to cook supper (if food could be found) and told the crowd that “people are dying down there”.

Constance is in the middle of the panel (photo by Corey Husic)

The Moravian College delegation was honored to have Samwel Naikada as a breakfast guest. I met Samwel last year giving a presentation in a panel that also included Wangari Maathai talking about how climate change was impacting his Maasai community in Kenya. He contacted me in Cancun to see if I was there and we got together. He asked if he could meet with the students to talk about the Maasai people and their culture, and how their lives are changing.

Samwel with the Moravian College delegation at the Beachscape Hotel

The Maasai are nomadic pastoralists and livestock are essential to many parts of their life including their food source, their rituals and social status. Indeed their very identity (especially for the males) is linked to cattle. As severe droughts have hit Kenya, the lack of water holes has caused the Maasai to travel farther distances in search of water often leading to conflict as they come on lands of others.

Samwel noted that the nutritional value of the grasses is poorer due to the altered growing conditions and seasons, and this is reflected in the health of their animals. Between malnutrition and the drought, animals have died by the thousands. In some cases, this has led to herders committing suicide because of the sorrow and dishonor.

Samwel talked about the forest conservation efforts of the Maasai (confirming what Joseph had said in the side event), but noted that many of the trees no longer produce fruit like they used to. This affects both the Maasai who gathered food from the forests and the wildlife. Baboons that normally eat fruit are now attacking young livestock and entering homes of the indigenous people to steal food. The bees of the forest that provided important honey for the people are disappearing.

The poor nutritional quality of the savannah grasses is also impacting the native wildlife. Samwel noted how zebras and impala are animals which never before entered the forest now are routinely found amongst the trees scavenging for food. Hungry elephants are no longer afraid of humans and can become quite dangerous.

As if these problems weren’t enough, other tribes are now coming to cut wood in forest to prepare charcoal (a fuel) to sell or to hunt game.

Samwel said that there is pressure to have the Maasai change their ancient traditions and begin agriculture. He noted that this is very difficult as it changes all aspects of the culture of non-sedentary people and questioned whether it is fair that because of climate change that his people need to give up their age-old customs. A different perspective on this issue is presented in this video new report from April 2010: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04MfFrqPJls&feature=related

Samwel noted that unpredictable growing conditions of late, especially with the severe droughts, make it very difficult to rely on agriculture for the primary food source. He noted examples where people had tried to grow maize, but the water shortages and decrease in soil fertility caused crops to fail after only a few years. These people don’t have knowledge of or money for fertilizers, which, of course, are not good for the environment anyway.

The stories we heard from this special guest were incredibly informative and we finished our visit by discussing ways that we might continue to learn from and help each other. Samwel would love for a team from the U.S. to come to camp in their forest and collect stories about how climate change is impacting the Maasai.

Samwel

I am so grateful for the unique opportunity to spend time learning from Samwel and for the international friendship that has been forged through our attending the COP events.

Samwel shows us images of the forest near his village in Kenya

If you are interested in these topics, you can learn more about livestock management in Kenya from Danielle Nierenberg, co-project director of the year-long Nourishing the Planet program of the WorldWatch Institute who presented at the Agriculture and Rural Development Day in Cancun.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CckGUvTKY0s&feature=player_embedded

She comments on traditional livestock raising practices and the knowledge of indigenous peoples to do this in a sustainable way –- assuming that climate change doesn’t make this impossible.

The link below is from a visit to Kenya by Danielle in November 2009.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBuVOkLuMyM&feature=related

And finally, last year in Copenhagen at COP15, Amy Goodman, of Democracy Now, did a segment on Voices from Africa. At time 29:22, there is a short segment from Samwel.

http://www.blogger.com/goog_1207625427

Proposals on climate change policy outside of the UNFCCC process

2010-12-07T18:17:00.000-08:00

On Monday morning, after Garth finally arrived in Cancun and registered for the conference, he and I attended the following side event.

Global Proposals on Climate Change outside the UNFCCC Process- EU Pavilion

Mr. Owen Ryan – Environment Ministry, Ireland

Description: Ireland, in collaboration with UNEP has initiated a project to examine international policy frameworks to address climate change, including a number of global proposals that have been developed outside the UNFCCC process. The project will be conducted by the World Research Institute.

We then worked in conjunction to analyze the vast amount of information that was presented to us to interpret what we had learned about the most effective way to combat climate change. We worked together to complete the following comments:

One of the primary subjects covered by the panel was how to incorporate a review mechanism into a legally binding agreement regarding climate policy. Crucial to the success of any agreement/treaty established, review mechanisms essentially are programs that see the terms (negotiated within an agreement) are met for each participating country, and have mobilized from the national to regional/local level. The panel presented concise criteria for which an ideal review mechanism should base itself on including: equity, ambition, effective implementation, inclusiveness to help foster participation, and financial viability (cost implications). Equity must be recognized as an essential criterion, as any effective proposal for a legally binding agreement must take into account the fact that some terms will have to differentiate for individual countries. Incorporating distinctions between the smaller countries from the larger ones, we must also recognize that we need equitable distribution of carbon space. Carbon space might not be a term everyone knows about, but essentially it is the space in the atmosphere that GHG’s are taking up. Precedent emissions of CO2 and other GHG’s from developed countries have taken up much of that space. Currently, developing countries are fighting for their right to that space as well, understandably. Regarding developing countries, proposals for legally binding agreements must also incorporate numerous variables such as economic growth and potential. Member of the panel, Jake Werksman, international lawyer specializing in international environmental and economic law, compared the effectiveness of an agreement using the Kyoto and Montreal Protocol’s as an example. He mentioned that what helped the Montreal Protocol to have greater success than that of Kyoto was the “graduation mechanism” it created. Targets for reducing CFC”s were established clearly, cohesively, and produced an effective incentive for developing countries; those who met the targets acquired a more “developed” status. This example is easily arguable, however, as CO2 emissions reductions are nowhere near as practical or “do-able” as those of CFC’s. So, why exactly do we want a legally binding agreement, and does the legal form of the agreement really matter? As seen evident by the Kyoto Protocol, which lacks any review mechanism whatsoever, it matters a whole lot; we want legal status on an agreement regarding climate change policy as assurance that the countries will do what they say they will. Unfortunately, any form of a legal agreement won’t be procured any time soon, at least not at COP 16. Until major forces like the U.S., the EU, and China set the example for the rest of the world and set forth ambitious plans for reducing emissions, there is little that can be done in the meantime.

UNEP's Emissions Gap Report

2010-12-07T09:42:00.000-08:00

There is quite a buzz about the new UNEP report released this week. The Copenhagen Accord of 2009 included pledges from over 100 countries to reduce their emissions, with a stated goal of limiting the global temperature rise to 2 degrees centigrade. (See Copenhagen Accord) This report identifies what gaps remain between the "scientific reality and the current level of ambition of nations." Taking the most ambitious of the pledges from the countries associated with the Copenhagen Accord, the annual emissions of GHG (greenhouse gases) could be cut by about 7 Gt (gigatons) of CO2 equivalent. Unfortunately, that would leave a "gap of around 5 Gt compared with where we need to be." With the less ambitious targets, the gap increases to 9 Gt. The full report can be downloaded at www.unep.org/publications/ebooks/emissionsgapreport.

"The air makes no distinction between political ideologies."

2010-12-07T09:29:00.000-08:00

Ms. Patricia Espinosa, President of COP 16

President Felipe Calderón

The president of COP16, Ms. Espinosa, is from Mexico, the host country. Yesterday, she introduced President Calderón, who addressed the observers. Mexico has taken its responsibility with the COP very seriously, and they are very interested in making changes. A first step has been to insist on more transparency, citing the “sour memories” of Copenhagen. At the same time, he recognized that Copenhagen was important for demonstrating the importance of climate change at the highest levels of governments. Here in Cancun, Mexico sponsored the first “Climate Change Communication Forum” concurrent with the COP. Working with the Pew Center on Global Climate, this new initiative is interested in engaging public opinion and participation. They hope that this forum and discussion will continue when the COP presidency transfers to South Africa in 2011. Here in Cancun, Mexico wants to “hear all voices and perspectives – employers, workers, indigenous, and civil society.”

Mexico has been making steps forward in terms of combating climate change. Calderón said that “Mexico is determined, although a developing country and with poverty,” and has a program to combat climate change. They have “embarked on ambitious projects with wind energy,” and pay the indigenous to protect forests. They have reduced emissions by 42% of the target set for 2012, and by 2014 will replace all incandescent light bulbs. They will provide subsidies for the 11 million poorest households to make this possible.

Calderón emphasized the importance of the COP process and the necessity to come to agreements. “The atmosphere belongs to everyone. The air makes no distinction between political ideologies, political borders or personal interests. We are all passing visitors on this planet. It is a common threat, and we have to take shared responsibilities.”

