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In Copenhagen, waiting in the cold least of the trouble
Mohammed Yahia Published in Bikya Masr on 15 - 12 - 2009

COPENHAGEN: Today was easily the worst day of the conference. It was a complete disappointment for everyone.
First, journalists and delegates got stuck for several hours in the cold waiting to get in. While I was lucky to only wait 90 minutes, some journalists reported being stuck outside for the past seven hours. There are currently 45,000 people seeking accreditation, while the Bella Center can only accommodate 15,000. So its first come first served, with people planning to line up as early as 7:00 am tomorrow morning.
But that was the least of the trouble. The first plenary of the second week was scheduled to begin at 11:30 am. Only a short while after commencing, the talks were suspended when the African group walked out angrily.
They were frustrated that more work was being done on the Long Term Cooperative Action track (LCA) than the Kyoto Protocol track (KP). They felt this was a ploy by Denmark, which holds the presidency of the conference, and other developed nations to reach an agreement on LCA in time, not having enough time for the KP track at the end. They saw this as a way to weaken any hopes of a renewal of the Kyoto Protocol, which is an integral requirement for the developing states.
While the plenary was scheduled to resume at 2:00pm, they never did formally. An informal contact group was put together to discuss the issues of the day and how to best address the worries of the G77 bloc. That means there were neither journalists nor observers in the room. It was all behind closed doors.
The problem is that due to the unfortunate events of the day, the smaller groups, such as the ones working on REDD, technology, etc, lost a whole day.
And time is running out. There isn’t enough time to waste before Friday is here and an agreement must be ready. Otherwise, Copenhagen would be a major failure for climate change discussions.
The issues of the day highlight the deep mistrust between the developed and the developing countries. Such small items as the order of discussions can risk a complete stand still.
BM

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