ClimatePrep

Al Gore, former US Vice-President © WWF-Canon/ Richard Stonehouse

By John Matthews, CI

My interest in knitting probably marks me as one of the more visibly peculiar members of the WWF delegation to the COP, but knitting is a great asset in a high-stress setting. Some of the oldest knitting in the world was found in bogs in this part of northern Europe — perhaps five or six thousand years old. The idea of taking strands of yarn and creating something new, functional, and strong is very calming as I listen to the needles clicking in my room -especially given how the COP has been developing.

Most of the events are in the Bella Center, a massive convention center on the edge of the city. You need to register and then to receive a special pass in order to enter the Bella Center, not to mention move through a series of security checks. It’s a complicated process. Although I have mixed feelings about having been here for two weeks now, I am pleased that I registered and got my entry pass early on. Starting last weekend, many people had to wait over five hours to register!

Unfortunately, now just getting into the Bella Center has become problematic. Many of the government delegations are quite large. Brazil has roughly 600 in the government delegation. Nepal has about 200, which is a little larger than the WWF delegation. For safety reasons, the Danish authorities who manage the Bella Center have fixed totals of how many people can be inside. I’ve heard the number 15,000 quoted as the upper limit for what the building can hold.

As the COP has moved from last week’s focus on blocking out positions to serious negotiations, the number of government attendees has grown substantially. With this shift in focus, the role of NGOs ain the negotiations scales back tremendously. This is largely because of the expanding number of government staff taking up passes that NGOs were given earlier in the week.

In practical terms, it means that the conference organizers have created a secondary pass system. If you get a special pass, you can get in. If not, then you have to wait until the total number drops below 15,000. As a result, there are large lines near the Bella Center where people are waiting for up to six hours in the cold, wind, and rain for a chance to squeeze into the building.

I’ve been declared non-essential for the Bella Center. I was supposed to be involved in two side events today, but if I go in I would take the WWF slot meant for one of our negotiators. As a result,  I’ve had to stay in town, tracking emails and trying to discern what’s really happening in the Center.

The messages coming from the Center have been very mixed. I’ve received about 900 emailson our official COP mailing list in the past 10 days, most in the past 48 hours. The Bella Center was always a circus, but we were at least on the floor of the circus, amidst the lions and tigers. Now we’re up in the stands, or perhaps outside of the tent, trying to figure out the sounds. Even our contacts in the Bella Center are having difficulty figuring out how discussions are proceeding.

Water and ecosystems are in the text one moment… and then they’re gone. And back again. There are repeated threats by governments to walk out, or more subtle attempts to stall for time or promote alternative positions. One session throws out observers, the next lets us back in. Most of the arguments are over mitigation issues. I suspect a lot is actually happening with the adaptation language as well, but it’s not as visible. It’s harder to determine what directions the adaptation text is  going in.

For our small core of inside staff, this period is very intense. Some of them are sleeping at the Bella Center. For those of us outside, there is much less we can do. We can support them a little at a distance, but not that much.

Each day the number of NGO delegates is reduced. Out of perhaps 1,000 NGOs that registered, the number of NGO delegates will drop tomorrow to 1,000 as well — one per NGO. And on Friday, the last day, the number will drop to 90 delegates for all NGOs.

Why does presence matter? We can offer competing opinions. We may not be without bias, but we are capable of presenting a well-informed opinion. Perhaps most importantly,  presence matters because ultimately NGOs are witnesses for non-governmental groups. If we’re aren’t there, then the delegates can mostly tell whatever story they want about whatever deal they put together. If we’re in the room, the delegates know we’re watching,writing, speaking and broadcasting to the world.

That presence is very important in the next few days, since we are trying to provide some witness for the voiceless: the most poor and vulnerable people of the world, as well as for all of the silent ecosystems. They have no seats in the COP meetings, and they don’t do press releases. I’ve yet to find a negotiator acting on behalf of the Sundarbans as a viable ecosystem (perhaps the COP organizers have a rule against registering Bengal tigers as speakers?).

For now, I am left with my knitting. One of the nice things about it is that it is mostly a very calm and tranquil craft. I can see the sock slowly take shape before my eyes. I hope some of that calm can spread to the Bella Center, and that the negotiators make something functional and beautiful as well. We need to pull those strands together.