Leaders Event and Japanese position toward the COP 21

Leaders Event and Briefing by the Spokesperson of the Government of Japan on the Japanese position toward the COP 21 from the first day of Climate Negotiation by Makiko Yoshida November 30, 2015 marked the opening of the 21st Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) at Le Bourget in Paris, France. This meeting also serves as the eleventh meeting of the...

Opening Plenary for the Paris Agreement – False Promises on Transparency and Ambition

by Sergio Cahueque and Sara Velander The Ad Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action (ADP) opening session took place on Sunday, November 29th at 5 PM, starting with a minute of silence to honor all the victims of the terrorist attacks in Paris two weeks ago. The purpose of the ADP in the next week is to consolidate a document that the parties can adopt, as a protocol or...

What was it like being an observer for one day at the UN?

by Angela Valenzuela.   What was it like being an observer for a day in the last preparatory meeting for Paris COP21? Here there is a poem that I wrote after the last ADP session (Ad-hoc working group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action): The conviction for life and the breeze of change brought me to Bonn, to observe how love is lost, in the fast steps of this reunion. Diplomacy is...

ADP: the biggest fight at COP20 Lima

by Klever Descarpontriez & Maria Alejandra Escalante(and many friends) Climate change impacts show no patience with the slow pace of progress at the intergovernmental negotiations and the very limited amount of actions being taken to halt global warming. We are already facing the impacts: sea level rise has displaced island communities in Bangladesh, droughts have decreased yields by 50% in...

10 things that are wrong with this approach to “equity”

Ever since our own Anjali Appadurai stood before world leaders at the 2011 Durban climate talks to demand “equity now,” echoing a longstanding demand of climate justice movements across the world, there has been an increasing use of the word in discussions on international climate change policy. The idea of equity is contested, as everyone from social movement leaders to former Heads of State...