Durban fails to deliver

Collectively governments have failed to deliver in Durban. It’s 1am here,  and it looks like nothing will be finalised. We’ve seen limited progress with finance to help developing countries adapt to climate change, but the pot remains empty.  No clear plans are in place to ensure the pot does not remain an empty shell. Unable to reach an ambitious agreement on the Kyoto Protocol and related systems, the Durban conference has disappointed many.

With 300,000 climate related deaths every year, mainly in developing countries this lack of ambition is unacceptable. Climate change is a basic injustice and we have the means to rectify it, but the window is closing. We have to keep pushing for action from our leaders.

The process will continue, and people around the world will continue to work to ensure a global, fair, ambitious and legally binding agreement is put in place. We can’t afford to lose any more time. And after one of the most dramatic UN climate conferences i’ve ever participated in, I’m disappointed, but ready to carry on working for climate justice.

As our partner from El Salvador, Dr Ricardo Navarro, said: If your boat is sinking, you swim for shore. You don’t know how far away the shore is, you don’t know how rough the sees are, but you swim.

And it’s probably fitting here in South Africa to end this blog with a quote from Nelson Mandela:

It always seems impossible. Until it’s done.

 

Is time running out for deal at Durban?

So we’re a full 24hours behind schedule, and the latest plenary- delayed since this morning- has just taken a break to allow all members states the chance to see the new texts being put forward for agreement. Earlier indications had led us to hope that this plenary was going to be straightforward, with countries approving strong, ambitious texts: agreeing the deal. But now we see that the texts are worryingly weak, so I’m glad they’re not agreeing these. but having said that, there is frighteningly little time left to not only strengthen them, but to get agreement from the parties.

Earlier, the President of the conference, Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, gave an update- indicating we were on the point of agreeing an historic deal. However, the plenary has been full of objections and clarifications from member states. Even at this stage, really anything could happen.

Iy’s clear that decisions made at Durban by themselves were never going to do everything needed to keep global temperature rise below 2degrees. But it’s important that the key frameworks and forward plans are decided here, and that governments really agree the most ambitious package possible if we are to seriously tackle climate change.

There is still time for the current weak texts to be made stronger, and for them to be agreed. But not much.

emergency ministerial in progress

So i’ve just heard that there is an emergency ministerial meeting about to begin, the texts to be agreed are still not finalised, and key players like the US are  unhappy about some of the elements. So the ministers are off to thrash it out. Doesn’t look like anything will emerge for the next hour or two, and everyone’s preparing for another late night. will keep you updated…

Meanwhile- campaigners have formed a human change around the US delegation offices. The US has been seen as blocking progress in Durban- so campaigners decided to physically ‘isolate’ the US position…

quick update- talks to spill over into Saturday

The impromptu demonstration inside the conference centre earlier urging negotiators to stand with Africa

So while today is supposed to be the final day of the Durban negotiations, it has been surprisingly quiet all day. Not much new information has come out all day as ministers continue to meet behind closed doors and thrash out the deal. And it’s just been officially confirmed that talks will continue into Saturday.

I’ve been preparing all day for a long night at the negotiations, we’ve been predicting all week that the talks will go up to the wire, and that everyone will be working til the early hours.

However, we’ve just heard that there will be a final session of negotiations for today starting at midnight, which could well continue all night, then will again formally resume tomorrow morning.

This is the kind of rumour we hear every year at the UN climate negotiations- that the talks are going so slowly that they can’t possibly agree everything by the deadline. but it looks like this year it’s true, and all parties are in it for at least another day.

Will hopefully be able to give a full analysis of the outcomes tomorrow once the negotiations reach a conclusion. A day late is worth it if we get the deal we need.

when Stewart met Ricardo

Here are the first of the short videos of Scottish Climate Change Minister Stewart Stevenson and director of CESTA El Salvador Dr Ricardo Navarro debating key climate issues in response to the questions people across Scotland posted on facebook and twitter. Enjoy!

