How curly are your brackets?

Posted on 06. Aug, 2010 by Florent Baarsch in Adopt a Negotiator, France | View Comments

Brackets!

Today, the delegates are going to leave Bonn and not return until June next year (for a new session of SBI and SBSTA), but one day still remains. The last day of negotiations is basically always the same, in the morning, the delegates use to finalize the documents they were working on during the week and in the afternoon they meet in plenary session to vote and express some concerns or comments.

However, and before this traditional last day of negotiations, the delegates still have a lot of work and still have a lot to negotiate. And since the talks in one of the working group (LCA) are closed to observers, we do not really know what the outcome of this week is going to be. Furthermore, this morning, the chair of this contact group was really vague and unclear when she met the civil society. Such a blurry situation!

The second working group chaired by John Ashe is still open to observers and the session we attended yesterday afternoon was just unbelievable. During the first hour, the delegates were negotiating on the substance of the draft text, but after this first hour, the rhythm of the talks totally changed, and a bracket war started.

At the beginning, it was a really intense discussion between the European Union and Brazil about an option that EU would like to get rid of in the text.  After that, all the parties started to add brackets everywhere they could. European Union even asked to put asterisks into brackets, asterisks referring to the “economy in transition” status of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. Of course and in order to preserve their interests protected by this status, the lead negotiator of the Russian federation came in the room to remind the parties of this importance of the derogatory status for these three countries. Straight after, the funniest statement was given by the delegate of New Zealand (actually, I am not sure that it was New Zealand…) who asked the chair to add “curly brackets” instead of “brackets”. Of course, some of them raised the question of the “curly bracket” and asked for more explanations, that nobody could really give!

Finally and in order to simplify the talks, the delegate of Saudi Arabia not surprisingly proposed to put a bracket before the title and a second one in the end of text. It is what we could call Saudi pragmatism!

Let’s open the doors!

Posted on 05. Aug, 2010 by Florent Baarsch in Adopt a Negotiator, France | View Comments

We don't have to queue anymore, but we are still not in!

On Monday, everyone of us in the Maritim heard the Head of the US delegation deliver a really strong statement on the importance of civil society participation in these negotiations. With a few strong words, he reminded parties why NGOs have to be kept in this process.

Firstly, civil society representatives are actually more than just observers of the talks. By helping the most vulnerable countries and the smaller delegations, our participation contributes to make these talks fairer and more balanced, between rich and poor, developed and developing, tiny and huge delegations. This role played by civil society ensures more equity.

Secondly, civil society (if it is useful to remind you of this) represents the citizens. Wherever they come from, whatever they think about climate change, civil society organisations represent the diversity of citizens from around the world.

However, since Tuesday this crucial role of NGOs seems to have been forgotten by the parties. Since you delegates decided to draft the texts, civil society and NGOs have been kicked out of the room. Of course, we do understand that this process of negotiations needs some calm and secrecy to work, but we also have some concerns about the total lack of transparency in these negotiations.

Furthermore, by closing these doors you also send such a negative message to the 6 billion humans whose lives depend on the decisions you are taking behind these doors. Soon, hopefully really soon, humankind will have to implement what you are thinking and writing herein. Then how will we change this world that needs to be changed if nobody has understood you. By opening the doors, you not only let the eyes and the ears of billions of people coming in to understand you, you mainly let us prepare with you a safer future.

Delegates, it is not too late to make civil society inclusiveness and transparency two really core principles of the UNFCCC negotiations. Even if civil society looks at you, even if we sometimes criticize you, and even if we sometimes disagree with you, we are all here to make our common future safer and to preserve this world for the next generations.

Delegates, let’s open the doors!

Kicked out!

Posted on 04. Aug, 2010 by Florent Baarsch in Adopt a Negotiator, France | View Comments

Parties Only and NGOs ... out!

No comment required!

Today, just two meetings are open, a first one this morning on LULUCF and a second one this afternoon on Annex I parties’ emissions reductions. Such a busy day! And we NGOs are just… kicked out of the really important meetings.

When I came to Bonn on Sunday, I still believed that United Nations are a model of transparency!