ClimateDebate

During a NGO briefing with the newly elected Danish Climate Minister Lykke Friis, it was announced that the Danish Government has booked Forum in the center of Copenhagen in order to offer the many NGO/IGO representatives which will not be able to enter the Bella Center an alternative option. At Forum there will be live streaming from the plenary sessions.

While this initiative is a nice gesture as opposed to doing nothing, it can not overshadow the fact that the logistics during the COP15 have been poorly organized at its best. This way NGO’s will at least have a common setting from where to continue their meetings and discussions in relation to the ongoing negotiations.

One can however not help feel that the NGO’s once again have been derailed from the political process and there is no doubt that the lack of a NGO presence in the Bella center will hurt the least developed countries the most, as they are highly dependent on the help from NGO’s to prepare and engage in the negotiations with the larger and richer countries.

The “blame-game” is likely to continue between the UN and the Danish Government as the host country. So far Denmark has however been quick to deny all responsibility for the mess. Two points does nonetheless seems evident. Firstly, choosing the Bella Center as the location for the event was an obvious mistake – it is simply too small! And secondly – accrediting five times as many people to enter the conference as it is capable of hosting was an act of logistic madness considering the exceptional circumstances surrounding COP15. It should have been expected that a much higher percentage of the accredited NGO’s than it is usually the case would have an ambition to take advantage of their access.

Rumors have been swarming concerning how many NGO/IGO delegates that would be admitted to the two last high level sessions taking place from tomorrow. The initial estimates were 1000 NGO’s during thursday and as little as 90 during friday! Recently the organizers have however following a lot of pressure, agreed to throw a bone to the civil society and has raised the amount of participants during friday to 500… While it is a considerably increase from 90, it is still a ridiculously low amount and does not reflect positively upon the willingness to listen to the civil society.

So the NGO and IGO representatives are slowly becoming an endangered species here in the Bella Center… One may say that the effects of climate change is apparent even in here!

This means that I at least will not have the opportunity to be present in the Bella Center from tomorrow and the day after. Considering that many of the ” meetings are taking place in secrecy anyways, it properly wont matter much anyways.

Let’s hope that the UN at least learns something from the organizational mess they have gotten themselves into during the last week of the conference and that the lack of respect for a NGO/IGO presence during the high level negotiations is not something that will be continued in future UN conference’s.

About thirty eager NGO representatives and climate enthusiasts yesterday attended the Model United Nations Climate Conference at the HK Headquarter (the Union of Commercial and Clerical Employees in Denmark) in Copenhagen. They were tasked with the difficult but important job of setting an example for the worlds leaders by attempting to reach an ambitious climate agreement within the COP15 framework.

It was the second time that DanMUN and the Danish UNA teamed up together, to offer interested parties the opportunity to fill out the shoes of the worlds leaders in the quest to reach a global climate agreement. And once again it was a big success!

The participants all expressed their gratitude for being given the opportunity to engage in the climate negotiations on close hand as opposed to the usual  distant stance which NGO representatives usually finds themselves in. Most of the participants were accredited to enter the negotiations at the Bella Center and therefore visually had a good connection with how the “real negotiations” played out. However, only a few were aquatinted with the many technicalities that the climate negotiations entail, but everyone were very willing to learn.

It is a hard task to ignore your personal point of view and take upon you the agenda of a politician which you might disagree with. It is nonetheless a task that is very rewarding.

We look forward to offer this opportunity to even more students and climate enthusiasts in the future.

I just attended my first two COP-meetings and thereby had my “formal” climate virginity stripped. I can’t say that what I experienced was overly surprising. Both were start up meetings and mostly dealt with listing up the agenda for future meetings, pointing out stakeholders for specific issue areas and of course the initial opening speeches with momentarily highlights. All in all it is an overwhelming and exciting experience merely to be present here. Time will tell whether I’ll be allowed to participate in some of the more interesting meetings – that is if I can find my way there in this huge climate forum. More from me later on. Writing from my cell phone so please excuse my spelling.

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Connie Hedegaard, the Danish Minister for Climate and Energy has been appointed the role of EU Commissioner for Climate. Who is she and will she be missed in Danish politics?

Connie has for long been a popular figure in the Danish population and she has in general been considered the best person out there, to push Denmark forward as a responsible and key player within the globate climate debate. This is despite the fact that she definitely has not had an easy ride in Danish politics as a spokeswoman for an ambitious global climate policy, while sitting in a Liberal Government that since they gained power, consistently have downgraded the Danish effort within alternative energy!