Steven Chu -- Working for Clean Energy Solutions and Jobs

2010-12-06T19:05:00.000-08:00

Steven Chu, the Secretary of Energy, spoke today at the US Center. Chu began with two predictions: 1) the price of oil will be higher in the future, and 2) we will live in a carbon constrained world. Regarding the price of oil, he looked at the estimates of oil production by the IEA and noted that as current oil fields are depleted, the world will need to rely on new discoveries and more unconventional sources. He then explained the basics of climate change and the deepening risks. Interestingly, he also clearly explained how we know that much of the climate change is man-made, focusing on the evidence provided by the percentage of 14C vs. 12C in the atmosphere over the past century. For his explanation of the science, see his full comments at http://www.connectsolutions.com/cop16/. (They should be uploaded soon.)

Chu likened climate change to someone who grows older and has a decreasing metabolism. If the caloric intake doesn’t also decrease for the person with a declining metabolism, there is a predictable resulting change in weight. Likewise, he points out that the energy input has been constant for our planet in recent decades, and yet our greenhouse gases have increased by 40%, allowing less energy out. Simply put, more energy comes in than goes out. He knows of no credible theory that suggests that the world would not heat up until there is a balance. Furthermore, it will take a full 100 years to see the full impact of the additional warming because of the time it takes for deep ocean mixing. He is concerned that in the meantime we will see fertile land become desert, more floods, and reduced glacier water supplies. He believes that clean energy is about our security, economy, and planet.

Perhaps the most interesting comments Chu made was with regard the current programs in the USA. Currently, $90 billion has been dedicated to clean energy. In the United States, we are improving automobile, appliance and building energy standards. There are currently ten major demonstration projects for carbon capture and storage. Perhaps most hopeful, there are three programs that are focusing on developing and exploring innovative technological and scientific projects: Energy Frontier Research Centers; Energy Innovation Hubs; and the Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E). He described some of the proposed projects, from having plants grow with a DNA blueprint which would cause the plant produce the enzymes necessary to break down its own cell wall for biofuels to artificially replicating photosynthesis and creating fuels directly from sunlight. These programs have a limited time frame, and the emphasis is on getting successful products and processes to market. Many of these projects will not work, but Chu’s hope is that one out of ten will, which will more than make up for the investment.

193 pens required for a legal binding agreement

2010-12-06T10:51:00.000-08:00

TckTckTck (http://www.tcktcktck.org/) has adopted a theme that the seeds planted in Cancun will bear fruit in future COP sessions. Today, I watched them give a pepper plant to Christina Figueres, the Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC. The moment didn't pass without a plea from tcktcktck for real action on a legally binding agreement, to which Ms. Figueres responded: "My heart is with you. But it will not be written with my pen, but rather 193 countries' pens."

The Ghost of Copenhagen

2010-12-05T17:23:00.000-08:00

In an unusual move, the president of the COP, Ms. Espinosa, called a special meeting on Sunday afternoon for an "informal stocktaking." Her main agenda was to outline the procedures going forward as the ministers arrive and the high-level segment begins on Tuesday. She emphasized that we will continue with a two-track process, maintaining balance, transparency, and inclusiveness. She categorically stated that the the ministers would contribute to the work underway, but they would not be expected to draft compromise language, nor have informal sessions. She reiterated that there would be no separate process. From her formal statement:

"Ministers will not be expected to draft compromise language, but to help identify where balance is to be found.
Ministers will not convene informal sessions of any sort, but will instead approach every delegation they
believe ought to be consulted at each specific moment and remain accessible to all.
Ministers will not limit their contacts to other ministers, but will be open to dialogue with all and they will reach out to the representatives that each party has decided to appoint.
Ministers will not relief the Chairs of their responsibilities in any way, but will support their efforts to resolve matters that have so far not advanced in a more formal setting."

The entire document can be found at http://www.blogger.com/goog_1050140079

From the comments of parties that followed, it is clear that many in the room were very unhappy with the process at Copenhagen, which began with "leaked" documents and ended with the Copenhagen Accord forged by only the leaders of a handful of countries. In almost all of the statements, the need for transparency and inclusiveness was reiterated. The Yemen representative (G77+China) specifically said there should be no "shadowy ministerial process;" a view that was endorsed by most others.

There were two particularly poignant and moving statements. The first was by the Venezuela diplomat, who noted that currently much of her country is currently in a state of emergency from flooding. She pleaded for the COP process to move quickly and to come to some binding agreements. (For more on the flooding there, go to http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-11897912.) The Colombian diplomat also spoke of her country's recent flooding, with over 70% of its river banks overflowing. (For more, go to http://breakingnewsdir.com/colombia-floods-hit-over-a-million-119766.html. ) She noted that in several negotiation sessions, there is talk of "elephants in the room." She believes that the "elephant in the room" is the "ghost of Copenhagen." She believes that if trust is not rebuilt and progress made, then the COP will lose its legitimacy. Both of these statements received significant applause -- Ms. Espinosa is hopeful that the acknowledgement signifies a new attitude that will lend towards getting the work done quickly.

Roving billboards

2010-12-05T16:51:00.000-08:00

On the hotel strip, this was one of a series of billboards sponsored by Siemens highlighting the benefits of green energy. I managed to snap this picture as the boards were changing their location!

All about education -- the Climate Village

2010-12-05T16:49:00.000-08:00

Poster competition

Sculptures made of plastic bottles

An "eco-home"

An explanation of the sculptures

The latest in solar

Energy use for the cave men and early pastoralists

Energy use in the19th and 20th centuries


Water usage

"Green" companies

Cancun Embraces Wind Power

2010-12-05T16:22:00.000-08:00

In honor of COP16, Cancun's electric company installed a 1.5MW windmill, capable of supplying over 2,000 homes with electricity. Most participants see the windmill as they approach the Cancunmesse. Not a common sight in Mexico, a local resident, Carlos, noted that for weeks it wasn't actually running. The joke was that perhaps it had to be "plugged in."

More Youth Involvement at COP16

2010-12-04T17:12:00.000-08:00

This morning started off with another early meeting of the youth organizations. The meeting got off to a quicker start than the day before, as the issue of language had been solved and the translators were ready in the back of the room. The meeting began with announcements and went into discussions about presenting a report to the Secretariat of the UNFCCC. Announcements about the upcoming YOUNGO focal point elections were also given at the meeting. The meeting was going to be long (for the second day in a row), but students were began heading to the meeting for the contact group on Article 6 of the Convention. This article focuses on public awareness and youth involvement in the UNFCCC process which made it an important event for YOUNGO members to attend.

Contact Group on Article 6 of the Convention with party members and observers

There was a very good turnout at the contact meeting. Many of the non-negotiating attendees were members of youth organizations that showed up to remind those making the decisions why these negotiations were being held in the first place. To me, it felt as though little came out of this contact group meeting. Much of the time was spent discussing the wording of the document rather than content. However, the committee got through the document and included several pieces that were written by youth.

Young people are now included in the treaty document

Red Cross/Red Crescent panel

I added this photo to highlight some the technology being used at the COP16 meeting. This display is an eight-screen interactive Google Earth exhibit.

Moravian College students, professors, and alumni in Cancun

Voices for Climate Change.flv

2010-12-03T22:06:00.000-08:00

The video that had Christiana Figueres, the Vice Chair of the IPCC, and a whole audience on their feet dancing.

Let's Go Green Music Video

2010-12-03T21:58:00.000-08:00

This video was shown at one of the events focused on educating the public on December 2nd. The artist Angella Katatumba from Uganda was in the audience. In another session, a reggae educational video from Jamaica was shown. Ms. Figueres had everyone in attendance stand up and start dancing. I wish I could find a link to that song and video and I wish I had pictures of the entire group dancing!

Youth and Future Generations Day

2010-12-03T21:48:00.000-08:00

Thursday at COP 16 was Youth and Future Generations Day and there were several sessions that highlighted the importance of not only educating youth around the world, but also involving them in attempts to find innovative solutions for the challenges associated with climate change.

One of several "actions" of the youth at COP16

I heard a number of youth presentations and was struck by how knowledgeable they were about the issues and the complex processes associated with the UNFCCC and international negotiations. They are well versed in the language of the Convention articles and fluent in the COP jargon. These individuals are certainly meeting the education challenge of Article 6 of the Convention (although today, December 3rd, significant language that spoke to the role of youth in the process was struck from the draft language of the article).

The passion the youth display is not due solely to the fact that they are worried about their own future, but reflects their genuine concern for helping others around the planet. Some of the students had managed to secure means (logistical and financial) to bring youth representatives from poor countries of the global south to Cancun – individuals who never could have been able to attend otherwise. They talked of amazing things that they were doing—as individuals or through organizations—to educate others, to create a worldwide youth network, and to make a difference in their communities or countries in terms of environmental protection. Some were reaching out across international borders to provide educational resources to those who otherwise wouldn’t be able to learn about environmental issues.

