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1:07am and the negotiations continue
Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

Its 1:07am Poznan time on this last night of the Poznan climate talks, and I've just got word that the negotiations are continuing throughout the night. As of this moment, it is still unclear what will be coming out of these closed-door meetings, and what will conclusion will have arisen when dawn breaks Saturday morning.

The Poznan talks have been a bit awkward, a feeling that many delegates have known since the start of the conference. The nature of this halfway point between the seminal Bali conference where an action plan for a post-2012 agreement was made, and the Copenhagen conference next year which is the deadline for a new agreement is recognized here in Poznan. This feeling is further emphasized by the lame-duck administration that is here representing Bush. It seems that its not only Canada that is awaiting further details of Obama's climate plan, though it would seem any proposals that he has might not make it in time for the UN's 2009 deadline.

No one that I have spoken to seems to be 100% clear of what exactly is supposed to come out of this conference, though I've heard "clear national commitments" on several positions on reduction targets, adaptation financing, and positions on deforestation from land use and clean development mechanisms mentioned several times.

At around 8pm I saw Canadian Environment Jim Prentice enter the site and walk prominently to what looked like yet another meeting, and chief negotiator Michael Martin rush to another one.

When the daylight breaks and in the days and weeks to follow, it will become abundantly clear what if anything was accomplished at this conference, and what it means for the development of a new global climate agreement by 2009.

December 12, 2008 | 7:24 PM Comments  0 comments

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1:07am and the negotiations continue
Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

Its 1:07am Poznan time on this last night of the Poznan climate talks, and I've just got word that the negotiations are continuing throughout the night. As of this moment, it is still unclear what will be coming out of these closed-door meetings, and what will conclusion will have arisen when dawn breaks Saturday morning.

The Poznan talks have been a bit awkward, a feeling that many delegates have known since the start of the conference. The nature of this halfway point between the seminal Bali conference where an action plan for a post-2012 agreement was made, and the Copenhagen conference next year which is the deadline for a new agreement is recognized here in Poznan. This feeling is further emphasized by the lame-duck administration that is here representing Bush. It seems that its not only Canada that is awaiting further details of Obama's climate plan, though it would seem any proposals that he has might not make it in time for the UN's 2009 deadline.

No one that I have spoken to seems to be 100% clear of what exactly is supposed to come out of this conference, though I've heard "clear national commitments" on several positions on reduction targets, adaptation financing, and positions on deforestation from land use and clean development mechanisms mentioned several times.

At around 8pm I saw Canadian Environment Jim Prentice enter the site and walk prominently to what looked like yet another meeting, and chief negotiator Michael Martin rush to another one.

When the daylight breaks and in the days and weeks to follow, it will become abundantly clear what if anything was accomplished at this conference, and what it means for the development of a new global climate agreement by 2009.

December 12, 2008 | 7:20 PM Comments  0 comments

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Indigenous peoples outraged at removal of rights from UNFCCC decision on REDD
Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

Indigenous Peoples participated in a large protest yesterday at the UN Climate Change Conference after the Canada, United States, Australia and New Zealand opposed the inclusion of recognition of the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities in a decision on REDD (Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) drafted yesterday by government delegates.

The countries (commonly referred to the as the 'CANZUS' group) want to include REDD in a future climate agreement, however insisted that the word "rights" and references to the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples be struck from the text.

"This is totally unacceptable for indigenous peoples, as the forests which are being targeted for REDD are those which indigenous peoples have sustained and protected for thousands of
years," said Canadian Ben Powless, a young member of the Mohawk Nation.

"We've only started to see the basic dialogue of the human rights impact on climate change. This is something we take very seriously as indigenous peoples, we have enshrined rights to protect our culture, protect our lands and territories."

A large number of indigenous groups have descended upon Poznan for the UN Climate Change Conference, seeing that they have a lot more at stake at these negotiations than any other groups.

"Indigenous groups around the world have a lot at stake in these negotiations more so than mainstream participants in society because of the relationship that indigenous groups hold that fundamentally depend upon nature for their cultures, traditions and economies," Powless said.

December 12, 2008 | 10:11 AM Comments  0 comments

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UNFCCC Accomodates for Muslim Observation
Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

At the special request the G77 countries, the UNFCCC made the decision that the Islamic feast of Eid Al-Adha be observed and therefore all formal meetings related to the process planned for that day be moved to the next day.

The holiday commemorates the willingness of Abraham to sacrifice his son as an act of obedience to Allah. As Abraham was about to kill his son, Allah instead Allah provided a lamb as the sacrifice.



However an apparent mix-up scheduled the holiday for Tuesday December 9 and not Monday December 8. The holiday is scheduled based on the lunar calendar. After apparently discussing when the holiday actually was, the UNFCCC moved all scheduled events on Monday over to Tuesday.

December 3, 2008 | 9:20 AM Comments  0 comments

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A day in the life at the UNFCCC
Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

It's only day three at the conference, but as many have commented so far, it feels like day 25. The surprising ease to which one can have 18 hour days here in Poznan (including myself) was unexpected, yet in this picturesque town where the solution to this most critical problem facing humanity is being created, it's almost a necessity.

Taking the tram to the conference centre before sunrise (sun rises at 7:43 am and sets at 3:41 pm) and passing through the tight security (a security guard examined my laptop for a good 5 minutes on Monday leading me to believe he thought I hid a bomb in there), a daily program of the day's formal plenary sessions, side events, meetings, and press conferences are printed in a thick document available at the front desk. Several booths will have already been set up for the day, most from NGOs steadily arranging their pamphlets. A morning youth action usually occurs outside, and so far have included holding banners, a flag demonstration on what youth want from the negotiations and a "Green Finger" demonstration.

Examining the schedule, the day fills up pretty quickly by arranging to attend plenary sessions, press conferences, arranging meetings and attending side events. As a member of the Canadian Youth Delegation and the International Youth at the climate conference, I'm also charged with several more working group meetings to attend relating to policy, action and media, including ones setting up press conferences for the youth, meeting with other youth delegations from other countries and so on. With over 500 youth delegates from around the world, its quite amazing to see the level of organization amongst the youth here in Poznan.

Though sometimes a sit-down lunch is a luxury, the conference facility has well over ten different restaurants, all extremely over priced filled with delegates huddled in conversations and others working away at laptops. The more economical type leave the conference centre to try out some 7 zloty sandwiches at the nearby train station.

The hallways and the atrium are constantly filled with people, and unless you wander into the far reaches of this massive convention building, you will likely never be alone, stumbling upon one participant or another sitting on the floor with their laptops by a much coveted outlet. Unlike Bali (as I was told), most people here have opted for more business wear, whereas last year (and partly due to the sweltering heat) t-shirts, flamboyant colours and sandals were the norm.

The journalists in the press room seem most addicted to their computers, eating, drinking and taking naps in the press room completely surrounded by press releases that are handed out to them by various groups. Reuters, AP and others have their own press cubicles huddled like the hunchback of notre dame constantly typing or listening to meetings on headphones.

The formal day usually concludes for me with (and most of the delegates) with the presentation of the Fossil Awards, which are a nice wrap-up of the day's event. The evening is filled with either more side events and presentations by groups at the conference, a meeting with more youth delegates, than a long night of blogging and work for the Canadian Youth Delegation.

I was told that "the real deal" hasn't even started. So if I thought my four hours a night was too little, I curiously wonder what's going to happen next week...

December 3, 2008 | 9:20 AM Comments  0 comments

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