Anders Fogh (the former Danish Prime Minister – Now General-Secretary in NATO) was the person who led the initial assault on the Danish Climate effort, a man who  during the bulk of his election period applauded and funded the obscene ideas of Bjoern Lomborg and only at the very end of his time in charge, accepted that the UN Climate Panel may be on to something!

The man filling the shoes of Anders Fogh and the man who is formally inviting the world to participate in COP15 in Copenhagen this December is Lars Loekke Rasmussen. However, while Mr. Rasmussen has expressed his full support to the fight for a better climate,  it is no secret that the Danish Government is depending on the Danish Peoples Party to stay in power. Without Pia Kjaersgaard (the leader of the Danish Peoples Party) there is no liberal Government! It is also no secret that Pia Kjaersgaard  publicly has advocated to return Bjoern Lomborgh to a prominent position in Danish Climate Policy and to shut down the Ministry for Climate policies following COP15. These are the terms that Connie Hedegaard have been working under and it is the same conditions that the new Minister for Climate and Energy; Lykke Friis will be facing.

When considering that this is the platform from where Connie Hedegaard has had to launch an ambitious climate policy, there is no doubt that she has done an excellent job. She will need her ability to push political objectives that are considered unwanted forward in the EU. Persuading the Eastern European countries to take their part of the responsibility, while keeping the wealthier EU countries in check is not going to be easy.

That Connie is heading to the EU should not be cause for fear but optimism. It shows that the President of the EU Commission José manuel Barroso is not looking for a silent puppet in charge of the EU climate policy. It also creates hope that the post as Climate Commissioner will be more powerful than many has expected.

Finally in a Danish perspective – I am pleased that Lykke Friis has been pulled in from the sideline as an unexpected joker. I was personally having a hard time seeing who would be able to step up and continue the work of Connie Hedegaard and I must say that I have a positive attitude with regards to the qualities of Lykke Friis. She has an extensive knowledge of the EU and international politics and a personal drive that can work wonders.

All in all – considering the fuzzy feeling I had following the EU election of PM Herman van Rompuy as the new President of the EU Council and the UK’s Baroness Ashton as the new foreign policy chief – I am relieved to see that at least one of the commissioners is equipped with a bit of “spice”!

The Danish United Association is backing the “Planet First – People First” demonstration taking place the 12. December in Copenhagen. Unfortunately the anticipation by many to be a part of a public statement directed towards the politicians, that will be deciding the faith of the planet during the Conference has turned into fear. Fear of being thrown to jail for voicing their concern with the lack of political willingness to commit to a legally binding agreement at COP15.

The cause for concern stems from a civil disobedience package that the Danish Government and its political sidekick, Danish People’s Party, intends to introduce prior to COP15.  The aim being to provide the police with additional tools to control the many climate activist expected to arrive in Copenhagen during December month.

Sadly the Danish Government thereby puts aside a Danish tradition of attempting to reach out to the people that attends demonstrations and through dialogue creating a calm and peaceful atmosphere around the events. Instead they are now preparing for “war” and they are indirectly telling the police that such an outcome is both expected and acceptable!

Justice Minister Brian Mikkelsen has been quoted saying that people inhibiting police work would be sentenced to 40 days in prison instead of just getting a fine!

The chances of innocent people being caught in the middle of a demonstration with peaceful objectives, which suddenly becomes messy because of a few individuals provoking the police is always present. Should ordinary people now fear being locked up in prison for an extensive period of time, when using their democratic rights to protest against politicians!?

We can only hope that the Danish police displays a less confronting attitude when engaging with the demonstrations during COP15, than suggested by the Danish Government and the Danish Peoples Party.

Do not get intimidated by this shameless display of power – Use your democratic right to show the politicians that they need to act now and not tomorrow.

The Danish UNA & The Danish Model United Nations Society will be hosting a simulation of the Conference of Parties 15 taking place in December, in Copenhagen.

The team behind the event all have vast experience with Model United Nations and it is with these experiences in mind that we will offer interested COP15 attendees, the chance of negotiating on behalf of the worlds countries, rather than “just” reading about it in the papers, or watching the negotiations from afar. We believe that by putting people in the shoes of the countries they usually read about, they will have a much better chance of grasping the complexity and the many dilemmas each individual country is facing.

Date: 10 December 2009

Time: 14:00 – 18:00

Place: HK-Hovedstaden, Artillerivej 30, 2300 København S

Sign up no later than 2 December by sending a mail to christine@una.dk

Preparation for the conference is estimated to take approximately one hour

Tjeck out www.muncc.dk for more info

This site is intended as a platform for news about the Conference Of Parties 15, taking place in Copenhagen this December!