Walter, a 12 year old from Belize, is a UNICEF representative who spoke of the importance of helping the people of his country better understand climate change and the risks that lie ahead. When the adult panelists noted of the power of the new media to help the youth in their efforts, a young woman from Boliva spoke of how they don’t have ready access to the internet and in the towns, it costs $1 per hour to use it which is a significant percentage of a family’s daily wages.

Consider this:

Over 70% of children and youth of the world live in developing countries and most of these live in rural areas.
Worldwide, 2.2 billion people are less than 18 years old – representing about ½ of the population of developing countries.

Sadly, though, while there are youth from the U.S. in attendance (mostly college students), they are not the ones articulating their vision or showing leadership within YOUNGO (the youth constituency group).

At Moravian, we are doing a small part to engage students in the process through their attendance at the COP meetings, through our educational outreach (the blog, campus courses and presentations, etc.). We hope that the students who have had the honor of attending COP meetings will be ambassadors for and leaders of change. But this is far from enough to fight the forces working against change, especially in the U.S.

The intergenerational panel including the Vice Chair of the IPCC, the Executive Secretary,
and 2 YOUNGO reps (from Australia and Figi)

Some of the youth delegates celebrating after the high level session (the intergenerational panel)

Christiana Figueres being presented with a youth shirt

Day of Youth and Future Generations

2010-12-03T20:45:00.000-08:00

Here is a post that I wrote yesterday that was originally written for my blog, The Baypoll Blog:

Today was the Day of Youth and Future Generations at COP16, a day dedicated to the youth that are involved in the UNFCCC process and the delegations of young people in Cancun. The day started with a meeting of the Youth Non-governmental Observers (YOUNGO). Although an hour and a half of the meeting was spent deciding what language the meeting should be in, several good discussions came out of the YOUNGO meeting. Members of the group gave policy reports from the UNFCCC negotiations that occurred the day before and these members of the YOUNGO policy working group gave responses to what had been decided in the negotiations. The group also discussed the various youth-related activities that would be taking place during the day.

Members of the United Kingdom Youth Climate Coalition

Although there were many young people in the room, I was shocked at how few were from the United States. I had hoped that there would be many youth from the US involved with UNFCCC, but unfortunately that did not happen. The only others from the United States were from the organization SustainUS. The majority of the people in the room were from Europe, primarily the United Kingdom, but other continents and countries were represented as well. While the United Kingdom Youth Climate Coalition only included members from their own county, the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts had representatives from several countries.

In order to make the meetings fair to different delegations around the world, a survey was taken as to how many of the young people in the room were from global north versus global south countries. These are socio-economic classifications given to each country. The global north countries are developed countries including the United States and many countries in Europe. Unfortunately for the diversity aspect of the meeting, very few delegates were from countries in the global south.

After the meeting, I attended a side event on the ways youth organizations are reaching out to youth in the community to help fight climate change. The panel members focused primarily on encouraging people to vote in order to bring change through politicians—“change politicians, not climate”. Rather than spending time on educating people about the issue of climate change, the organizations that spoke were focused primarily on electing “green” representatives.

These groups are indeed able to make a difference through the politicians they elect to office, but their actions do nothing to educate people about the issue. The fact that they can get people to vote for the politician that agrees with clean energy does not ensure that the voter fully understands why voting for such a person is important nor does it ensure that the voters comprehend the severity of the impacts of climate change.

From here, I headed to the “Youth Market”, a demonstration organized by the various youth groups attending the conference as non-governmental observers. The youth involved had a mock “sale” of various natural resources and vulnerable places. The “action”, as it is called at the COP meetings, attracted the attention of many people in Cancunmesse including a good number of reporters. Although I was there to watch, I was somehow dragged into the “market” since I was a youth in the area. I ended up holding a sign that read “Home and Future”, signifying the fact that these two important aspects of life are being “sold” as a result of climate change.

This demonstration was a success in many ways. Although it did not have a specific “cause” (since many separate organizations were involved), it showed that the planet cannot wait much longer for an agreement before all of the Earth’s natural resources are “sold”. Perhaps the most important part of the action was to highlight the presence of the youth at COP16. The youth are often forgotten about since they cannot take part in the official negotiations, however, they serve an important part in education and outreach for the issue.

Time is on sale at the Youth Market; unfortunately, it appears that time is running out

This day, filled with youth panels, meetings, and actions, successfully brought the youth of UNFCCC to the front of the climate conference. Hopefully through future events, similar to those that happened today, the youth will gain higher status and members of the YOUNGO will be allowed into the climate negotiations.

I cannot post all of the photos here, so please visit flickr.com/coreyhusic to view more images from today and the rest of COP16 in Cancun.

Some images from Cancun

2010-12-02T20:59:00.000-08:00

Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres prepares for an interview with the Associated Press on a very windy day in Cancun.

The Associated Press "headquarters" at the Moon Palace. Can't figure out why they set up adjacent to where all the noisy shuttles drop delegates and Parties off on a regular basis!

And then there was the press coverage of a rally for "Freedom and Solidarity of Mexican Waste Pickers who claimed to be "Climate Fighters". They were demanding respect for recyclers.

Some green efforts at the conference site

The lobby of the Moon Palace. This is not where the Moravian College delegation is staying!

In between sessions is a time to network, review notes or draft blog entries.

Building a Foundation

2010-12-02T20:48:00.001-08:00

While attending events at the Moon Palace, I had several chances to hear the Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC, Christiana Figueres. Although she talked to very different audiences throughout the day (ranging from the Associated Press to a large group of non-governmental observers and party members), Ms. Figueres had a few main points regarding the climate negotiations taking place. The first of these is that COP15 in Copenhagen was not a failure. Many say that COP15 was a “failure” due to the fact that nothing major came out of the meeting that was hoped to result in an agreement. Secretariat Figueres believes that Copenhagen was important as it brought international attention to the issue of climate change. Although no major agreements came out of the conference in 2009, the media attention brought the issue to the public, who may have ignored the issue of climate change.

Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC Christiana Figueres

The second major issue according to the Secretariat is the fact that a major, perfect agreement will not come out of COP16. No one can expect an agreement when three countries have decided that they will not agree to the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol. According to Ms. Figueres, we should not be aiming for an ultimate agreement this year, as “the perfect is the enemy of the good”. Secretariat Figueres also warned that we should aim for the "good" and not complain if Cancun indeed leads to an imperfect agreement. Cancun is merely building a foundation on which a fuller, better agreement can be built. If the world sees what comes out of COP16 in Cancun as a failure, we will get nowhere on our goal of creating a better planet. Although we cannot save the planet overnight (or even the course of the COP meeting), we can hope that a plan to save our planet will be reached within the next few years.

On Less Discussed Ecosystems in the Climate Negotiations

2010-12-02T20:44:00.000-08:00

On Wednesday, I attended side events that focused on ecosystems that are not really focal points in the official negotiation sessions. Many of us are familiar with reports of the decline in sea ice, the melting of glaciers, and sections of ice shelves that are breaking off in Antarctica. Indeed, some of this evidence has led to the sense of urgency in trying to obtain international agreements for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and slow climate change. But no one knows how to save the Polar Regions or glaciers so they are not covered in the climate finance discussions (e.g. carbon offsets) or in conversations about adaptation. I also learned today that there is great potential for carbon capture and sequestration in coastal ecosystems, but these are not included in discussions about incentives for restoration and protection in the way that tropical rainforests are.

I attended the premier of the film The Polar Explorer produced by filmmaker Mark Terry of Neko Harbour Entertainment (http://www.polarexplorerfilm.com/). Last year, Terry’s film The Antarctic Challenge was the only one invited to be screened at COP15 in Copenhagen (http://www.theantarcticachallenge.com/). For the new film for COP16, he accompanied scientific expeditions to both poles to see first hand how polar research is being conducted and to learn what the data is telling scientists. The changes are dramatic in terms of the loss of ice in terms of extent (area covered) and volume (which includes ice depth). For example, Pine Island Glacier (a misnomer) in the Antarctic is retreating by 10 meters per day in some areas and the melt from this one glacier adds 46 gigatons of water into the ocean per year! In some regions, the changing temperatures are resulting in dramatic reductions of phytoplankton and in turn, krill and penguins, which are on higher rungs of the food ladder. In others, the loss of ice cover is exposing new ocean life and sea floor topography never before studied. The biological and human consequences of these changes at the poles are significant, Terry presents the challenges in a way that is both poignant, and at times, slightly humorous—as when he swims in a newly exposed section of ocean in the Antarctic and refers to it as the region’s newest sport. But the implications for flood protection and relocation of coastal communities are very serious indeed.

Later in the day, I attended a panel presentation on the role of coastal ecosystems in the global carbon cycle and climate change story. About one-half of the global primary production (photosynthetic conversion of carbon dioxide to organic carbon) occurs in the open ocean and this capture and subsequent sequestration of carbon represents a large percentage of the global carbon budget. However, this story is essentially absent in carbon-sequestration incentive proposals and there is relatively little discussion about the management of the ocean systems in climate negotiations.

