48 hours remain before the eighteen session of the Conference of the Parties (COP18) ends, or at least scheduled to end, and things are not moving on. It has become almost a tradition for these COPs to linger on few extra days of negotiations than end on time. Negotiators are already looking tired and sleep deprivation will most likely to happen beginning from tonight. It is ironic that each year, negotiators put on the same show and give us the same reasons to believe that perhaps the next time the situation and outcome will be better.
A COP Presidency stocktaking plenary had just ended that resembled a lot like the Copenhagen version of 2009. With almost two days remaining, negotiations on all 7 tracks (AWG-LCA, AWG-KP, AWG-ADP, SBSTA, SBI, COP and CMP) are still going on without any prospects of successful closure. Several draft texts are still being introduced in the negotiations, which was pretty much the case in Copenhagen. Most of the decisions are left for the ministers to decide. Rumours are circulating in the corridors that several bilateral meetings are happening between different parties and not all parties are being consulted for an agreed outcome. As one negotiator puts it: “it’s not a party driven process, but a process driven party”.
Here are the updates so far on the negotiations:
SBSTA: Most work has been completed, but 2 outstanding political issues remain. One related to common tabular format related to MRV and the second on methodological issues related to Kyoto Protocol. Issues relating intellectual property rights (IPR) also remain.
SBI: Agreement has been reached on national adaptation plans. One issue relating Climate Technology Center (CTC) is unresolved. Loss and damage is still a problem, but parties have managed to remove 9 brackets from the text.
AWG-KP: Scheduled to close by midnight, but some options remain to be taken up by ministers.
AWG-LCA: Nothing substantial emerged out of the informal consultations. Most likely to continue discussions in a single informal group.
AWG-ADP: Three roundtable discussions happened on the two workstreams. Relatively progressed more than any other track. Scheduled to close by noon tomorrow.
COP and CMP: Work progressing smoothly with many issues finalized. Few outstanding issues related to finance remain.
If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!
About the author
Farrukh is a climate activist and researcher from Karachi, Pakistan, where he spearheaded a youth movement on climate change.
