The BIG 5 fire crackers:Post Diwali

Posted on 01. Nov, 2009 by Leela Raina in India

From Bangkok to Barcelona , a lot has happened , some constructive associations and some meaningless media stories. So this blog post mainly aims at consolidating the main events that have shaped up the climate ambience of India relating each of them to one of the crackers all Indians as tradition light during the festival of Diwali.

THE CHAKRI

read: the whirlpool cracker for the Annex 1

1. SAARC  ( South Asian Regional Cooperation)  MEETING 19-20 Oct

SAARC

The Environment Ministers of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) met in Delhi and agreed on a Delhi Statement, agreeing on specific joint actions to further strengthen environmental governance, biodiversity conservation, and climate change cooperation. They also agreed to hold a joint side event on climate change, voicing the shared concerns of the Region at the COP-15 in Copenhagen .

Some of the major outcomes they came out with were:

• REDD PLUS and encouraging sustainable management of forests
• Sticking to the Convention as far as the talks in UNFCCC were concerned
• Also, a workshop that would enhance the working of “actions” of South Asian countries with respect to climate change

Chakri

THE REAL OUTCOME/MOTIVE : Well, in the world of climate politics , one needs its support base, right? The countries that will essentially back you when you put a proposal to the floor. This was a hidden capacity building technique to gather support and find common grounds which would help India in forwarding its stance much more effectively in the upcoming negotiations. Of course, this would also mean greater and much more bolder representation from the South Asian countries.

Another important aspect for which we would like to applaud the government was to make this meeting a CIVIL SAARC implying that they actually gave due consideration to the civil society proposals and conducted nationwide consultations to ensure voices are heard from far and wide. But how many of those heard were taken action upon?

THE ROCKET

2. INDO CHINA BILATERAL, 21 oct

Mr Jairam Ramesh, India’s Environment Minister, and Mr. Xie Zhenhua, Vice-Chairman and Minister of China’s National Development and Reform Commission, signed an agreement to enhance cooperation on climate change between the two countries. A joint workshop was also held to discuss the National Action Plans of both countries on climate change.

Basically , they formed a ‘working group’ that would sit annually and collaborate on national actions on climate change and various R&D and capacity building measures. They also agreed on upholding the convention and particularly the Kyoto Protocol.

ROCKET

THE REAL OUTCOME/MOTIVE: So the gossip is that some numbers were put on the table. Were they 15% above business as usual or below we still don’t know clearly. Looks like the major players have considered striking a compromise. But yet again, this is gossip…( is there ever any smoke without a fire?)

China, has ensured that it continues to hide behind India, but how can such a fat lady hide behind a size zero one? For the chinese: we know the game you’re playing, and we really think you’re smarter than this trick , aren’t you?

THE ANNAAR

read : the fountain cracker for Annex 1

3. The Delhi High Level Technology Transfer Conference 22-23 Oct

Anaar outside my home on Diwali

A two day high-level conference on “Climate Change: Technology Development and Transfer” hosted by India and UN-DESA successfully concluded  with the adoption of the Delhi Statement on Global Cooperation on Climate Technology. An international exhibition on climate technologies was also organised at the sidelines of the conference.

Tracking them closely

For once , I felt that there was a lot of constructive discussion on the technology transfer mechanism and things really felt like they were moving fast enough in terms of deployment , R&D and IPR. We had a few really high profile speakers, including Jonathan Pershing, Connie Heggard, PM Manmohan Singh and Jai Ram Ramesh.

THE REAL OUTCOME/MOTIVE: To get the tachnology transfer mechanism put in place with the right sort of text before Barcelona so that we have an agreement on Technology Transfer at COP15.

For me , it was the great dinner I had at the reception offered by the Indian Government. It was a great change from the boring food I have at my hostel. Plus, I got to know the favourite drinks my negotiators have.

At the press briefing: Delhi High level Conference on Tech Transfer

THE BOMB

4. The Letter Jai Ram Ramesh wrote to the Prime Minister

For this very controversial topic you must read my next blog called: The Jai(mes) Bond at his best.But just to give you busy readers an outlook before you read the next one, there was a lot of hype about our position changing. Officially, clearing the air, our position is the sam.

The Bomb , this one was big!

THE REAL OUTCOME/MOTIVE: A lot of BAD PUBLICITY. INTERNAL POLITICS, within the ministry and rising TEMPERATURES, literally! This also will be in the next blog. But, in general, to show the rest of the world , yes we are doing something and yes, we are in the mood of some compromises.

THE IMPORTED BUNCH OF SPECIAL FIRECRACKERS

5. The BIG 5 at the Red Fort

As a part of the International Day of Climate Action , Thousands of young and old people came on the streets to demonstrate the importance of getting the emissions lower than 350 ppm. Globally the 3 was in Sydney and 5 in India and 0 in Copenhagen, but there were other great local demonstrations like the 350 boat formation in Kashmir to the 350 metre cloth poster on Char Minar in Hyderabad.For more information and amazing pictures of all the actions log onto www.350.org . ( FYI – I was the fat little blue blob you could point out in the BIG 5).

THE REAL OUTCOME/MOTIVE: Negotiators feel the pressure and realise that they better come to an agreement in Copenhagen!

Big 5 infront of the Red Fort

Hope you readers enjoyed Diwali, here’s wishing you anyways and applauding you all for restricting the use of firecrackers this year with a notable difference of pollution in comparison to previous years. Hurray!

Tags: Action alert, annex 1, China