WilkommUN

This post was first published on the UKYCC’s UN blog.

We are here in Bonn at last!

In between each COP in December the UN holds interim meetings to review progress on the climate negotiations. We’re here in Bonn attending one such meeting. We make up half a dozen of the delegation and have travelled from all corners of Great Britain (well Aberdeen, Liverpool, Leeds and a few other places…) to meet in London. From there we took an overnight coach which lasted 13 hours but was really fun and a great chance for us all to get together and talk about our hopes and fears for the next week.

When we arrived we met our amazing Coach Surfing hosts and had a quick look around the city of Bonn (we found out that Beethoven was born here and it used to be the capital of Germany). As we sit writing this blog our weary bones have been eased somewhat after sampling some of the famous beers.

From the moment we collected our security passes, we were mesmerised by the magnificence of the hotel hosting the conference and swarms of negotiators who were starting to take it over. We didn’t really know what to do next so checked with YOUNGO (the official youth constituency attending Bonn) and started on our long journey developing and lobbying for a clean, fair future. We also accidentally tried to breach security by attempting to get into a restricted part of the conference.

We heard from our YOUNGO friends that a Climate Action Network (CAN) meeting was taking place with the civil society groups that attend climate conferences. First we got lost trying to find the building where the meeting was taking place and then we got lost in a flurry of policy jargon. Part way through a working group on mitigation a spectacular thunder storm outside turned off all the lights for a few brief moments, a fitting symbol we thought! Let’s hope the next week is a step away from natural turmoil and a step towards a bright, switched-on, clean energy future.

Meanwhile the rest of us found our first task for the week when we were approached by CAN for help with their ‘Fossil of the Day’ action. This is a regular feature at UN climate talks, naming and shaming the countries that are most obstructive to negotiations moving forward. Nominations are discussed during a daily meeting of civil society groups, with a presentation ceremony for the winner as negotiators file out at the end of the day. We’ll be liaising with CAN to publicise this through press releases, fun and theatrics around each presentation… watch this space!

Fossil of the day, fossil of the day, all the blame, all the shaaaame!