City : Bella Centre; Residents: Lost, disorganised and ignorant

The Copenhagen meetings kicked off today with huge gusto, and an overwhelming sense of pressure and responsibility to get an agreeable outcome. Although, as the day passed, and I sat back to reflect I felt something somewhere was missing….

What was this missing ‘X’ factor?

The Danish embassy and the sponsors pumped serious loot into this conference, from the transportation to accommodation to making the COP as green and neutral as possible.

This blog is just a reflection on some of the things I felt hindered the encouraging atmosphere at the COP, and some of the things I fear could get worse in the days to come.

1. REPETITION and wait for it,…..more REPETITION

It felt like déjà vu from the Barcelona meeting. We started with the same agenda and the same positions put across by all the countries and negotiating blocks. I felt like I’d heard it and done it all before. Oh, like did Sudan just make the same intervention or Jonathan Pershing give the same press briefing that I heard last week on some TV channel?

I keep asking myself a question: Whats new?

And more importantly, isn’t it time that there is something new ?

Are we doing enough to make sure there is something new?

My first day at COP15 felt like I got demoted from third year college studies to final year of high school. The excitement, momentum and energy that was building up to this meeting in Copenhagen suddenly couldn’t sustain itself.

2. The conference venue is more like a CITY

The most irritating thing about today was that Bella Centre was like a whole city flooded with people who were lost. People had no idea where their meetings were. They kept running around, spending their time in transit from meeting to meeting, in and around the Bella Centre. At one point I just had to take a break. I had to get my act together. Then I spent an hour looking for a meeting that was just wrapping up by the time I arrived.

Maybe we’ll find our way around the centre more quickly tomorrow, but it will still take me 15 minutes from point A to point B - getting to the main plenary from the YOUNGO offices.

3.You can only meet your negotiators in the loo

Considering that the Indian Delegation it’s own office, they love to nest in their own sweet world. You can’t ever catch them in the lobby.

Our only hope is to catch our negotiators in transit in the city of Bella Centre …or, well, in places like the loo. In fact, today one the Indian Youth Delegates met one of the key negotiators in the loo and exchanged numbers.

The gravity of this situation, you have a whole city to meet in, but you’ll probably only get lucky meeting in a lou.

Just my luck. Considering ALL the key negotiators in the team are male! I’m going to have problems.

4.Visibility of actions/protests

There was a Youth Flash Dance, which was a hit. I myself wanted to shake my booty, but half the people in Bella Centre were in their delegation offices completely oblivious. Did delegates even notice? I think we need to think of an action that could move throughout COP and reach out to as many people as it can.

Other actions held in the COP, however, were colourful. Their messages were delivered and distributed effectively.

5.Freebies

From the UNFCCC documents to the free bags in the NGO centre, from the hopenhagen bottle to the green raincoat, to the badges, stickers, and posters; it was RAINING freebies and Bella Centre residents were scrambling to get each one to not miss on their COP collection.

If people could have spent even 50 % of that energy putting pressure on the negotiators as they moved around, we might be expecting fireworks by the end of this thing instead of months or a year from now.

6. Getting booted out of plenary

What is the point of traveling thousands of miles, only to discover that you’re not allowed to in the plenary; instead given a chair in the next room so you can watch it streaming on a screen?

That was frustrating, and to tell you the truth, embarrassing as well.

The only answer I could find for that question is that you check the screens and know for sure for onvce where you’re negotiator is, sitting infront of the India plate.