BALI BLOG

Day 1
December 3, 2007

It’s Bali and its hot hot hot here! And not just in the weather sense - its 30 degrees with 75% humidity - but the heat is turned up on all parties to make these negotiations count. Attendance is high, one of the highest yet, following a year of unprecedented interest in climate change from the media.

The pressure is on all parties to deliver a Bali Roadmap - guidelines on how we will come to an agreement on a post 2012 framework by 2009. Everyone, from the UNFCCC to civil society and country groups like G77 & China and AOSIS, is calling for a Bali Roadmap.

USA should be starting to feel the strain as they stand alone - the only developed country not ratifying the Kyoto protocol after Australia announced their ratification in the Opening Plenary on Day 1.

Non-Annex 1 countries are feeling compelled to ensure implementation of the Adaptation fund as other groups like the European Union look to us to say what we want the fund to look like.

Things have heated up among civil society organizations as they debate the nature of the post 2012 framework, discussing issues like the future of carbon market mechanisms and the kinds of commitments that should be made by developed and developing countries in the post 2012 period.

So much is happening and its sometimes hard to keep track. More news to come as I attempt to monitor the madness of the negotiations!

Day 2
December 4, 2007

Hello Again!

It’s a couple of days into this experience and I’m settling in much better than last year. Things are less confusing and I’m far more organized. It’s great to see some familiar faces from Nairobi and feel more comfortable with the process. It means I am better able to participate and prioritise.

There are some great forums I’m using to keep on top of things and make sure I’m carrying my African youth mandate forward as best I can. Climate Action Network meetings daily are a must and although things often flow thick and fast, I’m noting lots of questions, which are useful as CAN has implemented a post CAN meeting capacity building session. Just before the CAN daily meeting, the post 2012 working group meets and as this agreement is key to our futures, it’s good to attend these. Daily international youth caucus meetings happen first thing in the morning and there are lots of new faces since last year.

My previous blog was quite general but now lets start to get into the thick of things…One of Tuesday’s big news items and the most interesting for me was a big argument in the Subsidiary Body on Implementation meeting about technology transfer. In opening plenary for CMP on day 1, Pakistan, acting as the chair of the G77 & China, made an intervention. They indicated the need to have action on technology transfer. Usually technology transfer is subject matter for the Subsidiary Body on Scientific and Technical Advice (SBSTA) but the fact seems to be that under that body it has lagged and dragged. It seems that G77 feel that having it discussed under the SBI would mean some progress as this body, as suggested by its name, is responsible for making sure that decisions are implemented. The COP president referred it to the SBI.

Upon opening of the SBI session and discussion about agenda, a disagreement broke out between countries about whether it should become an agenda item or not. China, Pakistan and some African countries dug in their heels and insisted on moving no further until it became an agenda item as indicated by the COP President on day 1. Legal advice was sought, confirming the opinion of G77. Despite this, the USA, Canada & Japan continued to resist, with very biased chairing of the SBI by Iran. This is a significant issue and the subject of an article in Tuesday’s ECO. It goes straight to the heart of the equity issue. I have heard a lot of differing opinions on the issue. Some see this as merely procedural and apportion some blame to the Indonesian Environment Minister, as COP president, for being insufficiently clear and to Iran, as chair of SBI, for being too procedural. Another opinion is that it would be more strategic to keep technology transfer, or tech transfer as its known, in plenary as a political issue rather than burying it in SBI. I was so proud of our African and other G77 delegations for sticking to their guns and insisting on delivery of something we have long been promised but which the UNFCCC environment and Annex-1 nations have long been delaying in delivering. It also resulted in a joint Fossil of the day third-place win by those three for ignoring a legal instruction by the COP president.

More to follow, so keep checking this blog!

Day 3
December 5, 2007

Another day, another dollar. Or several, as food prices here at the conference venues are outta control… Never mind, today I packed my own lunch and it was very satisfying. Or do as some other colleagues are doing and hang around till a side event ends. Then pounce on the free food being handed out… If this blog isn’t good for anything else, it will at least teach you how to be well fed at the next COP you may attend.

