At around 2.15 am today UN and Danish security personnel told all NGO representatives to leave the Bella Centre, threatening with arrest and withdrawal of the 300 passes given out to NGO representatives for access on Thursday. The civil society representatives that were forced to leave included a group of about 30 youngsters from all over the world who intended to stay until governments concluded an agreement that was “adequate, effective and legally binding.” The group was reading out a list of millions signatures on a petition commending world leaders to seal a meaningful deal in Copenhagen. It was not without reason that NGOs wanted to stay at the conference premises. The COP session had supposedly suspended discussions to allow delegates – many of whom had already skipped a night of sleep – to be rested tomorrow.

Some developing country delegations indeed went home, being skeptical about the amount of influence they would have on the President’s “consultations on consultations”.

A group of Latin American delegates, led by the energetic Bolivian Ambassador Navarro, spent several hours on what seemed to be a strategic discussion on the way forward. Meanwhile, the Europeans, Indians and Chinese seemed to have left. But nothing was further from the truth. Indian Minister for Environment Jairam Ramesh, accompanied by a handful of delegates, showed up around 2am and left the building. A European delegation, including Swedish Minister of Environment Andreas Carlgren who represents the European Union, followed soon afterwards.

Finally around five Chinese diplomats showed up and left the building, although presumably China’s high-level representatives were still engaged in discussions. With the United States? From tomorrow onwards, following the process will be largely guessing for most NGOs. With only 300 civil society representatives physically present in the Bella Centre, civil society voices will be marginalised.

The 300 include members from the business community.

While leaving the Bella Centre, Indian Minister Ramesh reassured that the Kyoto Protocol would “stay alive. India will fight for it.”

An alternative meeting point--at Copenhagen Forum--has been set up to handle the overflow of NGOs denied access to Bella Center. It is only for accredited NGOs and has internet access and audio-video of some meetings, but of course, no access to the state delegates. None of 300 admitted NGOs seem to be bloging what is going on in Bella Center...but if you see this somewhere let us all know. Even telephone contact with people in Bella Center seems to be being interfered with as Embassies have reported not having secure lines when contacting their delegates and getting odd messages indicating that their delegates are not available when they know these messages not to be true. Last week some journalists complained about Danish government interference in their communications.

 

 

Substantial talks in the Bella Centre seem to take place between a few individuals behind closed doors. The majority of delegations is not part of these talks and has no clue about what is going on. Apparently, President Rasmussen is "holding consultations on how to hold consultations" - whatever this may mean... In the COP meeting (resumed at 22:10 instead of 13:00, as scheduled) all delegations except Australia, EU and USA seemed concerned about exclusive process and still feared that Kyoto, the LCA text and the Bali Action Plan would end up in the dustbin.

See notes of the COP meeting below.

 

Chair of the COP informed that Presidential consultations were still going on, without revealing anything substantial. She argued that since sleep was the scarcest resource in this room, delegates should refrain from commenting on LCA text.

 

India was first delegation to take the floor and comment on LCA text. It started making a whole range of proposals, including replacing references to “sustainable development” by “social and economic development”, which it claimed was required by the Convention.

 

Peru asked whether this was the moment to make comments on the process.

 

Chair said that President was chairing consultations on the process, and encouraged states to restrict comments to comments on the text.

 

Sweden wanted to resume session tomorrow rather than continuing now.

 

Tuvalu said it was not appropriate to carry out a negotiation exercise during a plenary session. it wanted guidance on how to proceed.

 

Chair said President is still consulting precisely on Tuvalu’s question, namely how to proceed. Results of these consultations would be known by tomorrow morning. This session was mainly to allow AW-LCA Chair to present his text.

 

Tuvalu wondered what kind of process the President maintained in his consultations. He wanted to know whether he could go home, or should wait until the President had something sensible to say about consultations.