Because open oceans represent dynamic systems that are difficult to study, scientists and conservation groups focus on coastal ecosystems including seagrasses, mangroves, salt marshes, and coastal wetlands. These are extremely important for fisheries, biodiversity, coastal protection during storms, cultural values, and tourism. They also account for very high rates of carbon sequestration – perhaps five to ten times higher than terrestrial levels and can maintain this capacity for decades. But these ecosystems are rapidly being damaged or lost all together. This has all sorts of consequences related to the ecosystem services mentioned above, but also releases carbon that has been stored for centuries or longer.

One example that was given was for the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta which has been drained over the last hundred years to provide about 300,000 acres of farmland. This has resulted in soil loss (about 1 inch per year), the release of about 3 billion tons of carbon, and the loss of sequestration potential. If the release was stopped and the region restored to its native condition (not likely) it is estimated that there would be a net gain of carbon sequestration of about 62 tons of carbon per hectare per year!

These types of determinations are only beginning to be done for major coastal ecosystems around the world and only recently, has attention been given to their conservation and restoration. Likewise, only preliminary analysis has been done to determine if the sale of carbon credits to protect coastal ecosystems would be worthwhile, but early analyses suggest that they may indeed be. There are the direct costs of protecting a physical area, but also the lost opportunities such as for shrimp farms/farmers and tourism (beachfront resort income). It was pointed out that all of us staying in Cancun hotels built on what was once mangroves.

Concerns were raised from the audience about carbon credits in general, the threats to these ecosystems with worsening ocean acidification and rising sea levels, and the lack of accounting for anaerobic conditions in some coastal ecosystems that release methane and nitrous oxides which are also greenhouse gases. But the take home messages included the need for more research; that these ecosystems provide many important functions that benefit humans and other species and as such, should be protected and better managed, and that they should be included in climate negotiations.

New App for following the UNFCCC negotiations on iPhone or iPad

2010-12-02T08:35:00.000-08:00

On the UNFCCC website, the new iPhone and iPad app, the "Negotiator" has been announced. You can join us virtually with the latest news releases, videos, photos, documents, Facebook and Twitter postings. Check it out at http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/negotiator/id338997029?mt=8.

Greetings from Cancun

2010-12-01T20:42:00.000-08:00

It is Wednesday and 4 of the Moravian College delegates to COP16 have arrived. The atmosphere and tone of the event is much subdued compared to last year in Copenhagen. There are far fewer people here, in part, because quotas were established for the non-governmental observers before everyone actually arrived. The NGOs are limited to 11,000 and probably not that many individuals will actually show up. I haven't heard numbers for the actual official Parties or members of the press that will be here. The NGO events and exhibits are in a separate physical location from the negotiation sites -- about 15 to 20 minutes apart by a shuttle. It is thus more difficult to cross paths with people. Being week one, much of the work is being done behind the scenes and the majority of the international press won't arrive until the weekend. Unlike last year, no one expects a significant agreement; rather, the hope is to leave with a binding agreeement that will set a strong foundation for future work--especially at COP17 in South Africa next year. This meeting wasn't designed to be ones for heads of state like last year, but we learned today that about thirty have expressed plans to come next week.

The few protestors that we are seeing are being kept at the periphery of the meeting locations (i.e. outside the fences). There federal police are very visible along the roadsides and around the official sites; most are carrying machine guns. And there are U.N. security forces in blue shirts that seem to pop out of nowhere! But in general, many of the groups that were heavily involved in activism in Copenhagen seemed to have changed their approach.

At the municipal government building plaza last night, there was an inter-denominational prayer ceremony for the planet (no separation of church and state here). Everyone was dressed in white which led to a very serene atmosphere. There was song, and dance, and prayer -- a peaceful call for the negotiators to "do what is right". It was really quite an amazing event attended mostly by locals.

We talked with folks today who had been polling people from Cancun who were apparently surprised to learn that there are people around the planet who don't believe that climate change is happening. And what did we hear from the U.S. today? Current ranking member Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wisc) announced today that Republicans have decided to kill the House Select Committee on Energy Independence & Global Warming. And the rest of the world is looking to our country for leadership in all of this?

But all of this backdrop aside, the events that I attended today were extremely interesting and worthwhile. I am still trying to digest all that I learned and will post summaries about some key issues in the near future. Prominent themes seem to include:

- linking climate change to food (in)security;
- mitigation of greenhouse gases is being billed as a path to better health and well-being;
- the empowerment of women in addressing climate change (which may be related to all the high ranking positions that have been filled by women including Christiana Figueres);
- "Blue Carbon" (more on that in a subsequent post); and
- returning to the three conventions that arose from the Rio Earth Summit (1992) and drawing links between them. (Given that these include biological diversity, combatting desertification, and climate change, this is not surprising as the connections can easily be drawn.)

More soon,
dwh

The status of Tuvalu

2010-11-28T09:10:00.000-08:00

I encourage you to read this story about Tuvalu -- one of the South Pacific islands where environmental changes are causing significant problems for the residents. http://ht.ly/3g91d .

I find it interesting/sad that some of the people have such strong faith to believe that they will be o.k. when all evidence suggests otherwise. I am less convinced that promises to Noah reportedly made a very long time ago are going to keep these people from having to find a new location for their country if they want to survive.

Recently, there has been a lot of talk about food insecurity in the U.S. -- people who don't always have enough money to buy sufficient amounts of food. Poverty is something we need to do something about (around the world), but these small island nations have a much more serious issue at hand. I hope that they are not the "canaries in the coal mine" for the rest of the planet.

The island nation of Tuvalu was is quite poor. They couldn't affort to send a delegation to COP15 so had volunteers from Europe helping to get their message to the attendees and sell the woven signs to make money for the country.

Special Envoy Todd Sterns previews COP16

2010-11-24T08:54:00.000-08:00

As the Moravian College delegation prepares to head to Mexico to attend COP16, we are paying close attention to the media reports, the comments of those who will be involved in the negotiations and public perceptions on the topic of climate change.

The press conference with the U.S. Special Envoy for Climate Change Todd Sterns gives an overview of the U.S. perspective on the international negotiations. You can listen to this at:

http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1857622883?bctid=684537336001

You can read an article about my reflections on COP15 almost a year later at http://lgnc.org/category/news

We hope that you follow our reporting and commentary from Cancun starting next week. dwh

High level session reports given during COP15 in 2009

Loving the Pandas and Slaying the Dragons

2010-10-11T10:45:00.000-07:00

Moravian College began its InFocus theme on China with a lecture by Rob Gifford. He had recently published a book on China drawing on his years of living there and a six-week journey across the country. He began his lecture by saying there were both “panda-lovers and dragon-slayers” – in other words, that is there are many who praise China and tout its achievements and others who are critical of China, particularly in the areas of human rights and the environment. Although I have only spent one week here in the Middle Kingdom, it’s pretty easy to see Gifford’s point. There is, absolutely, much to criticize. And in the realm of climate change, coal would be at the top of the list, contributing 900 million tons of CO2/year and contributing to horrendous smog and air quality. But I am also struck by the friendliness of the people, and their real commitment to reducing their carbon intensity, despite short-term hardships. NGOs here in China note that they are making real headway on their goals. Considering the transformation of China from my first visit in 1983 to present, it may be possible for China to be transformed again into a green economy – and it would be in all of our interests for them to succeed.

Living Sustainably

2010-10-11T10:41:00.001-07:00

If you’re reading this blog, I’m hoping that you’ll also log onto the new blog by Diane Husic at ANewProsperity.blogspot.com. Sustainability is not one of the buzz words here in Tianjin – the UN mainly likes acronyms, although in this conference, the words “balanced” and “fair” have come up a lot. No relation to Fox news. “Balanced” has to do with the different parts of the negotiation texts. “Fair,” as the Secretariat thinks of it, has to do with the fairness between the north and south hemispheres (the south is more vulnerable to climate change impacts with fewer resources), between the countries in the south hemisphere (not all G77 countries have equal resources or same climate problems), and between the current generation and those that will follow (we need to think more about what we leave to our grandchildren). The idea of living sustainably, in my view, relates to these issues of fairness: we should limit our use of the world’s resources in order that the developing countries may improve their standards of living and we should collectively leave the world’s biosystems as intact as possible for future generations.

The Two Bad Boys

2010-10-10T16:13:00.000-07:00

In an earlier post, I mentioned that one NGO representative called China and the United States the “two bad boys” who were “hiding behind each other.” The week in Tianjin ended with little progress, and if you read the China Daily and the New York Times, it certainly seems to be all about China and the United States. According to the U. S. account “China is ignoring pledges made under a global-warming accord reached

last year, … and Chinese officials have acted as though the agreement “never happened.” The article also mentions that China does not want to have “independent monitoring to verify their commitments.”

