The Doha Climate Change Conference is going paperless. Which means trading piles and piles of draft negotiating texts, daily schedules, and newsletters for the modern era of where websites smart phones apps rule the day. While we’ll see if the conference center’s wifi can manage the constant uploads and downloads of the estimated 20,000 attendees, I’m looking forward to test-driving a number of apps developed by some of the players I care most about.
Whether you’re planning to wander the halls of the conference center like me or you want to track the talks remotely, here are some smart phone apps that can help.
First and perhaps foremost, the COP18 host government - Qatar - built this app just for the occasion.
download on iTunes, Android
If you’d prefer to get your information straight from the Secretariat, the UNFCCC maintains this Negotiator app.
download on iTunes
The Earth Negotiations Bulletin is a reliable source for recaps of each day of negotiations as well as side events. They’ve also take great pictures that give you a feel for the mood in the negotiating halls. Check out ENB Mobile.
download on iTunes, Android
Last but not least, stay up to date with the latest content coming Adopt a Negotiator’s parent organization, the Global Campaign for Climate Action. While we won’t have a bespoke COP18 section, the Tck app will have plenty of videos and blog posts giving you perspectives from our partner organizations.
download on iTunes
If you’re planning to haunt the conference center halls yourself, tracking your negotiators, here are some of additional tools you might find useful.
Inevitably, you’ll end up in a situation where you’re trying to communicate with someone who doesn’t speak your native tongue. Whether it’s “where is the toilette” or “have you seen the secret new fast-start finance text”, Google Translate can help you say it in any language.
download on iTunes, Android
When you do find that secret fast-start finance text, what are you going to do with it? Maybe you need a second opinion? Why not scan it, save it as a pdf and email it to someone who can help? Turboscan uses your phone to scan documents and send them into the interwebs.
download on iTunes
Did I miss anything? If so, let us know in the comments below.
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About the author
Joshua Wiese is Adopt a Negotiator’s Project Director. He is based in San Francisco, where he spends most of his time thinking about how to use technology to make the world a better place.