I did my bit for climate change on Wednesday by riding a bicycle between the main event and side event venue. Well to be honest, I would have walked anyway so not much carbon saved really. But still it felt good and I saved some time. At least it felt good while I was riding - natural air-conditioning and all that. But once I stopped and my heart rate kept going, sweat started pouring off me like a tap. Ho-hum. You’ll also remember that I’m a bit short and these bikes were clearly not designed with me in mind. When I stop I have to pray I don’t end up falling over as my feet can barely reach the ground. Swinging my leg over today almost dislocated my hip…

Enough about that, I’m sure you’d prefer to hear about negotiation developments. Big news from Wednesday was discussion about the Adaptation fund. It seems things are moving on that front and a decision is due on operalisation of the fund by Monday. This is great news but ultimately it’s important that the right decisions are taken so that the fund actually delivers on its mandate. Issues of burning contention, and we must have those mustn’t we otherwise this would hardly be an international negotiation, are who will house the fund and how the governing board will be constituted and make its decisions. Options for location are currently between the Global Environment Facility and the World Bank. Hardly a tasty menu of options... World Bank??!!!! ‘nuff said. And the GEF has always been super-bureaucratic with projects difficult to implement because of their complicated procedures and requirements. I wasn’t following these discussions myself but it’s a really interesting issue.

Japan keeps messing up (if this wasn’t going online I would stronger language) and is receiving fossil after fossil award from CAN. Tuesday it was their proposal about scrapping Kyoto and yesterday their complaining that nuclear wasn’t part of the CDM. As if!!!! Like the CDM isn’t problematic enough without giving it a dose of radiation. Not only don’t nukes save that much carbon but between the cost factor and the waste issue, never mind the risk of catastrophic accidents, nukes are a disaster happening already all over the world.

As for my Wednesday, one of the highlights was a very productive meeting of the CAN members of the Global South. We had originally convened a meeting on Monday and decided to meet again and each try to bring another member to the next meeting. Well, we were a really big group today with good representation form all regions. People shared their concerns about the lack of southern participation in the network and we chatted about how we might make improvements. We also agreed it was important to participate in CAN’s working groups and to interact as much as possible with our country and region delegations. My personal feeling is that other people can only take your power from you if you surrender it. We need to stop surrendering our power and do our best to speak up for what we need and want from the network. We need to ask questions when we don’t understand and express ourselves according to the needs and desires of our constituencies. Its difficult and challenging and sometimes downright scary but its our duty. Right, Ill get off my podium now and stop speeching. CAN South will meet again on Friday and I’m looking forward to it.

Phew, today’s is quite a long one and I’m getting more and more comfortable writing this blog. I hope it’s useful and interesting. Good sign of more to come!

Day 4
December 6, 2007

Well Thursday was my best day yet! Or should I say Thursday/Friday morning as I only went to sleep at 4 am on Friday morning. I did my first stint on ECO editorial board. ECO, you’ll remember, is CAN’s daily newsletter which provides the CAN insight and analysis of developments at the negotiations. Every day they take volunteers for the editorial board and for the graveyard shift. The editorial board meets at 10:30 pm to edit the submissions and decide the order and arrangement of articles. So yesterday was my first day to volunteer. Wow! I really didn’t think we would finish so late. Usually it’s the graveyard shift who arrives in the early hours to make sure its good to go to print. I was really nervous as being responsible for editing articles about topics which you aren’t as familiar as the writer, is pretty intimidating. But I really recommend the experience. It was actually such fun and I learned sooooo much! This ECO was a 4-pager – its often 2 pages – and so there were so many articles to edit. Time flew until after 1 am but at about 2:10 I started to feel the need to sleep. I pushed through and by the time we finished and I got a taxi home to go to bed, it was 4am. Hectic!!! Ill definitely volunteer again next week!

So one of the main reasons I decided to do editorial board was that on Thursday evening there was a youth side event looking at youth-led climate action from around the world and I would be at the conference venue till late anyway. The youth event was super exciting! Canadian, American, Indonesian, Australian, Thai and Filipino youth, even l’il old me for the AYICC, made presentations about their activities and their organization or network. The energy in the room was pumping! I was so inspired by the presentations of the different groups.

