All Quiet in the Western Hall: Day 3 at COP16

Day Three was my first full day at Cancunmesse, the conference hall 8km away from Moon Palace, where the actual negotiations are taking place. For me this came with some advantages, including seeing Cancunmesse, some interesting side events and being in the hub of observer organisations.

Yesterday the focus was squarely on Japan, with least-developed nations kicking things off by lashing out at the announcement of Japan’s discontinued support for Kyoto. This followed on from Japan ‘winning’ Fossil of the Day late on Day Two.

Suddenly, it seemed negotiations had become lively. NGO’s and youth groups rushed to condemn Japan, discussion erupted over the future of Kyoto in absence of a new global treaty, and actions were launched to protest Japan’s stance.

Kyoto’s future now seems to be hanging in the balance, and any efforts post 2012, no matter how minor (Kyoto only covers 27 per cent of the world’s total emissions), seem to be fading. But rather than losing hope, it seems negotiators have swung into action behind closed doors. Although it does raise transparency issues, at the moment my major problem is that is appears nothing is happening to the world beyond Cancun, resulting in skewered reporting on the conference.

But being in Cancunmesse also came with some disadvantages, one being distanced from the action taking place in negotiations. So please correct me if the following statement doesn’t seem right. Being at Cancunmesse didn’t matter, as nothing substantial happened.

In fact, I’m writing this the morning after as I really needed to consult other COP16 publications to work out what happened. So big thanks to Earth Negotiations Bulletin and ECO for following Day Three much closer than I did. But even then, they’re struggling. ECO’s major story on yesterday’s happenings is on the contact group formed on Tuesday by the subsidiary body on implementation (SBI), which gives observer organisations such as NGO’s and businesses equal weight in discussions as the national parties.

Earth Negotiations Bulletin briefly mentions what could become the best news from Cancun. According to a report on what negotiators are saying, the “positions of ‘key G-77/China countries’ had shifted towards openly supporting a legally-binding outcome under the AWG-LCA.” Although it quotes a “seasoned negotiator” as warning caution on this claim, it is big news and an incredible shift from the mood COP15 ended on.

It also reports some concrete ideas being prepared by the COP Presidency, which may move action on mitigation along considerably.

But again, this is all speculative and second-hand. In the open plenaries it was still very slow-moving nuts and bolts stuff being dealt with, without any surprising or significant progress being made.

Although it does show that business is well under way, and hint towards some major and unforeseen progress in coming days, the mood here is still of uncertainty. And most people I spoke to were more fired up about the poor wifi and food outlets within Cancunmesse. With tomorrow being Youth and Future Generations Day, hopefully things start to pick up both in the negotiations and in Cancunmesse.

Photo by Linh Do.