Observations from the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen

This week Dr. Anita Halvorssen has been reporting from the UN Climate Change Conference in Denmark. Today's posting and pictures follow:

Due to capacity problems at the Bella Center, a new venue, the Forum, was reserved for the NGOs that do not have access to the Bella Center. As I did not win the lottery for access cards to get into the COP-15 venue, the Forum (see picture below) is my new meeting place for the last two days of the conference.

The Parties to the UNFCCC seem to be in agreement on the financing side of the COP-15 negotiations. Meles Zenawi, the Ethiopian Prime Minister, on behalf of the African countries, Hillary Clinton, U.S. Secretary of State, and Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, among others, have all announced that the developed countries will contribute $100 billion to help developing countries address mitigation and adaptation issues starting 2020. This was one of the biggest sticking points of the Ad Hoc Working Group on Long-Term Cooperative Action under the Convention.

Side Event: The National Wildlife Federation (NWF) arranged a panel entitled Fair Climate: US Constituencies’ Perspectives. It was hosted by Bellona, a Norwegian NGO. Gloria Reuben, from ‘ER’, an Emmy nominated actress and climate change activist talked about the negative ramifications of mountain top removal coal mining in Virginia. Jerome Ringo, President of Apollo Alliance, stated that climate change is much more than the COP-15 Conference, it is about tomorrow, it is about humanity. Jerome said “Ten to twenty years from now, what will we say to our children and grandchildren when they ask, 'You were at Copenhagen. What did you do?'”

John Grant, NWF Board member, CEO of 100 Black Men of Atlanta, emphasized the right to have a healthy, sustainable environment. Look to, not just the near term, but a hundred years from now, what can we do to enable human sustainability a thousand years from now. Alabama had a terrible drought, the governor prayed for rain. In Africa, women walk all day to find water. Ask yourselves every day, he said: “What am I going to do today to create a healthier planet?” The goods we buy and vehicles we drive need to be carbon neutral. “We need to hold each other individually accountable,” he stated.

Jackie Patterson, NAACP Climate Justice Initiative Director, spoke of heightened vulnerability of women. Regarding climate change, gender studies show that women are more impacted than men by environmental disasters. Women who are more likely to be poor, will be more exposed to displacement due to climate change.

The final speaker, Bob Gruenig, National Tribal Environment Council stated that you can tell the character of a country’s leaders by the way they treat their indigenous peoples. Many of these people are being affected by climate change. Southwest of the US, the native American tribes are seeing their water sources drying up due to climate change. In Kivalina, Alaska, the village has to move due to the ice off the coast having melted, enabling the ocean to erode the coastline. It will cost $100-400 million to relocate the people.

Addressing a question from the audience on how to deal with the climate skeptics in the US, the panelist said this was a big problem, but that most Americans wanted action on climate change. The message needs to be simple, that it’s an investment in the future, yes there will be costs, but there are bigger costs of inaction.

Dr. Halvorssen, who teaches at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law, is attending the proceedings for the Prof. Ved Nanda Center for the Study of International Law and accredited by the American Society of International Law.

From outside the conference: A little snow does not keep the Danes from bicycling.