The mobilization of society and youth that has been achieved by these young people is mind-blowing and I cant wait for us to have that kind of success. In the Q&A session at the end, a young woman from one of the low-lying Pacific Islands stood up and told us all how thankful she was to us for making these presentations. She began to cry as she told us how at her home, they are only 2 meters above sea-level and they have no land or food left as the sea rises around them. They have nowhere to go and they are so scared. But as a result of all of us she feels so connected to other people fighting for the same cause and she realizes other people are trying to change the situation. I was crying myself and there wasn’t a single dry eye in the room. She was so overcome with emotion and when she sat down the applause in the room went on and on. We were showing her how much we appreciated her story and her struggle. We were all reminded in such a real way about why we are all fighting in this struggle. Powerful stuff!

Another interesting thing that happened yesterday was that I met some folks from the Durban Group for Climate Justice. Coming from South Africa, the place the Durban Group launched their initiative, I have known a bit about them. Their main work is about exploring the pitfalls of emissions trading and offset schemes. They look at climate change in the context of global social justice and have really progressive positions. They produce an alternative newsletter to CAN’s ECO called (cleverly) the alter-ECO. Have a look-see at http://www.altereconews.org.

Well today’s blog hasn’t been much about the negotiations. But sometimes the other stuff is more important. It’s almost the weekend so you may not hear from me for a couple of days. But I’ll make sure to follow up with a bumper edition. Youth party tonight and Saturday 8 December is global day of action on climate change. Make sure you are involved in whatever is happening in your country. I know SA is having an event in Johannesburg hosted by my organization - Earthlife Africa.

Catch you later!

Some photos from the day's events.

The Plenary, United Nations Climate Change Conference

Youth event to showcase the achievements and developments of Youth Initiatives in the fight against climate change.

Photo credits Robert van Waarden

AYICC and COY youth will be keeping us updated via blog entries from the COP13 Conference in Bali, Indonesia.



