 GCP Blog
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Climate talks heat up in Copenhagen
14/12/2009 11:03
It’s the end of the first week of negotiations in Copenhagen, and there has been a tsunami of 15,000 delegates washing around halls the size of aircraft hangers filled with booths promoting every conceivable aspect of the climate change debate.
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The GCP team have been manning the Little REDD Desk (pictured) and handing out copies of our newly published Little Climate Finance Book and the Little REDD Book faster than we can grab them out of the boxes.
Our friends, Rainforest Alliance, are with us and have been serving certified coffee for free which has made our small space a very popular meeting point for forest friends and passing negotiators to discuss REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestations and Degradation).
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Highlights of Week One
The GCP has convened two press conferences: The first an update on REDD with Kevin Conrad, lead negotiator for Papua New Guinea and the voice of the Coalition for Rainforest Nations, Jeremy Oppenheim, climate leader for McKinsey and Co., and Minister Berganson who is the chief negotiator for Norway. The second press conference was held with Roberto Smeraldi, Director of Amigos de la Terra, on his groundbreaking report, which revealed that more than 50% of emissions in the Brazilian Amazon are due to cattle ranching. He concluded that for every $4 spent on beef production, $6 is released in the form of carbon. This was coupled with our own work on the Forest Footprint Disclosure Project and business sector drivers of commodities that cause deforestation.
The small nation of Tuvalu closed down the entire conference twice, bringing negotiations to a halt. And they’re right to feel indignant, because their nation is already disappearing under the surface of the sea as the volume of water expands with rising temperatures and melting ice
Thousands of demonstrators advanced on the conference centre on Saturday and we were all advised to evacuate the building. In the end the demonstrations were largely peaceful and with over 900 arrests made one wonders if the police were a little heavy handed
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State of Play on REDD+
Negotiations on REDD+ seem in reasonably good shape, with a remarkable consensus emerging on most aspects of the text. But some areas remain as potential fracture points which must be decided next week. To find out more read the update on REDD+ from Charlie Parker.
Momentum is building for a “fast-start package” that will provide immediate funding for mitigation and adaptation activities to begin as soon as possible. Forests could receive between 20-40% of the funds raised, in recognition of the considerable opportunity REDD+ offers in both of these areas. A range of figures are being discussed, from $10bn to $25bn, and as much as $100bn by the European union to kick in at different times. But few countries are getting out their cheque books and offering additional funding. |
The emergency package for tropical forests, advocated by the Prince of Wales, continues to receive attention in the form of the IWG (Informal Working Group on interim financing for REDD). The secretariat of which is provided by the Norwegian government. This calls for funding at the scale of 1 or 2bn rising to 15-23bn between now and 2015. This provides a well-coordinated plan for getting on with the job of building capacity and more importantly in providing performance-based funding to reduce deforestation starting in 2010.
On a final note I’d like to thank all the donors who have so generously supported the GCP and made it possible to have a strong team here in COP. Especially, I want to thank Soren Hvalkof, a specialist in anthropology throughout Amazonia who found a home for Team GCP during the climate change summit.
More updates to follow
Andrew Mitchell
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