Meanwhile, China continues to commit to reduce its carbon intensity, and blames the delay of an international agreement on the United States. The China Daily article begins, “Progress in climate-treaty negotiations has been blocked because the United States has pushed to abandon the Kyoto Protocol while placing blame on developing countries.” Their negotiator, Su Wei, pointed out that “some developed countries have kept silent on their mitigation plans after 2012.”

Unfortunately, China and the United States together account for half of the world’s emmisions. (To be fair, China’s per capita emissions level is a fraction of the United States emissions level.) Without these two parties coming to some kind of agreement, there is little hope for a better outcome in Cancun.

Hydro Energy and the Three Gorges

2010-10-09T22:06:00.000-07:00

Wanchou, departure city for hydrofoil

Three Gorges

Cliffs along Three Gorges

On the plane to China, there were few Americans, but the few that I saw were going to see the main sites (Great Wall, Forbidden City) and to take a cruise of the Yangtze River through the Three Gorges. Normally, the cruise ships take 3 days, allowing time to visit the towns on the way. Taking advantage of an unscheduled day in my schedule, I opted for the 11-hour journey by bus and hydrofoil from Chongzing to Yichang, returning to Beijing in time for my flight home. The hydrofoil is a popular form of mass transit for the local Chinese, with few tourists, traveling along the same stretch of the river that is being gradually abandoned in anticipating of the rising waters.

Typical landscape along Yangtze River

End of hydrofoil journey -- near dam.

Three Gorges Dam at dusk.

The three gorges is a particularly beautiful section of the Yangtze river, although it seemed to take only a few minutes to go through the most dramatic sections. At the end of the trip, we pulled up next to several other freight boats and had to cross them to get to shore for the final leg of our journey to Yichang (60 km away). Fortunately for me, there was a guide who was willing to take me around to see the dam before going back to Yichang. We saw the transmission lines, the monument, and, of course, the dam itself. The dam is over 2 km long, the largest in the world. Still not at capacity (or even close), it is still possible to see the large machinery that eventually will be used to let water out.

Monument on mountain near dam.

My guide, a 25 year old, was conversant in English, and was clearly very proud of the dam. His own family had been moved, and he admitted (but not at first) that many were unhappy to move. But his genuine pride for the dam and related projects was evident. Apparently, over 2000 (mostly Chinese) people visit the dam daily.

Unfortunately, it was already dusk by the time I arrived, so many photos didn’t turn out so well.

Greenpeace in China: Radical and Effective

2010-10-08T10:40:00.000-07:00

Greenpeace China is one of the most “radical” of the Chinese NGOs – the member I spoke to was quite clear on this point. After all, who else would bring a glacier and polar bears to the UNFCCC? But stunts aside, they are producing serious reports about the impact of climate change on the poor. In a report on “Climate Change and Poverty,” they describe three case studies, including the drought in the northwest, forcing 34,000 to leave their homes and the remaining residents left with limited water access; the torrential rains in the mountains causing mud-debris and landslides; and the floods and droughts impacting agriculture in the southeast and destroying homes and crops alike. Their website: http://icare.greenpeace.cn. Photo courtesy of Greenpeace China.

Time for Reflection

2010-10-07T19:48:00.000-07:00

Actually, the pause for reflection happened in the rather large plenary room as the Chair of the LCA convened a “taking stock” session. All of the text negotiation sessions have been closed to observers and press, so this was the first time the civil society had a formal glimpse as to how things were developing. The chair of AWG-LCA has divided the negotiation text into five tracks, which all seem to be making some progress. She hopes that by limiting the negotiations to parties only, that more progress will be made. So far, the chair believes that the possible outcomes for Cancun include: a shared vision for long-term cooperative action, including a long-term global goal for emission reductions; adaptation framework and approach to address loss and damage; economy-wide emission reduction commitments or actions by developed country Parties; readiness phases of activities in the forest sector (REDD+); reducing emissions from bunker fuels; reporting on fast-start finance; mobilization of long-term finance; capacity-building. Unfortunately, there were several parties who voiced their disagreement with her assessment. One of the sticking points is that there is still disagreement about whether it all needs to be a complete package, or whether portions can be worked out and set before moving forward on the remainder. And, of course, there’s always the issue that the U.S. isn’t doing enough. Until now, another complaint is that China isn’t transparent enough, but with the progress China has demonstrably made, there is less talk about that in the corridors. Moravian College will have a delegation of 11 students, alumni, and faculty members at Cancun – we’ll keep you posted!

As for the meditation room, it seems mainly used by the Muslims in their daily prayers. At the appropriate times of day, they wash their feet in the nearby bathroom and make their way to the meditation room down the hall.

Historic Flooding in China -- even as we meet

2010-10-07T19:40:00.001-07:00

Today, the headlines in the China Daily newspaper read: “Record Rainstorms Hit Hainan.” As of Wednesday afternoon, the record rainfall had forced evacuation of 137,000 people from their homes. It is the worst rain event since 1961. More rain is expected – there is a tropical cyclone expected by early next week. Over 1,000 villages were evacuated. You can keep up on China’s news at the China Daily website: chinadaily.com.cn.

Hosting the UNFCCC – One of the signs that China may be prepared to lead

2010-10-07T19:39:00.000-07:00

Of the major players, China is coming out ahead. It seems to be more progressive – partly because it is being pushed by NGOs and its own citizens. China paid most (but not all) of the 5M$ to host the meeting. At first, they didn’t want NGOs to be allowed to have displays – it took months for the entire convention to be approved – but they did allow it at the end. The entire event is well organized, with no lines or difficulties. Many delegates arrived here on the high-speed train (which now covers 4000 miles of track, with 6000 more under construction), in a city that has begun work on the most ambitious eco-village to date. Combined with the positive steps China has taken for climate change, it seems to be taking a leadership role.

China and Climate Change: one of the “bad boys” or “responsible parties”?

2010-10-07T19:19:00.000-07:00

Many of the NGO side events have focused on China. And the reports are mixed. One speaker, who works specifically with China and the U.S., called China and the U.S. the “two bad boys.” He noted that together, China and the U.S. contribute nearly half of the annual carbon emissions. And yet, they hide behind each other, each refusing to take the actions needed unless the other country meets specific demands first. In a session sponsored by the NRDC, however, a more positive view was presented. In their latest study (soon to be published on their website), they evaluated China’s commitments compared to BAU and found that China was very close to the International Energy Agency’s recommended levels of carbon intensity reduction of 47%. There’s still room for improvement – a slightly more ambitious target would mean peaking emissions in the 2020/2030 time frame. The Natural Resources Defense Council has lots of white papers on various topics related to climate change – this is a great place to find full-documented papers. Three papers were prepared for Tianjin: “Putting it into Perspective: China’s Carbon Intensity Target”, “A Primer on the (Strong) Smart Grid and its Potential for Reducing GHG Emission in China and the United States”, and “Improving China’s Existing Renewable Energy Legal Framework: Lessons from the International and Domestic Experience.” All will be available on their website.

Polar Bears at the UNFCCC

2010-10-06T21:41:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Greenpeace brought its own polar bear to the conference – alas, my camera ran out of batteries so I didn’t get a picture.

A Circular Economy

2010-10-06T21:17:00.000-07:00

In the 11th 5-year program, China embraced the concept of a “Circular Economy.” They are committed to recycling everything , especially in their building programs. Right now, China uses over half the world's cement, along with 30% of steel and 20% of aluminum. They are hoping that with the cicular economy, there will be more efficiency and a reduction of materials overall.

The Sands are Approaching Beijing

2010-10-06T21:12:00.001-07:00

One-fifth of China’s countryside covered with sand from the Gobi desert, and sand dunes are a mere 150 km away from Beijing, advancing at 2 KM / year. The Chinese understand that deforestation is the cause, and afforestation is now a big part of their national program. They have planted 62 million hectares of artificial forests, achieving their goals ahead of schedule. Much of these trees were planted in time for the Green Olympics, forming a Green Wall. Here in Tianjin, there are crews planting trees all along the roadways.

China’s Commitments to Address Climate Change

2010-10-06T21:00:00.000-07:00

The chair of China’s Department of Climate Change led the panel that described the steps that China is taking to reduce their carbon intensity. They believe that they have maintained a responsible attitude in their efforts, and have played an active role in the Kyoto Protocol framework and Copenhagen Accord. They continue to make commitments for sustainable development, most notably by committing to a 40-45% reduction in energy per unit GDP by 2020! To be clear, this is what they mean by reducing their carbon intensity; they are emphatic that their emissions will continue to rise (just not at the same rate as BAU). They have already reduced their carbon intensity by 15.61%, working towards a goal of 20% by 2010. In terms of clean energy, hydro (380 GW), wind (150GW) and nuclear (70GW) are their biggest projects, followed by solar (20GW) and biomass (30GW). It has not been easy for China to make these commitments and meet these goals. They have over 150 million people living under the UN poverty line (earning less than $1/day). Furthermore, they must reserve their arable land for agriculture. They also acknowledge that there have been logistical problems with the placement of nuclear plants (apparently China is not immune to the NIMBY problem), connecting solar and wind power to the energy grid, and finally, in displacing people for construction of dams.