First clip answers a question from Chris in North Berwick: what happens if Durban doesn’t deliver?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMauJUx2_go

Second clip answers a question from Francis on Twitter: what are the gender aspects of climate change?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVemc_k-gig

Kumi Naidoo- Durban won’t be the graveyard for the KP

Kumi Naidoo talks to African climate activists

Have just come from a meeting with Kumi Naidoo- South African anti-poverty campaigner and head of Greenpeace International. Kumi himself is from Durban, and began his activism in the anti-apartheid movement here. he was addressing the participants in the African climate advocacy workshop organised by SCIAF’s sister agencies, and updating on progress.

the Kyoto Protocol is still the major talking point here. The media had been reporting the Durban would be the ‘graveyard’ for the KP and industrialised countries’ ambition to reduce their emissions. But Kumi denied this, saying that somethign can still be achieved in the next 48hours. He said, “Durban won’t be the graveyard for the KP, but it might be in intensive care.”

He went on to explain that something will be agreed here on a legally binding framework to replace the KP, but that we must redouble our efforts in the final hours to make sure that the framework is not so weak it’s meaningless.

Just about to go to an update from Christina Figueres- the head UN commissioner on climate change- to get the latest. will update soon.

 

Scottish climate minister, Salvadoran activists, and civilisation itself

Stewart Stevenson MSP meets Dr Ricardo Navarro

Lots on today! First stop was a meeting with Scottish climate change minister, Stewart Stevenson. The Scottish Government has committed to creating its own climate adaptation fund – something SCIAF has been campaigning for for over two years. We wanted to introduce the minister to Dr Ricardo Navarro – head of SCIAF partner organisation CESTA in El Salvador, central America- and we wanted to put your questions to them both.

 

Dr Navarro is fiery- he has decades of experience of climate change activism, and he is also a climate scientist. In fact, he’s one of the most respected climate activists in the Americas- so if anyone knows about the global impacts of climate change and the need for action, it’s him!

We collected questions from people across Scotland on facebook and twitter, and put them both to the test- interviewing each other with the questions ordinary people wanted answers to.

 

And the result was amazing- as i was filming the interviews, i had to stop myself from shaking the camera through nodding in too hard in agreement with Dr Navarro’s points… And Mr Stevenson had lots to say too- re-emphasising the Scottish Government’s belief in helping people in developing countries to adapt to climate change, and promoting the Scottish example of 42% reductions in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020. As the questioning continued, getting on to issues like the role of corporations or the financial sector, i had to jump in and interrupt them otherwise we’d have been there for hours.

 

So a fascinating morning-  eye-opening information from Dr Navarro, and answers to some of the gritty Scottish questions from the minister. I’ll be posting up the resulting videos on youtube tomorrow so you can have a look.

 

Then after filming, it was off to chair a workshop session with activists from across Africa. I brought Dr Navarro along to give a presentation to the group – made up of campaigners, development workers, and agricultural specialists who were attending the workshop to build up their capacity to campaign on climate change in their own countries.

 

Participants in the climate advocacy workshop today

 

And Dr Navarro’s passion and experience was a good place to start. We also heard from Jonathan, who works for the Climate Platform in Kenya. Both activists shared their experiences, gave tips and suggestions, took questions and described not only the challenges they’ve face but also the successes they’ve gained. It was a privilege to chair the session- I felt really inspired by both speakers, but also by the experiences and hard work of the participants who are all working day in day out to tackle climate change in their own countries, and to help their communities to adapt to devastating consequences of a changing climate.

 

I’ll finish up now with something Dr Navarro said today that is stuck in my head:

“Parts of my country look like they’ve been napalmed. The strategy for us is not about adapting- it’s about surviving. We have to go back, we have to reduce, we have to have support to survive this thing. If not, we are saying that we accept people being killed. That is criminal. We have to act as fast as possible if we want to save our civilisation itself to survive. As simple as that.”     

 

Ministers- get to work!

The ‘high level segment’ of the climate talks officially opens this afternoon, and first to address the conference is President Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia. It’s fitting that we hear from Ethiopia first- a country so ravaged by climate change, where drought is killing people right now.

I met this morning with the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA) to discuss where we are in the talks and how to go forward. SCIAF partners from Zambia and Ethiopia also took part in the discussion. While it looks like we may get progress on funding to help people in developing countries adapt, the discussions on the Kyoto Protocol and industrialised countries’ emissions reductions targets are still looking daunting. The message from PACJA was that there has to be progress on both. One delegate from Ethiopia said:  ”They can’t solve this by saying-’ok, we’ll give you some money but we won’t reduce our own emissions’. We need so progress on both. If they don’t reduce, we’ll see a rise in temperature across the globe of 4degrees. And in Africa it will be 7degrees.”