 

Chair said that the President was holding consultations on how to actually hold consultations. “He needs to know how to hold consultations on how to move forward.” [sic]

 

Bangladesh was wondering with whom the President was consulting. LDC colleagues had not been consulted with. Now we should go to sleep?! Consultations were neither transparent nor inclusive.

 

Chair reiterated that President would conduct transparent and representative consultations, although they were certainly not yet inclusive.

 

South Korea stressed need for transparency.

 

Egypt aligned itself with Bangladesh and Tuvalu. Consultations should be all-inclusive and transparent. Countries that were excluded might not be able to join consensus.

 

Chair assured that she would convene this message to President.

 

Ecuador expressed desire for tangible results.

 

Guatemala said it supported the text, which carried the trust of all parties. Small countries that were excluded wanted results.

 

Australia appreciated consultation efforts of President on process to move forward.

 

Tuvalu proposed to submit a list with delegates’ phone numbers to the President so that they could be called if President had made decision on consultations.

 

Bolivia [former Ambassador to WTO] said WTO practices of exclusion should not be repeated here. Consultations should not take place after decisions had already been taken. On LCA text, she made proposals to add references to all elements of Bali Action Plan, including mitigation, adaptation and technology transfer.

 

Cuba stressed that the most important issue on the international agenda was at stake. This meeting was supposed to start at 1pm. It could have taken place many hours before. Our time should not be misused in this way.

 

Chair said that the COP could not meet at two rooms at the same time and could therefore not overlap with high-level segment.

 

Argentina underlined its readiness to negotiate and echoed Bolivia, Tuvalu and Bangladesh in need for inclusiveness.

 

Bangladesh insisted that President should engage all parties in consultation process in an urgent and immediate fashion, rather tonight than tomorrow. All building blocks of LCA and whole Bali Process were very dear to many delegations and should not be broken off.

 

Colombia said LCA text “belongs to all of us”. We need to go home with an outcome.

 

Venezuela asked clarification about nature of consultations. Why was President delaying parties’ work. Consultations should be based on texts on which parties have worked.

 

Mauritius proposed to go to sleep and continue tomorrow. This meeting was not going anywhere.

 

Nigeria (Osita) said that ensuring an all-inclusive set-up was much easier than excluding some parties. Bottom-up approach only way to move forward. Work of Co-Chairs should be basis of all work. Nobody would want to be surprised by yet another document. Stressed need for 2-track approach.

 

Saudi Arabia said there was almost a level of paranoia on bringing the LCA text to the next stage. This was unnecessary and waste of time.

 

Spain asked for instructions from the Chair on how to start discussion on outstanding issues in the text.

 

Costa Rica expressed readiness to negotiate immediately on LCA text and also wished transparency etc. Agreement should be ambitious and legally binding.

 

Philippines stressed that LCA text was result of many sleepless nights and it would be a pity to throw it away.

 

Palestine supported LCA text and was bothered by lack of consultation.

 

United States said “we have come close to conclusions”. Text posed issues and it was time to work on specifics. USA was prepared to make compromises. Core issues included many issues that were not in the LCA text, including emission reductions and finance.

 

Chair proposed to close meeting and proceed tomorrow. Proposal was answered by applause.

 

Chair said she would convene message to President regarding transparency and inclusiveness.

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In a crowded room the fresly re-elected Bolivian President Morales spoke with a colourful range of indigenous peoples' representatives about efforts to further the agenda on indigenous peoples' righst and the rights of Mother Earth.

The meeting started with a proposal from the Indigenous Peoples’ Forum on Climate Change to use resources generated through collection of historic debts of Annex I countries for healing of the Earth.

 

The movement expressed concern that recognition of collective rights of indigenous peoples is not yet in any of the texts. The shared vision text has no reference at all to indigenous peoples’ rights.

 

A representative of the indigenous Sami people in Sweden said she hoped President Morales would continue advocating for indigenous peoples’ rights in the UN, as the rich European nations would not do so.

