Today was the first day of formal negotiations. My day was mostly spent finding my way round the Bella Centre where the negotiations are being held, tracking the key points to come out of the first day’s meetings and connecting with delegates and NGO representatives that I haven’t seen since Barcelona.
The venue is huge. Just finding the Greenpeace and the NZ delegation offices was a small mission. Because of all the temporary buildings with their interlinked corridors, much of the centre has a b-grade sci-fi look to it.
There’s a certain energy and atmosphere that I haven’t experienced at the start of any of the previous five sessions this year. Delegates know they have to get down to business this time.
There are so many people here that getting into some of the meetings is a lot harder than before. The latest figures estimate that there are up to 20,000 delegates, NGO observers and media here.
I’m glad I registered on Thursday as some people took 3 hours to get registered today. No pass, no entry, so registration is important. There are more restrictions on NGOs than other meetings, which will make it harder for me to get in and talk to delegates. At earlier meetings I just wandered into many of the negotiation rooms and chatted with delegates from all round the world. This time it’ll be harder because of the number of people attending and increased security.
Security even closed one of the two main plenary halls to latecomers because it was so full. This meant ‘Heads of Delegation’ were left outside to fume and argue with United Nations security guards. They are the Ambassadors who are at the top of the pecking order when the politicians aren’t here and didn’t appreciate being left out of the action.
New Zealand joined the rest of the industrialised countries and shared a joint Fossil of the Day. This fossil was for all developed countries for failing to offer enough ambition in the negotiations. Industrialised countries like New Zealand haven’t proposed enough finance to help developing countries or offered to cut emissions to the levels needed to avoid dangerous levels of climate change. This is the defining issue – quite frankly until developed country fossil fuel use goes down, the Fossil of the Day Awards will keep racking up.