In China, the government operates under a series of five-year plans. The 40-45% goal was part of the 11th 5-year plan, which ends in 2010. They are now planning for the 12th 5-year program, and the chair believes they will raise the targets again for reduction of CO2 intensity. In addition, they hope to organize more study and research on low carbon buildings and transportation. They hope to increase the use of renewable energy by 10% and look for 20% forest coverage. The government doesn’t actually announce the new 5-year program until March, so stay tuned! You can always check out their website at http://www.ccchina.gov.cn/en/ , with their report “China’s Policies and Actions for Addressing Climate Change – the Progress Report.”

Climate Change Impacts in China

2010-10-06T09:27:00.000-07:00

China has warmed already 1.5C since pre-industrial levels, and it’s already feeling the effects of climate change. In a panel sponsored by the Asia Society, different impacts in China were presented, ranging from the melting glaciers to mangroves being lost due to increased storms. Most urgently, the melting of glaciers is of concern since the glaciers represent the source of water for much of Asia. In the “Melt Through Time Machine,” there are “before” and “after” pictures of different glaciers showing that they are retreating at rapid rates. Soon, 3D pictures of the glaciers will be online as well!

The Tibetan nomads are particularly worried about the melting glaciers and changes in their environment. They note the shrinking grassland, worsening nutrition of the plants, reduced size of livestock, and decreased quality of yak milk. Many of the Tibetans are being forced to emigrate as they are no longer able to sustain their way of life. Finally, the China Mangrove Conservation Network showed pictorial evidence of the destruction of mangroves due to increased storm activity.

The People in the Great Wall

2010-10-05T20:37:00.000-07:00

In the entrance hall, there is a depiction of the Great Wall, made up of thousands of individual pictures. Each photograph is of someone who has committed to personally acting to stop climate change, and wants to know if the delegates will do the same. It’s sponsored by tck tck tck, one of the most progressive and visible groups at these conferences.

Burning Coal in China

2010-10-05T20:31:00.000-07:00

While Pennsylvanians may be familiar with the burning fires of Centralia, with coal fires burning underground over an area of 400 acres, there is no comparison to the coal fires in the north of China. In the Inner Mongolia and other northern regions, there have been coal fires for nearly 50 years, affecting 278 square miles. The impact of the burning coal measures on a global scale: the burning coal is estimated to contribute 2-3 percent of the world’s carbon emissions, and about 10 percent of China’s national emissions total.

"Scientific Perspectives after Copenhagen" or "Why Action is Required Now!"

2010-10-04T16:08:00.000-07:00

One of the first side events was a panel which presented a summary of a recently published report: “Scientific Perspectives after Copenhagen.” The report addresses one question: If enacted, will the current pledges made under the Copenhagen Accord meet the goal of limiting global temperature rise to 2^oC? The short answer is no. The scientists then look at dozens of scenarios to see what would be necessary to meet the 2 degree Centigrade threshold. They conclude that we would have to have peak emissions no later than 2015, followed by a reduction of emissions of 50-70% (from 1990 levels) by 2050. Essentially, for a ‘likely’ outcome, a 66% chance of meeting the goal, the global emissions would have to decrease globally by 3%/year.

One section of the report looks at the impacts of global temperature rise. At 2^oC, studies predict a 20-30% of species at risk of extinction (with 40-70% of species threatened at 4^oC). Water resources are already challenged, and at 1^oC to 1.5^oC, an additional .4 to 1.7 billion more people experiencing water stress. With 2-3^oC, millions or tens of millions of people are at risk of flooding. When the floor was open for questions, the participants wanted to know if 1.5^oC would be a better goal. The scientists, however, could not make the recommendation – there are few scientific studies that focus on the 1.5^o limit, and they are scientists and their purpose is not to formulate policy. They noted, however, that the first ten years or so of working towards a 1.5^oC goal looks much like the first ten years of a 2^oC goal, and that the Copenhagen Accord specifically calls on a review of a potential 1.5^oC limit in 2015.

To read this rather sobering report for yourself, go to http://regserver.unfccc.int/seors/reports/events_list.html?session_id=AWG14-12, and download the attachment “document.”

Meeting the Players

2010-10-04T16:06:00.000-07:00

The opening plenary of AWG-LCA (Long-term cooperative action) directly followed the welcoming ceremony. The chair, Margaret Mukahanana-Sangarwe (Zimbabwe) described the framework that she would follow in the coming week. After that, the floor was open to the parties – and we heard from the chairs of each of the different groups. The groups are listed below, along with the country of the chair representing them:

G77 and China (Yemen)

African Group (Congo)

AOSIS - Alliance of Small Island States (Grenada)

LDCs – Least Developed Countries (Losotho)

EU – European Union

Umbrella Group (Australia; this group also includes U.S. and Canada)

Environmental Integrity Group (Switzerland; this group also includes

SICA – Central American Integration System (Belize)

ALBA – Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (Venezuela)

Arab Group (Egypt)

Attending the UNFCCC Virtually

2010-10-04T16:05:00.000-07:00

If you’re keen to follow the negotiations and events personally, you’re in luck. No air travel required. The United Nations website is being continually updated, and the daily programme and other printed documents are available online. All open negotiation sessions are streamed live and then placed in the archives. Sponsors of the side events (lectures, presentations, panels, workshops) make their handouts available on the UN site as well. And then, of course, there are the daily publications that are available to all participants. Log on and join us!

Main website with webcasts: http://unfccc.int/2860.php

Conference documents: http://unfccc.int/conference_documents/items/5702.php

Side events schedule with attachments: http://regserver.unfccc.int/seors/reports/events_list.html?session_id=AWG14-12

Tianjin News Update (published as a newsletter): http://www.twnside.org.sg/title2/climate/tianjin.news.01.htm

Earth Negotiations Bulletin: http://www.iisd.ca/climate/ccwg12/

ECO (which has been published daily at major international conferences since 1972!):

http://www.climatenetwork.org/eco-newslettersAt

Tianjin at the Crossroads

2010-10-04T15:56:00.000-07:00

Every morning, my taxi takes me past more than five coal plants as we head from the suburbs (near the port) to the downtown area. I had hoped to take the Metro, but there is only one line, and it doesn’t go to the convention center. My taxi makes its way through the crowded traffic on the 8-lane roads, navigating through the other small cars, buses and trucks. In this city of 12 million, there is construction everywhere, and smog is a major problem. Water’s a problem too – they don’t have enough of it. As a result, they have the largest desalination plant here in Tianjin. Technically, it’s a week-long national holiday, but the ‘rush hour’ is super congested – witness the complete standstill about one mile from my hotel.

Despite the dreary morning commute and clogged afternoon traffic, Tianjin is looking to be the model city in a low-carbon future. They are very concerned with recycling, and they refer often to their “circulation economy.” And their actual economy is booming. In the past two years, their GNP growth rate is 16.5%, and the last nine months has been at 19%. The average per capita income in Tianjin is $9000/yr, ten times that of the poorer rural areas. The national average is about $3500/yr. They have large factories for electric cars, lithium batteries, and windmills. There are no fewer than four nature reserves which protect the wetlands. And finally, there is the model Eco-village they are just now building.

You Never Know Who You’ll Meet

2010-10-04T15:55:00.000-07:00

There is a lot of networking going on at these UNFCCC meetings. Many of the party members (with the government delegations) and NGOs (non-governmental organizations) attend all of the meetings each year, so it’s not surprising to see hundreds of people milling around and catching up with their friends at the Welcoming Ceremony. On the bus from the airport, I met one man from the Environmental Defense Fund – although he is Indian and he works mainly in India, his home is in Texas! He works with Indian farmers, and I welcomed the opportunity to speak with him about Vandana Shiva who will be visiting Moravian College next week. Another rider on the bus was a Canadian who is one of the party members representing Grenada, one of the small island nations. His days will be a bit different from mine – organizational meetings in the mornings, drafting groups all day, and review/revisions every night! Everyone is friendly, and there does seem to be a shared desire to finalize an ambitious and fair agreement that is legally binding.

Changing Patterns of Transportation in China

2010-10-04T15:52:00.000-07:00

I first visited China in 1983, and I still remember the city streets filled with bicycles and rickshaws. I have arrived in China now, 27 years later, and the cities have been transformed. The road from the airport to Tianjin, nearly two hours away, is as modern as one can imagine. The bullet train runs parallel to the highway, passing the coach. In Tianjin itself, the streets and commercial districts are much like other large cities around the world. The bikes, alas, are nearly gone. Sure, there are a few bikes in sight, but you’ll find way more bicyclists in the European cities of Amsterdam or Berlin. There is ample room for the bicyclists should they come back, but they have been replaced by small cars, lots of taxis, and the more than occasional trucks carrying coal. There is a modern train connecting the terminals at the airport, and, at the convention center, open shuttle buses like the ones found in theme parks quickly and efficiently transport participants to and from the registration area to the halls itself. Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be a good Metro system for the city itself, with only one line. Residents are forced to rely on autos or city buses. One major difference, though, is the price of transportation. Gasoline is still $4-5/gallon, but my one-hour taxi ride is less than $20, and the two-hour coach from Beijing to Tianjin was only $15.