 

President Morales then took the floor, first of all recalling 500 years of indigenous’ peoples resistance. Many of the indigenous activists in the room were old friends of his with whom he demonstrated in the streets to claim indigenous peoples’ rights in the margins of major UN conferences on the environment.

 

The President also stressed the need to remove the US military basis from Colombia, as it posed a threat to the security of the continent and the Earth.

 

He encouraged indigenous peoples to be political, stressing that politics were needed to overthrow capitalism and for showing that indigenous peoples are no longer accepting oppression.

 

Regarding the COP talks, on the basis of bilateral talks with other heads of State Morales did not believe much progress would be booked in Copenhagen.

 

The meeting ended with a song by a Bangladeshi indigenous representative, referring to the Bolivian negotiating position. ("I wish I was Bolivian. Just one degree of global warming, 350ppm in the sky, and 40 percent cuts by 2040...")

Meanwhile, the COP meeting scheduled to start at 1pm still has not started yet. Many delegations from developing countries seem to express their opposition simply by staying physically present in the Blixen hall where the meeting is supposed to take place.

Some African diplomats are waiting for a press conference to get more intelligence about the state of play in negotiations. Talks take place in small groups behind closed doors, while heads of state are still delivering their formal addresses in the high-level segment.

Brazil used point of order to interrupt PM Rasmussen’s statement, pointing out that new LCA and KP texts were not yet available and it had not seen them.

Yvo de Boer said consultations will continue on this matter during and after COP meeting (starting at 1pm in different room).

China also made point of order, saying that new text drafted by Chair had appeared “out of the sky” and it could not accept this. India was also aware of new “Danish text” and found it unacceptable. Only AWG-KP and AWG-LCA texts should be considered.

Maldives President Nasheed, surprisingly, said we cannot afford to be bogged down in the process. He understood China and India’s remarks, but “need to move forward”. Suggests to proceed with text that Chair intends to table.

PM Rasmussen thanked Maldives for “very constructive remarks”.

Sudan (G77 + China), also in point of order, supported Brazil, China and India statement. Process has to be bottom-up, party-driven and 2-track. It cannot support text coming out of the blue. Ecuador supported the statement.

PM Rasmussen said there could not be “just procedure, procedure, procedure”. Need to move forward.

China again made point of order, saying discussion was about substance. You cannot just put forward some text coming from the sky. Brazil sought reassurance that LCA text would be basis for discussions. South African MFA “process should be state-driven”. This is about substance. India said “it is about how to protect the [LCA] text”.

PM Rasmussen said “world leaders expect us to put something on the table”. Please no more points of order.

China stressed that not points of order, but Chair’s draft text obstructed the process. Chair had put something forward without having received texts of most important WGs. Attempts to kill Kyoto and Bali was real danger.

Bolivia said content of text is not outcome of a participatory process. This morning’s text fails to meet objectives of inclusiveness, transparency etc.

PM Rasmussen denied that a draft text had been presented. It had only indicated that it could be constructive to move things forward by means of Danish proposal. Parties will be consulted about KP questions at 1pm during COP meeting.

PM Rasmussen then finished opening statement.

High-level segment

H.E. Nafie Ali Nafie, Sudan (G77 + China) stressed 2-track approach. AWG-KP has not met a single deadline on individual emission reductions. Delay meant to undermine foundational UNFCCC principles of equity and CBDR. Multi-layered processes of consultations imposed upon parties and undermined success. Many delegations could not be represented in all meetings. Shared vision must include historic responsibilities and climate debt and sharing of atmospheric resources. Outcome must respect right to development and right to survival of developing countries, as a right of all countries and people.