About AYICC AYICC Founding Conference AYICC Structure, Goals & Activities AYICC at COP13 in Bali Publications Climate Change Information Contributors AYICC Funding Opportunities Contact Us Home			BALI BLOG Day 1 December 3, 2007 It’s Bali and its hot hot hot here! And not just in the weather sense - its 30 degrees with 75% humidity - but the heat is turned up on all parties to make these negotiations count. Attendance is high, one of the highest yet, following a year of unprecedented interest in climate change from the media. The pressure is on all parties to deliver a Bali Roadmap - guidelines on how we will come to an agreement on a post 2012 framework by 2009. Everyone, from the UNFCCC to civil society and country groups like G77 & China and AOSIS, is calling for a Bali Roadmap. USA should be starting to feel the strain as they stand alone - the only developed country not ratifying the Kyoto protocol after Australia announced their ratification in the Opening Plenary on Day 1. Non-Annex 1 countries are feeling compelled to ensure implementation of the Adaptation fund as other groups like the European Union look to us to say what we want the fund to look like. Things have heated up among civil society organizations as they debate the nature of the post 2012 framework, discussing issues like the future of carbon market mechanisms and the kinds of commitments that should be made by developed and developing countries in the post 2012 period. So much is happening and its sometimes hard to keep track. More news to come as I attempt to monitor the madness of the negotiations! Day 2 December 4, 2007 Hello Again! It’s a couple of days into this experience and I’m settling in much better than last year. Things are less confusing and I’m far more organized. It’s great to see some familiar faces from Nairobi and feel more comfortable with the process. It means I am better able to participate and prioritise. There are some great forums I’m using to keep on top of things and make sure I’m carrying my African youth mandate forward as best I can. Climate Action Network meetings daily are a must and although things often flow thick and fast, I’m noting lots of questions, which are useful as CAN has implemented a post CAN meeting capacity building session. Just before the CAN daily meeting, the post 2012 working group meets and as this agreement is key to our futures, it’s good to attend these. Daily international youth caucus meetings happen first thing in the morning and there are lots of new faces since last year. My previous blog was quite general but now lets start to get into the thick of things…One of Tuesday’s big news items and the most interesting for me was a big argument in the Subsidiary Body on Implementation meeting about technology transfer. In opening plenary for CMP on day 1, Pakistan, acting as the chair of the G77 & China, made an intervention. They indicated the need to have action on technology transfer. Usually technology transfer is subject matter for the Subsidiary Body on Scientific and Technical Advice (SBSTA) but the fact seems to be that under that body it has lagged and dragged. It seems that G77 feel that having it discussed under the SBI would mean some progress as this body, as suggested by its name, is responsible for making sure that decisions are implemented. The COP president referred it to the SBI. Upon opening of the SBI session and discussion about agenda, a disagreement broke out between countries about whether it should become an agenda item or not. China, Pakistan and some African countries dug in their heels and insisted on moving no further until it became an agenda item as indicated by the COP President on day 1. Legal advice was sought, confirming the opinion of G77. Despite this, the USA, Canada & Japan continued to resist, with very biased chairing of the SBI by Iran. This is a significant issue and the subject of an article in Tuesday’s ECO. It goes straight to the heart of the equity issue. I have heard a lot of differing opinions on the issue. Some see this as merely procedural and apportion some blame to the Indonesian Environment Minister, as COP president, for being insufficiently clear and to Iran, as chair of SBI, for being too procedural. Another opinion is that it would be more strategic to keep technology transfer, or tech transfer as its known, in plenary as a political issue rather than burying it in SBI. I was so proud of our African and other G77 delegations for sticking to their guns and insisting on delivery of something we have long been promised but which the UNFCCC environment and Annex-1 nations have long been delaying in delivering. It also resulted in a joint Fossil of the day third-place win by those three for ignoring a legal instruction by the COP president. More to follow, so keep checking this blog! Day 3 December 5, 2007 Another day, another dollar. Or several, as food prices here at the conference venues are outta control… Never mind, today I packed my own lunch and it was very satisfying. Or do as some other colleagues are doing and hang around till a side event ends. Then pounce on the free food being handed out… If this blog isn’t good for anything else, it will at least teach you how to be well fed at the next COP you may attend. I did my bit for climate change on Wednesday by riding a bicycle between the main event and side event venue. Well to be honest, I would have walked anyway so not much carbon saved really. But still it felt good and I saved some time. At least it felt good while I was riding - natural air-conditioning and all that. But once I stopped and my heart rate kept going, sweat started pouring off me like a tap. Ho-hum. You’ll also remember that I’m a bit short and these bikes were clearly not designed with me in mind. When I stop I have to pray I don’t end up falling over as my feet can barely reach the ground. Swinging my leg over today almost dislocated my hip… Enough about that, I’m sure you’d prefer to hear about negotiation developments. Big news from Wednesday was discussion about the Adaptation fund. It seems things are moving on that front and a decision is due on operalisation of the fund by Monday. This is great news but ultimately it’s important that the right decisions are taken so that the fund actually delivers on its mandate. Issues of burning contention, and we must have those mustn’t we otherwise this would hardly be an international negotiation, are who will house the fund and how the governing