Cancun: The prospects look modest
No commentsAn overview, an outlook, a landscape – this is what was on offer to the journalists from across Latin America during the three exhausting days of the workshop, even more exhausting for those (like me) who live in the far south of the continent (luckily the plane I was on had plenty of Radiohead songs).
It was an exhausting experience, but packed full of news. The aim was to prepare journalists who will be covering the two weeks of negotiations held by the UNFCCC (the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change) in Cancun, the Mexican city on the Caribbean coast where kilometres of five-star hotels and resorts stretch along the beach to the horizon.
The negotiations, from 29 November to 10 December, are the latest round in an annual series, and their official title is the Sixteenth Conference of the Parties (to the UNFCCC), or COP-16 for short.
Four CCMP fellows were invited to Mexico City to listen to and to question experts and officials from the UN, the Mexican Government, business and other areas focusing on climate. We came from Colombia, Guyana, Jamaica and Argentina.
We learned that not one foreign president had so far confirmed they would be in Cancun, a striking contrast with last year’s COP-15 in Copenhagen (which is widely regarded as having been a failure).
“It´s already confirmed that our president, Felipe Calderon, will be there, but no other president has confirmed their participation. Anyway, the Mexican doors are open”, said Benito Jimenez of Mexico’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
It’s thought quite possible that South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma, the host for next year’s COP-17, will be in Cancun. Possibly Bolivia’s Evo Morales, who organised the People’s Summit on Climate Change in Cochabamba last April, with its sharp criticism of the industrialised countries responsible for climate change, may show up.
But there is no chance of a sighting of Barack Obama, not so long ago hailed as the world’s new green hope, or of other leaders like German chancellor Angela Merkel.
The workshop was a great chance to gain a deep perspective about what is going to happen at COP-16. Among other things, we heard that its high-level talks will be just for ministers and close colleagues.
The best chances of getting an agreement are over REDD (Reducing emissions from deforestation in developing countries), the way to finance developing countries (the agreement was signed in Copenhagen in 2009), and ways of micro-financing adaptation.
There is great pessimism about the prospects for reducing greenhouse gas emissions through a binding agreement and over the possible extension and development of the Kyoto Protocol after 2012.
The first event at the workshop was a teleconference from Bonn with the executive secretary of the UNFCCC, Christiana Figueres, who said the “negotiations at Copenhagen were not transparent and inclusive; some countries were not well consulted”. This year the UN and Mexico are working hard to change this, she said.
To sum up, the workshop was a fruitful experience. Just to know what is waiting for all of us in Cancun is helpful – long working days, negotiations, litres of black coffee, “unofficial” talks, side events, grabbing sleep when you can, and so on. And (my personal hope): better food for journalists. There is a limit to the amount of salad we can absorb.
