We’ve arrived!  After 48 hours of travel including a four hour drive from Austin to DFW, 20 hours worth of layovers and a few long flights, Rainforest Partnership is in Durban for COP17 in high spirits!   The lack of internet has delayed my first post, but we are now up and running and will be posting on a regular basis.

As many of you who have been part of RP the past few years know, when Niyanta and I head to a COP, we see each other about 5% of the entire trip, not including our travel time. This trip is no exception. And the fact that we are official delegates to the COP this year, just means there is even more ground to cover. ­­­­­­­ As far as the blog goes, I will plan on posting twice a day to cover the following topics: UN negotiations, REDD (reduced emissions from deforestation and forest degradation) specific negotiations, ancillary conference updates (there are several we will be attending in parallel) and the Durban experience in general.

And, a big thank you to everyone who emailed blog suggestions!  I will try to update you all on some of the additional suggested topics as time permits.

COP 17

To start, what is the feeling around COP 17?  I must say the vibe, while still hopeful and energetic, is nothing like it was in Copenhagen for COP 15, where the world expected something great, an extension of the Kyoto Protocol that included the US, China and India.   With the World Meteorological Society  reporting in 2010 that global carbon dioxide emissions have increased 39% since the dawn of the industrial revolution in 1750, the extension of the Kyoto Protocol to include at least the US, if not China and India, would have been a big step in demonstrating world-wide dedication to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.  Moving to COP 16 in Cancun, the outcome included the Cancun Accords, which was not a binding agreement,  but did include text for REDD (reduced emissions from deforestation and forest degradation).   Read summaries of the outcomes of COP 15 and COP 16.

Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), reported at the opening of COP 17 that over 24,000 people were registered to attend COP 17 (official parties, observes and media) and that this year there are 55 issues under negotiation.  She also recognized that the UN process is slow and encouraged business to help foster a quicker transition to a low carbon economy.

One of the larger and more controversial issues being discussed here is the Green Climate Fund that was established in 2009 in the Copenhagen Accords which would dedicate $100 billion a year from developed countries to developing countries to mitigate and adapt to climate change.  To be determined is a design of the Fund that everyone can agree on to make it operational.  Major factors include how the fund would be financed.  Recent draft texts include a combination of public and private financing.  Concerns about developing economies unwillingness to sign binding-emissions reductions is also a reason the draft text has received pushback from the U.S. and Canada.

Durban

The third largest city in South Africa, Durban is a tropical metropolis on the Indian Ocean.  Everyone I have spoken with that is visiting the city for the first time describes it as somewhere they have visited before.  And they are all different!  Surprising to me, my first thought as we flew beneath the layered clouds before landing in Durban was how similar the outskirts of the city were to the outskirts of Tarapoto, Peru, the Amazon city one must fly into to visit RP’s partner community of Chipaota.  These areas are marked with thick, bright green forest and silty-brown rivers with increasing views of agricultural land as one nears each city.   See views from the plane below.

On another note, multiple people, both inside and outside the conference were excited to tell me today that Angelina Jolie is in town for the conference, as she is UN ambassador.   I will make sure to post some pictures if I see her speak!