Continuing Negotiations Underway in China – The Road to Cancun

2010-10-04T15:47:00.000-07:00

The United Nations working groups on Long-Term Cooperative Action and the Kyoto Protocol are meeting this week in Tianjin, China, for their last negotiation sessions before the joint meetings in Cancun, Mexico in December. Since Copenhagen, there have been three other interim meetings in Bonn and numerous related conferences and workshops. An important meeting, the parties have been reminded that it is in “noone’s interest to delay action.” I am here representing Moravian College as an official observer, and I hope to document the progress made here in Tianjin before the meetings in Cancun. I will also be sharing information about China, just as Moravian College participates in our first “InFocus” with China as the theme of the year.

The final hours

2009-12-19T07:54:00.000-08:00

On Friday, as all sorts of political wrangling was occurring at the Bella Center, I attended 2 panel sessions discussing reactions to what had occurred over the past two weeks. The first was a panel at the Klimaforum Panelists included Bill Becker, Presidential Climate Action Plan; Bill McKibben, Middlebury College, author, activist with 350.org; Mike Eckhart, American Council on Renewable Energy; Polly Higgins, International Environmental Lawyer and advocate for planetary rights (from the U.K.); David Orr, Professor of Environmental Studies at Oberlin; and Chip Comins who moderated the session from American Renewable Energy Day.

The panel discussed their thoughts on President Obama's speech from earlier in the day. They seemed to think it fell far short in what was needed especially with respect to acknowledging specific duties (in the ethical sense) of countries like the U.S. in paying for and admitting responsibility for the past 150+ years of dumping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. They were adamant that the U.S. and others should end the policy of giving subsidies to industries that are the polluters. Several references were made to past examples where emergency legislation was enacted (WWII, the Bush administration coming to the rescue of the banks in crisis, etc.), and the panelists felt that such urgency was needed now to deal with climate change and climate debt.
In general, the attitude was very negative and, amongst the audience, quite anti-American. I have always thought that Bill McKibben's writings were pretty negative (e.g. just consider the title The End of Nature). His comments in person confirmed my impression.

The rather disappointing panel session ended with Polly Higgins reading the draft of "the Peoples' Declaration: Planet Earth Trust" (you can read and even sign on to this declaration at www.treeshaverightstoo.com ). There was also positive support (finally, a positive thought about something) from the panel members for the Klimaforum Declaration that was signed earlier in the day and delivered in a 2 minute talk to the UNFCCC.
I read this alternative declaration carefully and found it to be against a lot of things (many not related to climate change) but quite lacking in creative and substantial alternatives and solutions. The document calls for a "complete abandonment of fossil fuels within the next 30 years; recognition, payment and compensation of climate debt; a rejection of purely market-oriented and technology-centred false and dangerous solutions". The document is very anti-large corporation and pretty anti-technology as well. Riding bikes, growing food locally and sustainably, and the promotion of community-based actions are great things, but are not going to go very far in addressing a global problem as large and as complex as climate change.

HB and I then went to the Fresh Air Center (http://tcktcktck.org/freshair ) to gain a different perspective amongst the "top global bloggers and digital campaigners" at the rapid response media center. A big thanks to this group for their support and wonderful programming throughout the time in Copenhagen. HB and I were lucky to have been accepted into this forum.
A panel consisting of Ben Winkler (AVAAZ), Phil Gluver (Oxfam, Great Britain), and Tara Row (WWF) all expressed disappointment over the draft texts that have emerged saying that they consisted of "hollow text with hollow promises". However, there was much positive acknowledgement of the global campaigning efforts that arose over the past few months, the energy of the grassroots movements involved with the causes of climate change and climate justice, and the recognition that new leaders were emerging in the climate change battle. Almost 15 million people have now signed on to the global petition for a "real deal now" (http://www.avaaz.org/en/; http://green.pina.com.fj/article.php?id=3447873894b1dbb53642c4d74d0552&PHPSESSID=8661457ebfabb6019a6cbcf9aa4c8834 ) and there are now 3.8 million members of AVAAZ (http://avaaz.org/).

In discussing where to go next, the panelists referred to climate change as the "apartheid of our time" and called for nonviolent conflict. There seemed to be a message of hope rather than the depressing cloud of negativism at the other session. The final talking points was centered on the question of "What will human resilience look like" and a plea to those in the audience and readers of the blogs to choose a cause and stick with it "to be transformed and to transform the world".
Rumors of an unscheduled press conference by President Obama were circulating so we waited a bit but only saw this:
Exhausted, we headed back on the train to our little cottage exhausted. By coincidence, we ran into Laura on the train platform, and enjoyed a final chat about the experience of the past two weeks.
Our humble abode for the past two weeks:

After a long night of last minute negotiations and rumors of all sorts, the COP15 process produced a non-legally binding accord. There are many spins on what this all means, especially since many countries did not sign on to it. If you are interested, you can read the document:
http://unfccc.int/resource/docs/2009/cop15/eng/l07.pdf.
To get a sense of the non-U.S. spin on all this, you can go to sites like
http://tcktcktck.org/ or http://tcktcktck.org/press-bloggers or even the BBC.

More photos from our second week in Copenhagen

2009-12-19T07:00:00.000-08:00

From Alex Binford:

The King of Denmark -- leaving after a service on Sunday with Archbishop Desmond Tutu and the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Protests outside of the King's Palace and Gardens on Sunday. These groups were protesting immigrant rights -- suggesting that Denmark should be more welcoming to immigrants.

On Monday night, we were able to see Al Gore and others speak in a small venue seating 140. Sarabeth (pictured here) asked the last question.

Tuesday morning, before the sun was fully out, hundreds were lined up to enter the Bella Center. This was the first day of formally restricted entry for the NGOs (hundreds if not thousands weren't able to register the day before). Security was much more intense -- this is one of the water canon trucks prepared to take action if the crowd got out of control.

The Bella Center accommodates 15,000, and this hall was mainly used for the cafeterias and gathering places. There were also several impromtu mini-protests and press conferences.

At one point, many of the delegates marched out of the Bella Center in solidarity "with the people" who were outside.

Despite the excitement down the hall, work continued in the Bella Center.

It wasn't easy to get into the high-level plenary on Wednesday -- this was the crowd, and all had special pass. After the first session, all NGOs were excluded, even if they had passes.

There were still some great speeches to be heard, though! Senator Kerry addressed about 500 people in the Hans Christian Andersen room.

This was our last formal event in the Bella Center on Wednesday. Only 300 NGOs were given special passes for the Thursday and Friday sessions.

2009-12-19T06:43:00.001-08:00

Several of our delegation visited the Ecological Inspiration House in Frederiksberg with Ellen (the Moravian Seminary alum) who lives in Denmark. This is a house built by Jytee AbildstrØm – who according to Laura and Ellen is quite a celebrity in Copenhagen. She runs a children’s puppet theatre. Her inspirations are many: Hans Christian Andersen’s Klods Hans, her time spent living on a farm, and her deep belief in having a minimal footprint on the planet by reducing consumption and recycling. The house has many innovative “green features” ranging from solar (passive solar, solar-heated water circulation for heat, and photovoltaic cells), composting toilets, a root zone purification network for waste water, etc. The home is used for education – mainly for visiting school groups who learn through hands-on activities and demonstrations.
Jytee AbildstrØm

Children's demonstrations of solar and wind power.

Mini washing machines to generate waste water that is then purified through a series of fish tank set-ups mimicking the system of the house. The children also create compost containers and learn about composting toilets. They make puppets out of all natural materials and mini playhouses with real gardens to take back to their school.

A two story "waterfall" that actually serves to filter water in the house and keep the humidity levels appropriate for the plants in the house.

The group then went out for the traditional holiday drink of gløgg (spiced wine with almonds and raisins soaked in rum) and a delicious snack called æbleskriver.

Ellen and Laura - our Copenhagen guides and Moravian alumni.

A lovely evening.

Images from Denmark

2009-12-19T06:09:00.000-08:00

Since we didn't have access the the COP15 events at the Bella Center for Thursday and Friday, I divided my time between attending events at the Klimaforum and seeing a bit of the region. We will post our thoughts on the final days of negotiations after we have had a chance to reflect a bit, but I thought I would share some images.
The streets and canals in Christianshavn. We did also go through Christiania (basically a squatters-like commune area that doesn't pay taxes) but don't have pictures since they don't allow them. It is certainly an alternative area in terms of lifestyle; if you don't know about this area, you can look it up to see what I mean. The food is great there by the way. And yeah for having Laura as a guide (since she lived her for her study abroad); she knew where to find the best bakeries in town!

