The main plenary hall for the UN climate talks in Panama | Photo Credit: Adopt a Negotiator/Flickr
I’ve followed international climate negotiations for 3 years. It’s my 9th session, and while I can’t complain about the opportunities I’ve had to travel around the world, the slow process and pace of progress feel grindingly routine. This time, however, things kicked off differently from all the rest. After difficult agenda fights stalled negotiations earlier this year, they suspended talks instead of actually closing them like they normally do. They pressed pause in June, and agreed to pick up work in October, right where they left off.
October arrived today. I joined the mass of negotiators in line at the entrance of the conference center. We picked up our security badges, said our hellos, and piled into the main plenary hall for the customary welcoming ceremony – all routine. But then, instead of lengthy opening statements followed by a fight, and delay; negotiators got right to work (more or less).
Don’t get me wrong, there were still a lot of statements; there were a lot of disagreements; and new ideas were hard to spot. But there were new ideas discussed.
Negotiators started to fish for and test ideas on how to manage the gap between Kyoto’s expiration (in 2012) and the ratification of a second round of commitments in some kind of ‘legally binding instrument’ (hopefully by 2015). There were strong calls for a second commitment period of Kyoto. To go alongside it, there were ideas about complimentary instruments to help include intransigent countries like the United States; and flip-flopping countries who recently pulled their Kyoto support, like Russia, Canada and Japan. There were other ideas that envisioned a Kyoto second commitment period merging with a bigger and more comprehensive climate deal being discussed. All of this on the first day of the Panama Climate Change Conference.
Like I said, this is #9 for me. In addition to the question of Kyoto’s future, there is a serious tck list that negotiators need to make progress on before Durban. Even if they get through all of it, we’ll have a long way to go before claiming victory in the fight against climate change.
I’m not an optimist, but Saturday’s sessions gave me a glimmer of hope.
La entrada Joshua Wiese: Will a different kind of start lead to a different kind of outcome? aparece primero en TckTckTck.