The Indian Fever
Posted on 07. Oct, 2009 by Leela Raina in India
The fever is gripping everyone
Having sat in freezing air conditioned rooms inside the conference rooms and bearing the horribly humid heat while protesting outside the conference centre at Bangkok has made me feverish . But more than that , its how my lead negotiator ‘convinces’ me about the Indian stance that brought on the fever yesterday.
The high profiled debate of whether we are doing enough or not is what is the toughest to answer day in and day out.
INDIAN FEVER
India is doing enough domestically with the condition that the bill gets passed in the parliament regarding the green tribunal and that we actually get into the implementation stage of the solar energy and renewable energy mission . But , what India is not doing enough of, is PR!
We need to progressively start sending our word out of what India is doing and have to package the story and try and spread it as far and wide as possible. The messaging is key to seeing India doing well in these negotiations and helping it being projected in the light that it deserves and has earned back home.
The Indian delegation is extremely upset and almost looks ill since they see the kyoto protocol being literally killed. The purpose of Bali was essentially to split the negotiations into a kyoto track and a long term action track to accommodate the Unites States into an agreement. Now , it looks like the rest of the countries are accommodating to build in space for the United States to come on board and to say bye bye to the kyoto protocol.
This FEVER has definitely gripped the G77 and China group of countries who are working hard to build a framework to carry on the kyoto for its second commitment period starting from 2013.
COPENHAGEN FEVER
The other really rampant fever is the COPENHAGEN fever , all the activities , campaigns and work on the road upto Copenhagen is keeping the NGO community busy and on their toes. But whether we see a real agreement in Copenhagen or not is the question all the climate activists are asking. You see all of them crowded around the Visa application centre for Copehagen ensuring that they are there to put pressure on getting to a positive outcome in Copenhagen. Apart from that, the global youth movement is building capacity and we might just witness more youth than delegates at Copenhagen this year especially those representing the global south ensuring that we decide our future!
THE EARTH IS ILL TOO
The essence of the problem is that the EARTH is ill too , and these negotiators get to be the doctors and decide the future of the earth. Why is no one back home bothered enough? Why don’t these negotiators realise the importance of the task entrusted upon them? Who knows how they define responsibility and whether they even know that the R of responsibility !
POLITICAL FEVER
Given that the negotiations have boiled down to just politics, the fever will trickle down to every aspect of the negotiations. The people to look out for, of course, are the US, China and India who will be key in defining the political nature of “climate”.
The best solution, medicate yourself, adapt to the varaiting climate inside and outside the UN centre and make sure that atleast you aren’t caught up in the political fever and loose your life in the process.
its so true that the gravest of issues being discussed on international forums are often tossed in political misgivings.what we have got to realize is that eventually the loss is ours only.it will accrue to all in the same proportions.by taking an honest step forward now,we’ll be helping not only each other but most importantly ourselves