Delegate from China

As the second week begins, logistics are increasingly difficult. Right now the rumor is that the G77 is walking out (that includes China). All of the public briefings have been cancelled which is not a good sign. (They did not walk; negotiations were suspended for some hours but have now resumed and are expected to go far into the wee hours of morning.)

It took over 3 hours just to get into the meetings this morning. We all stood out in the cold. Those who were trying to register shivered for an unbelievable 6 hours before getting in. After I arrived, they actually stopped letting the Metro stop at the station where the Conference is located and delegaqtes had to walk from another Metro station to the Bella Center.  I sit in a session now in which they tell us that they are limiting the access for the next days down to only 90 people by Friday from civil society (out of thousands) who are allowed access to the center.

The problem is that all the people who came and will not be able to participate at all are very distressed. The reason is because the heads of state are bringing huge entourages; security is also a reason.  The Danish police are pulling 16 hour shifts which means they have rather short fuses. The mood is geting more serious and secretive. With the likelihood of any binding agreements evaporating by the hour, the posturing has turned to finance, reparations of “climate debt,” procedural issues that keep or release countries like China, Brazil and India from being considered developing countries that are eligible for financial aid, and other political maneuvers that have very little to do with mitigation or adaptation to climate change  – the ostensible reason we are here.

40,000 have requested admittance; 15,000 can get into the center. 10,000 government delegates and their entourages plus 4,000 media leaves only 1,000 for all of the NGOs (like me) to get in for the rest of the week. Access is getting less and less; and texts of the ongoing proposals are not available for any of us outside the country delegates.

The status of the press during the rest of the week will also be limited, but we are not told how many. I’ll be going very early to try to secure one more of the precious passes. The health coalition from Europe arrived today and we had meetings with the World Health Organization and others for most of the afternoon. I am the ONLY research NGO represented in the entire health entourage. The rest are in the environmental NGO constituency. We’ll be working inside (those who can get in) and outside over these final days. Most of the “real” work will be for COP 16 in Mexico City in 2010 so that health gets back into the conversation.

This is definately a lot of work. Next year, I need to take help. Maybe an army!

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