board will be constituted and make its decisions. Options for location are currently between the Global Environment Facility and the World Bank. Hardly a tasty menu of options... World Bank??!!!! ‘nuff said. And the GEF has always been super-bureaucratic with projects difficult to implement because of their complicated procedures and requirements. I wasn’t following these discussions myself but it’s a really interesting issue. Japan keeps messing up (if this wasn’t going online I would stronger language) and is receiving fossil after fossil award from CAN. Tuesday it was their proposal about scrapping Kyoto and yesterday their complaining that nuclear wasn’t part of the CDM. As if!!!! Like the CDM isn’t problematic enough without giving it a dose of radiation. Not only don’t nukes save that much carbon but between the cost factor and the waste issue, never mind the risk of catastrophic accidents, nukes are a disaster happening already all over the world. As for my Wednesday, one of the highlights was a very productive meeting of the CAN members of the Global South. We had originally convened a meeting on Monday and decided to meet again and each try to bring another member to the next meeting. Well, we were a really big group today with good representation form all regions. People shared their concerns about the lack of southern participation in the network and we chatted about how we might make improvements. We also agreed it was important to participate in CAN’s working groups and to interact as much as possible with our country and region delegations. My personal feeling is that other people can only take your power from you if you surrender it. We need to stop surrendering our power and do our best to speak up for what we need and want from the network. We need to ask questions when we don’t understand and express ourselves according to the needs and desires of our constituencies. Its difficult and challenging and sometimes downright scary but its our duty. Right, Ill get off my podium now and stop speeching. CAN South will meet again on Friday and I’m looking forward to it. Phew, today’s is quite a long one and I’m getting more and more comfortable writing this blog. I hope it’s useful and interesting. Good sign of more to come! Day 4 December 6, 2007 Well Thursday was my best day yet! Or should I say Thursday/Friday morning as I only went to sleep at 4 am on Friday morning. I did my first stint on ECO editorial board. ECO, you’ll remember, is CAN’s daily newsletter which provides the CAN insight and analysis of developments at the negotiations. Every day they take volunteers for the editorial board and for the graveyard shift. The editorial board meets at 10:30 pm to edit the submissions and decide the order and arrangement of articles. So yesterday was my first day to volunteer. Wow! I really didn’t think we would finish so late. Usually it’s the graveyard shift who arrives in the early hours to make sure its good to go to print. I was really nervous as being responsible for editing articles about topics which you aren’t as familiar as the writer, is pretty intimidating. But I really recommend the experience. It was actually such fun and I learned sooooo much! This ECO was a 4-pager – its often 2 pages – and so there were so many articles to edit. Time flew until after 1 am but at about 2:10 I started to feel the need to sleep. I pushed through and by the time we finished and I got a taxi home to go to bed, it was 4am. Hectic!!! Ill definitely volunteer again next week! So one of the main reasons I decided to do editorial board was that on Thursday evening there was a youth side event looking at youth-led climate action from around the world and I would be at the conference venue till late anyway. The youth event was super exciting! Canadian, American, Indonesian, Australian, Thai and Filipino youth, even l’il old me for the AYICC, made presentations about their activities and their organization or network. The energy in the room was pumping! I was so inspired by the presentations of the different groups. The mobilization of society and youth that has been achieved by these young people is mind-blowing and I cant wait for us to have that kind of success. In the Q&A session at the end, a young woman from one of the low-lying Pacific Islands stood up and told us all how thankful she was to us for making these presentations. She began to cry as she told us how at her home, they are only 2 meters above sea-level and they have no land or food left as the sea rises around them. They have nowhere to go and they are so scared. But as a result of all of us she feels so connected to other people fighting for the same cause and she realizes other people are trying to change the situation. I was crying myself and there wasn’t a single dry eye in the room. She was so overcome with emotion and when she sat down the applause in the room went on and on. We were showing her how much we appreciated her story and her struggle. We were all reminded in such a real way about why we are all fighting in this struggle. Powerful stuff! Another interesting thing that happened yesterday was that I met some folks from the Durban Group for Climate Justice. Coming from South Africa, the place the Durban Group launched their initiative, I have known a bit about them. Their main work is about exploring the pitfalls of emissions trading and offset schemes. They look at climate change in the context of global social justice and have really progressive positions. They produce an alternative newsletter to CAN’s ECO called (cleverly) the alter-ECO. Have a look-see at http://www.altereconews.org. Well today’s blog hasn’t been much about the negotiations. But sometimes the other stuff is more important. It’s almost the weekend so you may not hear from me for a couple of days. But I’ll make sure to follow up with a bumper edition. Youth party tonight and Saturday 8 December is global day of action on climate change. Make sure you are involved in whatever is happening in your country. I know SA is having an event in Johannesburg hosted by my organization - Earthlife Africa. Catch you later! Some photos from the day's events. The Plenary, United Nations Climate Change Conference Youth event to showcase the achievements and developments of Youth Initiatives in the fight against climate change. Photo credits Robert van Waarden AYICC and COY youth will be keeping us updated via blog entries from the COP13 Conference in Bali, Indonesia.