While the Kyoto Protocol discussions saw Canada officially withdraw last night, all is not lost in terms of getting ambitious reductions in emissions which help us keep the average global temperature within scientifically safe limits. The EU seems to be saying that they’ll consider going ahead with renewing the KP -with the expectation that others will join in due course. But we also need to be clear that the KP can’t just be renewed without it being strengthened. The gossip in the hallways seemed to be saying- forget about the US, forget about the naysayers, the EU should push on for a strong KP regardless.

we heart KP!

Hundreds of young delegates are going about their business every day wearing “I heart KP” t-shirts.

Am about to go and hear President Meles, and meet up with our SCIAF partners to get some reaction from them about the progress of the talks. Will do my best to get the videos I’ve been promising uploaded today!

Will be back later to update from the high level segment, and give you the reaction from the conference floor.

just heard…

Canada has just officially announced it’s withdrawal from the Kyoto Protocol.

off to find out more.

and the final week begins…

So the final week of negotiations begins and ministers have a lot to do by Friday. Here is an article I wrote for today’s Scotsman website outlining the challenges ahead. (internet trouble today- haven’t been able to upload photos so apologies for so much text!) 

As the first week of climate negotiations drew to a close, Saturday saw
people from across Africa and beyond march through the streets of Durban
to demand progress on a fair, ambitious and legally binding global
climate deal. I joined the march, speaking to many different people
about what climate change means to them, and why they felt it important
to be here in Durban. One woman, a local fisher woman, told me that she
had to be there because climate change meant she was unable to catch
enough fish to survive. I also spoke to the Pretoria chair of the
Landless People’s Movement, who told me he had travelled all the way
here because for him, climate change was ‘a matter of life and death.’

While there were no official negotiations on Sunday, negotiators were
still meeting and civil society groups were hardly pausing in their
planning and lobbying, preparing for the arrival of ministers for the
high-level negotiations beginning on Monday. The work done in the first
week wil be passed on to ministers for agreement- although time is
running short to hammer out the complex issues where the UN process is
still stalling.

The key issues remain the legal framework of a global agreement,
particularly around the Kyoto Protocol and levels of ambition for
keeping temperature rise to a ‘manageable’ limit. The KP, the only
existing legally binding framework for industrialised countries to
reduce their emissions runs out in 2012, yet players are still unable to
agree whether it should be renewed, amended, or abandoned altogether in
favour of ‘voluntary’ reductions. It’s impossible to predict at this
stage what will happen with the KP this week- negotiations on this will
really run up to the wire. But progress must be made not only on the
form, but, crucially, on the substance. There’s a concern that focus on
the process is sidelining progress on targets to keep temperatures down.

Worryingly, Germany spoke out over the weekend to say they might change
their mind on supporting the KP. The UK, however, is still saying it is
‘willing to consider’  a second commitment period of the KP. But with so
many options still on the table- some of  them strong, but some
extremely weak- all eyes this week will be on the EU.

In terms of financing to help people in developing countries adapt to
the impacts of climate change- the other key issue in these talks- there
is an urgent need to fill the pot with money instead of just words. The
conference is agreed that there must be progress on the Green Climate
Fund in Durban, as the initial pledges- “fast start finance” – run out
in 2013. There’s a worry that without a new mechanism for filling the
pot beyond 2013 we’ll see a huge drop off in support for developing
countries to survive climate change. It’s looking hopeful that this
mechanism can be agreed at Durban, and that the fund can be
‘operationalised’ by the end of this conference, but we also need to see
clear plans for filling the pot, and forward planning and timelines to
ensure that the money for it is forthcoming.

As ministers arrive to begin work on Monday morning, there’s a lot to
do. But the message from people across Africa and around the world is
that progress must be made. And fast. The words of a woman I met on the
climate march are ringing in my ears: ‘While they are in there arguing
over words, I am out here, trying to feed my children. They need to fix
this.’