Day 3 Policy Updates: Contact Groups

by Lara Shirley There has been a general breakdown of bigger negotiations into smaller contact groups, which are often closed. COP In Finance, all agenda items were discussed. However, long term finance proved to be the most contentious. Philippines on behalf of the G77 stressed the importance of clarity in the pledged 100 billion per year by 2020 and urged scaling up of finance from the Fast...

Philippines Solidarity Action COP19

by J. Taggart Wass After Monday’s empowering speech by the Philippines lead negotiator Naderev ‘Yeb’ Sano and his decision to fast in support of his home country until a meaningful COP outcome was in sight, the youth of COP 19 decided to show solidarity for Yeb and the Philippines by participating in a voluntary fast for climate change.  Just as lunch was in session Anjali Appadurai,...

Expelled from the United Nations: How the Executive Secretary Reacts to Solidarity with the Phillippines

By Maria Alejandra Escalante and Graham Thurston Hallett Before anything please watch this moving testament by Yeb Sano, head of the delegation of the Philippines. Four hours in, day one, COP19: Poland. Half a planet away, while the other half perishes with 20 years of inaction. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is tasked with saving the planet from anthropogenic...

Press Release: Climate activists thrown out for solidarity with victims of typhoon Haiyan

12 NOVEMBER 2013 The UN climate talks opened on Monday in the backdrop of the devastating impacts of Typhoon Haiyan one of the strongest storms ever to hit landfall. Yeb Sano, climate commissioner for the Philippines made an electrifying and emotional appeal for action on climate. Delegates held an unprecedented 3 minute silence in solidarity, and Mr. Sano broke down recounting how his brother...

First day, first actions, first signs of hope

by Lucas Burdick                 This is a late post, and very much a developing story. “Climate change means we face a future where super typhoons will no longer be one-in-one hundred year events…” said head negotiator for the Philippines, Yeb Sano, at the opening plenary of the COP. You could hear the tiredness in his voice and as he spent much of...