One small step

Posted on 29. Nov, 2010 by annac in United Kingdom

A year ago we were sat in the freezing cold, sat inside with gloves and hats on, sat staring down a conference that we hoped would fundamentally change the way the world worked. A year ago in Copenhagen, faced with the task in hand, faced with the expectations and the possibilities on the table, faced with the personal responsibility we all felt, a year ago, I was lost for words.

A year later, on the eve of the follow up to the Copenhagen summit, I am sat on the balcony of our hotel room in Cancun Mexico, I can hear the sound of the sea crashing against the shore and I am sipping a cold beer. A year later we do not stare down the conference as something external that can change the world. A year later we hold our heads high, a year later we will walk in to the conference with the knowledge that we have the future in our own hands and that this conference is just one piece of the jigsaw puzzle, one step on the way to creating the future we know is possible.

Cancun is not Copenhagen. Cancun in fact could not be more different to Copenhagen. Gone is the ceremony, the hype, the expectations. Gone are the hoards of people, the media and the leaders. Instead we have a low key set of negotiations, an empty, grey conference centre, and a high level segment where ministers will come with few expectations.

But all is not lost (how could it be when we have the Caribbean to swim in before COP). We have had 4 sets of negotiations this year leading to this conference and during them we have made steps. Baby steps yes, backwards steps…sometimes, maybe. But if you head in the wrong direction you have to retrace your steps to get back on the right path, no?

Tomorrow as another COP begins, following on from the steps we made in Germany and China this year, it is time to really start taking steps in the right direction. Steps, however small they may be, are what we need in the next two weeks. Steps that can define the success of Cancun. Steps that can start us on the path to our amazing and beautiful future.

We last met in China. As they say in China,

‘The journey of a thousand miles begins with one small step’.

Expectations may not be high, Cancun may already have been written off the map of notable negotiations, but for those of us closely following this process we know that if in the next two weeks we can take small steps then Cancun will have achieved something. If in the next two weeks we can map the way and take the first steps towards a treaty next year in South Africa, if we can do this than Cancun will be a success. It may not make the front of all the papers, it may not forever be remembered as where we saved the world.

But it will have changed the world.

Last year in Copenhagen we were looking for one giant leap for mankind. This year in Cancun we will be happy if man can just take one small step.

It’s time for the journey of our lifetime to commence.

Tags: Cancún, climate, cop15, COP16, Copenhagen, featured, mexico, one small step, UNFCCC