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IMPORTANT:
My impression after attending the COP 14 is that too often the present economic situation was used as a reason for delay or lack of ambition. The incredible resources that have been marshaled to forestall further economic impacts show too clearly that, when the issue is seen as important enough, all barriers can be overcome. It is now obvious that Poznan needed to deliver a clear political signal that 2009 would be a decisive year, that Copenhagen will produce an important outcome, and address climate change with the urgency required.
Still, Poznan came at an awkward moment. At a certain point, the talks were overshadowed by internal EU wrangling about its 2020 package. The political transformation in the US, will only reflect when president Obama takes the reins. In a video message to an international summit convened by California Governor Arnold Swarzeneger, gave a shout-out to the delegates from around the world that would gather in Poznan. He said: “your work is vital to the planet”
On the level of ambition, there has been no progress beyond what was agreed in Bali. Very few developed countries have made any concrete offers of finance, technology and capacity building support for mitigation actions by developing countries. This leaves progress on the adaptation fund as perhaps the one tangible outcome at Poznan.
COP 14 Programme:
Side events: Development and Climate Days: 6-7 December 2008.
On the first day, sessions focused on vulnerable groups, and included panels on gender and climate change but also children. Other issues that were raised concerned Arctic and small islands developing States as well as high-level sessions on rights an justice.
Summary of the “Gender and Climate Change”. During this session it was announced the launch of the “Carbon Solidarity Asia”. Participants noted that carbon investors tend to privilege large scale projects and that UNFCCC should incorporate a gender strategy into CC solutions.
I find the idea of the platform "Carbon Solidarity Asia" really good. NGOs ought to regroup and to share experiences and capacity. The least advanced can pick up speed, and altogether we can bargain down common costs, mitigate risks and increase project visibility and prices. Still, the project is at an early stage.
Summary of the “Children and CC”: The participants highlighted that it is vital to do more research on climate perceptions and take into consideration the vulnerabilities of homeless children and challenges inherent in educating children.
In the end, they agreed that we need to realize the importance of developing learning tools and training teachers but also consider educational alternatives for indigenous communities.
Summary of the high-level session on rights and justice: Participants agreed that it is important to inform negotiators about vulnerable communities. One of the important issues that were discussed concerned the risk of overshooting temperature targets. Once again, there was a lot of debate on this issue but no actual conclusion was reached.
Summary of the policy making in a changing climate. During this event participants agreed that the next logical step is to carry out good practices and ways to disseminate information. One other important conclusion was related to the importance of bilateral agreements and the importance of interacting with the media.
Summary of the community-based adaptation: Participants agreed upon the need to move the adaptation debate from the environment agenda to the development agenda. They also highlighted the need to support local research and emphasized the role of public institutions and NGOs .
Summary of the high level session on funding: One big issue during the debate was related to the many countries that portray themselves as vulnerable in order to access adaptation funds. In the end, they agreed that it is needed to make changes in the Adaptation Fund Board’s current process for elaborating strategic guidelines and operational procedures for access to resources. Obviously, they didn’t actually have time to decide what the changes would be or when they will decide upon them.
Side Events Convened on Monday, 8 December 2008:
Climate-induced Human Displacement ad Migration:
This event focused on the problems of migration in response to failed adaptation and as an adaptation strategy.
Participants highlighted that migration may be seen as an adaptation instrument but they also stressed the environmental effects and increased vulnerability of areas of emigration.
Like many other side events, all the participants made their point, gave their well documented reasons (even if it had no connection to what the previous speaker had said), but there was little room for an actual debate and no clear decisions were made.
Main Events on Tuesday, BUSINESS DAY, 9 December 2008:
On Tuesday, contact groups resumed on adaptation, mitigation, and delivering on technology and financing under the AWG-LCA.
MITIGATION (AWG-LCA): In the contact group, AWG-LCA identified clear differences on mitigation, including on differentiation among countries. He proposed focusing on recognizing and registering mitigation actions.
On registries, SOUTH AFRICA proposed a registry of nationally appropriate mitigation actions in developing countries and setting targets for financial flows to support such actions.
The REPUBLIC OF KOREA said project should be proposed on a voluntary bases- I still don’t understand what exactly was their point or what they meant by that.
FRANCE said that developed countries need to take the lead. Obviously, after that statement, the US felt the need to say that it is important to consider the countries’ national circumstances and that the approach should be considered for both developed and developing countries.
JAPAN stressed the importance of collecting data regarding the outcomes of actions and that developing countries should focus on developing a low carbon society like the developed countries. Afterwards, EU suggested also registering outcomes of actions.
The EU identified three types of mitigation actions by developing countries: low-cost and win-win actions, with some international support to address barriers; appropriate additional actions supported by international resources; and further mitigation through international crediting mechanisms.
To sum it up, all countries gave the speech that they’ve carefully prepared back home. The general impression was that all messages were empty and grey but most importantly safe. All countries managed gracefully to beat around the bush and dodge all the actual important issues.
Main Events on Wednesday, 10 December 2008:
On Wednesday afternoon AWG-LCA, AWG-KP and SBSTA reconvened in plenary sessions in order to conclude their work.
Statements from observer organizations:
Indigenous peoples expressed concern over REDD and proposed an expert group on indigenous people and CC.
It came as no surprise when US, Canada Australia and New Zeeland opposed the inclusion of any language recognizing the rights of indigenous people and local communities, as well as any reference to other international standards, including the UN Declaration of human Rights.
The specific recognition was strongly supported by EU, Norway, Mexico, Switzerland and others. The final draft only included the importance of the indigenous’ people participation.
Outraged that the word “rights” was removed from the text, several indigenous groups protested in the conference corridors, shouting: “NO RIGHTS, NO REDD”
Trade Unions urged increased financial support and YOUTH said REDD must not be used as a mechanism by which Annex 1 countries avoid their domestic emission reduction obligations. (International Youth created the Survival Pledge, requesting countries to sign a petition that committed them to safeguard the survival of all countries)
Main Events on Thursday, 11 December 2008:
On Thursday, the high-level segment of the COP and COP/MOP began, with statements from more than 50 ministers and other heads of delegation continuing into the evening. An informal ministerial round table was also held, with participants discussing a shared vision for long-term cooperative action.
Same problem as always: it was impossible to reach a clear conclusion. Even though the topic was the same, the speakers gave their speech regardless of what was discussed before, therefore, a lot of them seemed that they were copy/paste from somewhere and then just rephrased. My general impression was that they all somehow managed to use big words and not say anything.
IN THE CORRIDORS
An infusion of new arrivals for the high-level segment added energy to the corridors on Thursday morning. However, some of the enthusiasm seemed to have waned by Thursday evening, at least among those following the plenary discussions. While several participants were buzzing about the strong calls to operationalize the Adaptation Fund, others seemed to find it relatively uninspiring: “In spite of the best efforts of the Chair and some others, the discussions seemed a bit flat and repetitive,” was the verdict of one delegate.
“Today was still a remarkable networking and relationship-building opportunity, which will be useful when we meet again next year,” said one more upbeat observer.