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A Manufactured Process

tzundel December 7, 2011 0 Comments

by Trudi Zundel Allow me to quickly clarify that I'm not an idealist about the UN; I know that the concept of a "fair" international negotiation is contradicted by the presence of global hegemons--outcomes certainly don't reflect a middle ground between nations. However, the last three years of UNFCCC negotiations have shown us that although the power dynamics of negotiations may not lead to a...

The Great Escape

Anjali Appadurai December 6, 2011 0 Comments

Or "How they help us help ourselves lose the fight" by Anjali Appadurai Is the climate regime unraveling before our eyes in Durban? There are some scary indications that it is. Some Parties are "cautiously optimistic" (India), some are "reasonably optimistic" (Brazil) and some believe that this is all going down the drain (a different Indian negotiator). The truth is, expectations are all over...

The Future of Developed Country Commitments: Mitigation in the new LCA Text

tzundel December 6, 2011 0 Comments

by Trudi Zundel The new AWG-LCA text came out on Saturday, a bulky 130-page document that was to serve as a guiding tool for the high-level negotiations going on this week. The LCA, or Long-term Cooperative Action, is the negotiating track that runs alongside the discussion on the future of the Kyoto Protocol. Any "Durban Mandate" that comes out of this session will be based on the LCA...

Who Are These Guys Anyway?

Joe Perullo December 6, 2011 0 Comments

by Joe Perullo I decided to do some investigating on who exactly the country delegates were. Who hires them? Who are they really representing? What do they do outside of the UNFCCC? When we say the US is stalling progress and shoving responsibility onto developing countries, who exactly do we mean? A lot of fingers are pointed at the delegates, but they're just people, right? The US was my...

Speak for Yourself

Katie O'Brien December 6, 2011 0 Comments

by Katie O'Brien I cannot speak for anyone other than myself. It seems obvious—at least to me it does—because how can I speak on things I have not experienced myself? But this is exactly the problem with the UNFCCC process (and other processes as well but lets not go into that today): speaking on behalf of people. I suppose my statement wasn’t entirely true because in applying to be a...