H.E. Zenawi, PM Ethiopia (African Group) said that if negotiations would fail, this would prove defectiveness of global political and economic system. Stressed negligible emissions of Africa and misery and death resulting from climate change. Africa wants to follow non-carbon path of sustainable development. Proposals on finance: start-up funding for 2-3 years, establishment of start-up fund of $10 billion annually. Should be put in a trust fund managed by board of trustees, with equal number of developed and developing countries. African Development Bank should be on board. On Long-term finance, this should start by 2013 to reach up to $50 billion and $100 billion by 2020. More than 50% for adaptation in vulnerable countries. All options should be considered for raising funds. UNFCCC should come up with reliable system of funding and submit a report on this within 6 months. Adaptation and Mitigation Funds should be established under parameters of UNFCCC, Africa’s share of the Fund be established by African Development Bank.

H.E. Tillman Thomas, Grenada (OASIS) stressed need for action in Copenhagen without mentioning much substance. H.E. Pakalitha Bethuel Mosisili, PM Lesotho (for LDCs) stressed limited adaptive capacity of group. WMO and IPPC continue to indicate imperatives that cannot be ignored. Stresses need for future commitments for developed countries and reductions for that group of 45% by 2020 and 95% by 2050. Kyoto must not be merged with any agreement. Funding for mitigation and adaptation must be additional to ODA, and accessible and predictable.

H.E. Andreas Carlgren, Environment Minister Sweden (European Union) said EU was prepared to reduce emissions up to 95% by 2050. EU is ready to commit for 2010-2012 to US$ 10.6 billion. Expects a legally binding commitment from USA. Both USA and China should deliver more.

H.E. Abdoulaye Wade, President of Senegal, mentioned several impacts of climate change on West-Africa, adding to poverty caused by exploitation by Europeans.

 --- Two young demonstrators start shouting “Climate Justice Now!!” – removed by security.

Missed H.E. Amadou Toumani Toure, President of Mali.

H.E. Mr. Hugo Chavez Frias, President of Venezuela, came back to points of order made by China etc. before. Text presented is not democratic or inclusive. Ms. Hedegaard had said that a document was coming, and the PM Rasmussen said there was no document, it was apparently “top secret”! There is imperial dictatorship and exclusion in this world. There is a groups of countries thinking that they are better than us, developing countries. No democracy. There were two young people shouting “Climate Justice Now” – many more people outside, hello to them! There is a ghost in the room, named “capitalism”. Signs carried by young people read “don’t change climate, change system”. Take note of that. If the climate was a bank, the rich governments would already have saved it. Obama got Nobel Peace Prize the same day as he announced he’d sent 30,000 more soldiers to Afghanistan. Recommends book by Kempf: “How the Rich Are Destroying the Planet”. It advises to consume less, distribute better.

Overnight the language on human rights got beat up pretty badly. The US and the group of Russia, China, Brazil and South Africa seem to be behind this, although South Africans deny this. The G77 says it will support human rights text that calls for protecting human rights from the most adverse impacts of climate change. every state should support this as they already adopted such language in a Human Rights Council Resolution adopted by consensus.     

Part of the problem does seem to be the view that human rights approach being taken might be used to limit the development of some big emerging economies. May emphasizing the duty of all countries to cooperate to achieve respect for human rights that is found in the UN Charter in articles 55 and 56 is a way around this. Also the African countries want collective rights included, especially the right to development. Western countries don't want this mentioned.

Two former Chairs of the Human Rights Council are Copenhagen with their delegations and have access to their heads of state and ministers. These people are the first President of the HRC the Mexican diplomat D'Alba and the Nigerian Ambassador in Geneva Martin Uhumoibhi. They should sprearhead the effort to get their heads of state to reinsert text reaffirming the relationship between human rights and climate change.

The Swiss and Maldives are also leaders on this issue. Brazil is also a state whose leader should support this text, although in the HRC they had to be convinced.  And don't forget Bolivia or Chile. The Bolivian leader has recently apparently stated that climate change violates human rights. Hopefully some at COP15 will get him to repeat this at the side event he is speaking at in a few minutes. And Chile's outgoing President is very strong on human rights and has little to lose as she is leaving office in March with their one term rule.