The Class of 2010.

Posted on 02. Jun, 2010 by annac in United Kingdom

Coming back to the UN, back to Bonn, may yet again feel like déjà vu, but as I wander the halls here on day 3 I’m beginning to notice there’s something a little different.

It would seem that on completing Copenhagen many of the old timers finally reached graduation.

The class of 2009, negotiators, secretariat and NGOs alike have moved on and we have a new class, a new set of people walking these halls.

The class of 2010.

As I found out in April the UK negotiating team has gone through some major changes since December. This morning I got the chance to meet some of the new class. One great thing I have to report is that our new lead negotiator is a woman, (she’s called Harriet). So the UK remains one of only about 17% of countries who have a woman as lead negotiator. Our deputy head is also a woman, it would seem we really know where the diplomatic skills lie….

But moving on…apart from that the team seem clued up, keen and eager, but new to the job, so we shall have to wait to see how the UK truly work in these negotiations.

Because of course for us in the UK it’s not just a new negotiating team but a whole new government, and a coalition one at that, with a whole new set of policies.

However its not just the UK negotiating team who have changed here, many of the other teams have also had new people come through the ranks. I know from my tracker friends that many of their teams have also gone through major changes.

All in all it’s a pretty new bunch of people at the top.

In fact speaking of the top you may also well know that Yvo de Boer the executive secretary of the UNFCCC has resigned, and this is his last session of climate negotiations. So we will have a new person at the very top as of the next session (I’m also glad to report that this is a woman and she’s from Costa Rica).

And it’s not just the parties and the secretariat who have changed, we have even had a shift in the NGO world. Many of the old familiar faces from the NGO climate world have moved on.

Copenhagen seems to have worn out executive secretaries, negotiators and civil society alike.

Which leaves me wondering…where does this leave us?

With such a huge loss of experience have we crippled ourselves? Have we lost years of progress? Have we left our future in incapable hands? For a while I thought maybe we had, I thought maybe they had all just simply burnt out, or worse given up.

But here in Bonn I’m starting to see that perhaps this isn’t the case.

Maybe they had simply offered all they had to give.

Now it’s time to see what others have to offer.

Because new people don’t mean a backwards step, new people don’t mean you loose things. New people mean new energy, new ideas, a new way of doing things, and maybe a new step forward.

We know we need something to change to move this process forward. Perhaps these new people can offer that change.

We wont know for certain until it’s happened.

But for tonight I say…

Bring on the class of 2010.

Tags: 2010, Bonn, climate change, copengaen, graduation, UK, UNFCCC