Cancun, Thursday, 9 December 2010
Yesterday (Wednesday) was taken up totally with country statements, continuing from the opening statements from the day before. Each of the 193 countries is given time to present their statement. They are supposed to be 3 minutes, but many run to 6 or 8 minutes. The Chair periodically reminds speakers to keep to 3 minutes. I recorded the Deputy Prime Minister of Belize, Hon. Gaspar Vega, in the second half of his speech < http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nWCx6VO-s0>.

I am thrilled to see the UN process at work, to hear from all 193 nations of the world one at a time. What strikes me is the high proportion of those countries that have already been severely affected by Climate Change. There are stories of severe droughts followed immediately by severe flooding, flooding due to massive rain storms, flooding due to melting snow and glaciers in mountainous countries, salt water incursion into fresh drinking water because of sea level rise, landslides, famines from agricultural disaster due to extremely high temperatures, and many others. All of these are unusual events, never having been reported in written history. There are many small island nations that will totally disappear within this century, even if current targets are met to decrease emissions of greenhouse gases. Those countries most seriously affected already and those most vulnerable have contributed very little to the greenhouse gas emissions.

While each country presents their unique position, there are some recurrent themes. Many express their disappointment with the lack of results from COP-15 in Copenhagen, and all express their appreciation for the skillful leadership of Patricia Espinosa, President of COP-16, the Mexican hospitality, and the inclusive, transparent process that is happening here. The latter is in contrast to the process in Copenhagen, which is characterized as consisting of secret meetings and unilateral negotiations. 

All express their urgent desire for an agreement to come out of this process. Those countries already experiencing severe effects and the small island nations ask for a target of no more than 1.5 oC above pre-industrial temperatures and no more than 350 parts per million CO2. The developed countries who are responsible for most of the greenhouse gas emissions mention no more than a 2 oC rise and don’t mention a target atmospheric concentration of CO2.

There is an attempt by many nations to counter the general assumption that economic growth and poverty alleviation are diametrically opposed to climate change solutions. Those most optimistic say that the two can go hand in hand as developing countries develop low-carbon, green economies and avoid the past mistakes of the developed nations. Many of the developing countries described impressive reductions of their already small carbon emissions and planned economic development based upon renewable energy.

There are two basic issues. Mitigation of climate change is accomplished by reduction of emissions or absorption of carbon, such as by preventing deforestation. Adaptation to Climate Change involves measures for countries to adapt to the changes already taking place and those projected in the future. Both have to be carried out in tandem and both are urgent. So far most of the funding has gone into mitigation, so the funding of adaptation needs to be increased.

The general goal is a legally binding agreement which will be agreed upon here in Cancun and signed officially in Durban, South Africa, at COP-17 in 2011. Many countries make urgent pleas that more delay is not an option. There are only two days remaining until the closing ceremony. I’m holding it all in the Light every chance I get. 

One of the youth delegations had a tree-planting event yesterday. They had one tree for every country and had an area near the negotiations where they planted them. We stopped by early in the process and they said to come back and if the head of delegation from our countries had not come to plant their tree, we could do it in their stead. When we returned, no one had come for either Belize or Bolivia, so we planted those trees. Someone had planted the U.S. tree, but it was the smallest and look sickly. Photos are on my website <http://judylumb.com/cop-16/cop-16.html>.

There is lots of media from all around the world here, but the only U.S. media here so far Amy Goodman from Democracy Now. Mary and I had our photo taken with her. Perhaps today or tomorrow the U.S. media will cover the event when the agreements are completed and announced. I am very anxious about the outcome, worried that the U.S. will again stall negotiations. There were many comments about how only 27% of the emissions of the world are covered by the Kyoto Protocol and some direct comments about how one developed country that is responsible for most of the emissions is stubbornly refusing to cooperate.

Today we will hear from the rest of the country statements tomorrow, too, including the Evo Morales, President of Bolivia, and Todd Stern, U.S. Special Envoy for Climate Change. My Bolivian companions are hoping to get a photo taken with their President.