Weekend at COP17: World Climate Summit, World Forest Day & Nasa

Dispatches From Durban - Day 7

This morning I asked Rajendra Pachauri, chair of the IPCC, what he thought of the negotiations so far. His response was one word, “dejavu”. If Mr. Pachauri’s impression is anything to go by, then we should manage our expectations about any significant agreement coming out of this COP. While the national governments may not appear to be making much progress, there is an emerging theme here of sub national and regional movement, and cities as the venue for future climate change action.

A few events were held over the weekend, namely the World Climate Summit, which was an opportunity for business to talk solutions and share thoughts on how to unlock much needed private sector investment. Sunday was World Forest Day, which was well attended largely due to high expectations for further progress on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+). I attended a remarkable NASA presentation showcasing some of the work they do. Make no mistake; NASA is measuring absolutely everything energy-related on the planet. The question is, given all the knowledge the US has, why is this information not disseminated to Congress, particularly the skeptical presidential candidates.

It’s clear that both Canada and the US aren't interested in Kyoto, as the agreement only covers 11% of the world’s emissions. These two countries, amongst other Annex 1 countries, are working towards bringing the Copenhagen Accord to life, which covers almost 90% of the world’s emissions. Greenpeace in particular has been very vocal in opposing this position to leave Kyoto. Canada is, as perhaps expected, attracting more “Fossil of the day” awards than anyone else.

There are many more people at the COP this week, driven largely by an influx of journalists to report back on progress made this session. Delegations are working hard to tidy up the text agreed upon so far. Through the rest of the week we will see them presenting the text to the relevant Ministers, who will then negotiate their respective countries' position to be communicated at the end of the COP.

Contact:
Neil Thomson, ISIS, Neil.Thom...@sauder.ubc.ca
Alison Murphy, Offsetters, alison.mur...@offsetters.ca