Bali Action Plan

A new era of Carbon Colonialism

greeder December 13, 2011 1 Comment

by Graham Reeder Say goodbye to equity. That was the sour taste we were left with as the COP president gavelled through 'agreement' after 'agreement' at 5am on Sunday morning. I will let others describe the scene on that night, what I want to focus on is what I see as a new step in contemporary colonialism. The UNFCCC laid out several core principles when it was first written,...

Yields of the Night Vigil

Anjali Appadurai December 10, 2011 0 Comments

by Anjali Appadurai I started this post at 4am, and worked on it intermittently until now - 9:30am. No new LCA text, no sleep. These ministers worked through the night, and through the documents they released from their "indaba" at a couple of different intervals, we have some meagre updates. The indaba high-level consultations convened at midnight and are still going strong, with three draft...

BASIC makes Room for an Elephant

Joe Perullo December 9, 2011 0 Comments

by Joe Perullo BASIC (the group of Brazil, South African, India, and China) gave a rather uncomfortable press conference the other day. China, the leader of the group, started the talk on the defensive, denying the major "rumor" floating around that BASIC is splitting up. The other countries complied and also denied the allegations. An elephant walked into the room. The EU and the US have...

African Anger at European Calls for A ‘New Mandate’

Youth Civil Society December 8, 2011 0 Comments

If you wish to add your organization's name please send an email to: greeder@coa.edu ASAP Civil society groups attack ‘Durban Mandate’ proposal as a ‘great escape’ DURBAN, SOUTH AFRICA – Today – Civil society leaders from across Africa, with support from global movements, launched a letter to climate negotiators that warns that focusing on launching a new mandate at the Durban talks...

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...