Copenhagen: The Short View
Kieron Bryan attended the UN’s COP-15 climate change conference in Copenhagen last month. Here he reflects on the mood at the end of the conference, and its immediate aftermath; later this week John Rapley will look at the longer-term implications of COP-15.
A month on from the COP-15 conference in Copenhagen, the fingers of blame have been variously pointed at China for leaving talks early, the United States and President Obama for failing to meet the challenge the way you’d expect the Messiah would, and Denmark’s over-zealous Government for hi-jacking the talks, foisting a flawed draft text on other nations in an attempt to seal a place in the history books.
It’s easy, though largely unproductive, to apportion blame in the face of large scale failure, but all it does is mask the crippling sense of disappointment and unfocused anger experienced by everyone associated with COP-15.
When I arrived on Saturday, December 12 a massive rally was taking place in central Copenhangen, organised in the name of ‘Climate Justice Now’ by a number of activist groups. Thousands marched, and it struck me that this was the closest thing to a consensus that anyone had arrived at over the two weeks.
On the final day of the conference the number of NGOs given access to the Bella Centre, where the COP-15 talks were being held, was reduced from 15,000 to just 90 – seemingly to keep world leaders out of the firing line of frustrated activists. It was the final example of how ordinary people had been kept at arm’s length throughout the talks.
On Wednesday, delegates were supposed to march out of the Bella Centre and join a people’s assembly. The authorities had other ideas, as delegates were forcibly held in the conference building and protests were stifled with batons and pepper spray outside. On the ground it seemed those in charge were more concerned with avoiding embarrassment than listening to people’s concerns for the planet.
Saving face turned out to be the order of the day as hopes of a meaningful deal faded. On what was supposed to be the final day of negotiations, I spoke to Andy Atkins, executive director of Friends of the Earth; he argued that an agreement to set dates for legally binding targets was the best outcome he could hope for.
His modest expectations were shared by the representatives of most of the groups I spoke to. By the end of the fortnight though, even a timetable for change was beyond our short-sighted leaders; the naysayers were proved right and the slow negotiations of climate talks in the previous two years had scuppered COP-15.
There is one meeting left for Copenhagen’s climate wake-up call to be heeded, which convenes in Mexico at the end of the year. It is the final chance to make a legally binding international agreement that can avert catastrophic climate change above 2 degrees – an increase which would condemn millions to abject poverty, extreme weather conditions, or worse. Lessons must be learnt, most certainly by the politicians who have let us down in the name of preserving our economic aspirations, but also, the activists and NGOs as well.
As George Monbiot pointed out in an article recently, “we no longer have movements; we have thousands of people each clamouring to have their own visions adopted.” Activist groups must pool their resources better to arrange peaceful protest and direct action under the same banner; failure to do so in Copenhagen led to mixed messages and undermined efforts to pressuring politicians into a fair deal for the planet.
Copenhagen was a failure and the spectre of missing such an opportunity will linger for a while yet. But it’s crucial all parties are honest with themselves and strive to do better this year. We have little other option.
Posted by Kieron Bryan in Green Rush | January 18, 2010 3:15PM |