City Hall square - the final night of activities including a concert (Danish hip hop).

Saturday in KØge:
Since there wasn't much to celebrate in terms of a Copenhagen treaty, people have turned to celebrating in some unusual ways and are out shopping. It is the season of consumption as usual.

Obama's Speech to the U.N. Climate Summit in Copenhagen

2009-12-18T04:39:00.000-08:00

Text of President Barack Obama's remarks Friday at the U.N. climate summit in Copenhagen:

Good morning. It's an honor to for me to join this distinguished group of leaders from nations around the world. We come together here in Copenhagen because climate change poses a grave and growing danger to our people. All of you would not be here unless you, like me, were convinced that this danger is real. This is not fiction, this is science. Unchecked, climate change will pose unacceptable risks to our security, our economies, and our planet. This much we know.
So the question before us is no longer the nature of the challenge. The question is our capacity to meet it. For while the reality of climate change is not in doubt, I have to be honest, I think our ability to take collective action is in doubt right now and it hangs in the balance.

I believe we can act boldly, and decisively, in the face of a common threat. That's why I come here today. Not to talk, but to act.

Now, as the worlds largest economy and as the worlds second largest emitter, America bears our responsibility to address climate change, and we intend to meet that responsibility. That's why we've renewed our leadership within international climate negotiations. That's why we've worked with other nations to phase out fossil fuel subsidies. That's why we've taken bold action at home by making historic investments in renewable energy; by putting our people to work increasing efficiency in our homes and buildings; by pursuing comprehensive legislation to transform to a clean energy economy.

These mitigation actions are ambitious, and we are taking them not simply to meet global responsibilities. We are convinced as some of you may be convinced that changing the way that we produce and use energy is essential to Americas economic future that it will create millions of new jobs, power new industries, keep us competitive, and spark new innovation. We're convinced for our own self-interest that the way we use energy is essential to America's national security, because it will reduce our dependence on foreign oil, and help us deal with some of the dangers posed by climate change.

So I want this plenary session to understand: America is going to continue on this course of action to mitigate our emissions and move toward a clean energy economy. No matter what happens here in Copenhagen, we think it is good for us, as well as good for the world. But we will all be stronger and all be safer and all be more secure if we act together. That is why it is in our mutual interest to achieve a global accord in which we agree to certain steps, and to hold each other accountable to certain commitments.

After months of talk, and two weeks of negotiations, after innumerable side meetings, bilateral meetings, endless hours of discussion among negotiators, I believe that the pieces of that accord should now be clear.

First, all major economies must put forward decisive national actions that will reduce their emissions, and begin to turn the corner on climate change. Im pleased that many of us have already done so. Almost all the major economies have ... and Im confident that America will fulfill the commitments that we have made: cutting our emissions in the range of 17 percent by 2020, and by more than 80 percent by 2050 in line with final legislation.

Number two. We must have a mechanism to review whether we are keeping our commitments, and exchange this information in a transparent manner. These measures need not be intrusive, or infringe upon sovereignty. They must, however, ensure that an accord is credible, and that we are living up to our mutual obligations. Without such accountability, any agreement would be empty words on a page.
I don't know how you have an international agreement where we all are not sharing information and assuring that we are meeting our commitments. That doesn't make sense. It would be a hollow victory.

Number three. We must have financing that helps developing countries adapt, particularly the least-developed and most vulnerable countries to climate change. America will be a part of fast-start funding that will ramp up to $10 billion in 2012. And, yesterday, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton made it clear that we will engage in a global effort to mobilize $100 billion in financing by 2020, if and only if it is part of a broader accord that I've just described.
Mitigation. Transparency. And financing. It's a clear formula, one that embraces the principle of common but differentiated responses and respective capabilities. And it adds up to a significant accord, one that takes us farther than we have ever gone before as an international community.

I just want to say to this plenary session that we are running short on time. And at this point the question is whether we will move forward together, or split apart. Whether we prefer posturing to action. I'm sure that many consider this an imperfect framework that I just described. No country will get everything that it wants.

There are those developing countries that want aid with no strings attached, and no obligations with respect to transparency. They think that the most advanced nations should pay a higher price. I understand that. There are those advanced nations who think that developing countries either cannot absorb this assistance, or that will not be held accountable effectively, and that the worlds fastest-growing emitters should bear a greater share of the burden.

We know the fault lines because we've been imprisoned by them for years. These international discussions have taken place now for almost two decades. And we have little to show for it other than increased acceleration of the climate change phenomenon.

The time for talk is over. Here is the bottom line: We can embrace this accord, take a substantial step forward, and continue to refine it and build upon its foundation. We can do that, and everyone who is in this room will be part of a historic endeavor, one that makes life better for our children and grandchildren.

Or we can choose delay, falling back into the same divisions that have stood in the way of action for years. And we will be back having the same stale arguments month after month, year after year, perhaps decade after decade, all while the danger of climate change grows until it is irreversible.
Ladies and gentlemen, there is no time to waste. America has made our choice. We have charted our course, we have made our commitments, we will do what we say. Now, I believe its the time for nations and the people of the world to come together behind a common purpose.

We are ready to get this done today but there has to be movement on all sides to recognize that it is better for us to act than to talk. Better for us to choose action over inaction; the future over the past. With courage and faith, I believe that we can meet our responsibilities to our people, and to the planet.

Thank you very much.

Final Hours -- In-Between Hope and Despair

2009-12-18T02:07:00.000-08:00

This video from yesterday's Climate Action Group captures the beginning of the day in the plenary sessions -- no agreement. It was not a promising beginning to the day.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwZpeVVyPcQ&feature=youtube_gdata

Things were a bit more hopeful when Secretary Clinton addressed the conference, especially making progress on the financial commitments piece for mitigation and adaptation for the developing countries. Her comments are here:
http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2009a/12/133734.htm

Last night, I had the privilege to gather with about 30 other Climate Project presenters who are all here in different capacities. There were a few young people, including one of the Climate Justice Fast youth -- today she'll finish her 6 week fast! And Stuart Scott -- who had an audience with the Pope and delivered 350 personal letters (including one from me). It was great to meet colleagues from India (working on adaptation in villages), Canada (environmental law) and the USA (Yale and Middlebury College). These are just a few of the 3000+ presenters that have all been personally trained by Al Gore.

Al Gore came to the reception as well, and said that of all the agenda items that he had this week, being with us was the closest to being with family. He started by acknowledging that, for him, just as for us, there is always a sense that we are in-between hope and despair. The day had started badly, but hope has begun to rise. He credited the Prime Minister Meles Zanawi of Ethiopia as a tremendous positive force, working with the G77 and Hillary Clinton on the long term financing piece. The forest agreement is also within reach and would be, by itself, cause for great celebration.

Realistically, Gore noted that there will still be work to do, and that the grassroots movement is essential. Change is made one person at a time.

The climate scoreboard

2009-12-17T08:17:00.001-08:00

Not long after we began this blog site, we added the climate scoreboard in the column on the right. If you have been following, you will notice that the gap between the line for the "business as usual" (BAU) and the "goals' has widened. It is not that our goal has become more ambitious but rather that new data seems to support that BAU will lead to even greater temperature increases sooner. The proposals to date, remain much closer to BAU than to the goals. Even the goal of keeping the average global temperature to less than 2 degrees C is controversial. Many here say that going above 1.5 degrees C will wipe out their culture.
This doesn't seem like a big increase, but paleoclimatology evidence indicates that the average global temperature of the planet hasn't ever been this much warmer since humans have been on the planet. National Geographic created a program that explores what the world would be like if the temperature increased by 1 to 6 degrees. Here is the link for that gives an insight as to what a 2 degree warmer world would be like. Some of these things are already happening.
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=27115945
By searching "National Geographic X degrees warmer", putting in a digit for X betwen 1 and 6, you can find the other video shorts.

A day of reflection

2009-12-17T08:02:00.001-08:00

As with the majority of NGO observers, we are shut out of the COP15 proceedings today. For those of us staying on the outskirts of the city, ice, snow and drifting kept us from getting to events at other venues since, at least this morning, the train was not running out at this end of the line. So it has been a day of reflection (and some exam grading).

The videos and images posted with this CNN story (see link below) illustrate two aspects of the Convention besides the political discussions: The activism (I am really glad that our students were inside the Bella Center yesterday) and the real changes that are occurring in other parts of the world (check out what used to be a ski resort).
http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/12/17/copenhagen.climate.summit/index.html
I don't know if the bold annoucement from Hillary regarding the U.S. offering $1 billion to a mitigation fund -- something the least developed countries and small island nations have been calling for -- will be enough of a breakthrough to get the negotiations to begin moving again.

Some of our group is headed tonight to a special program about the plight of indigenous peoples. HB is attending a reception for those involved with The Climate Project with Al Gore. http://www.theclimateproject.org/
This stark contrast of venues (and perspectives) characterizes the time that we have spent in Denmark.