Fewer Marches, People, and Expectations at COP16
Written by Terry Odendahl, Greengrants CEO
Maybe we are just tired. Many have been in Cancún almost two weeks, going from meeting to meeting, trying to get time with delegates, organizing gatherings, and marching. Only five days for me and I’m exhausted. Many will be here another full week. I hear there is hope for some kind of agreement around REDD, but not much else.
International negotiations and non-governmental organization (NGO) forums are taking place far from the center of town and most people’s hotels, requiring long rides on a poorly coordinated shuttle system or in expensive taxis. Security is high, supposedly because of the threat of drug-runners and terrorists, but with each roadblock my cab passes through, I feel threatened. The police and soldiers are heavily armed.
Side events are at luxury hotels that dot the strips of land extending from the town. I’ve gone to meetings at countless venues, usually 20 minutes to half an hour apart.
There were over 50,000 people in Copenhagen for COP15, but probably fewer than 20,000 here. Officials had decided to move the venue from Mexico City; at least in part to control any protest activities. Still, there have been two marches so far, and another much larger march happening today. I’ve canceled my meetings to be a part of this grassroots action.
Where’s the Real Progress? Frigid, Empty Conference Rooms or Hot, Boisterous Streets
Sunday was dedicated to forests. Along with some 2,000 others (that was the official number, but it seemed fewer), I spent most of my time at the Cancún Conference Center. Registration was required. Security guards checked nametags not just at the entrance, but also at elevators and escalators. We had been advised to arrive no later than 8am, as the President of Mexico, Filipe Calderon Hinojosa, was giving a keynote address in the opening plenary. He said he loves forests, and planted trees as a child. Will this result in policy change?
Because the President was delayed, and many participants left right after he spoke, the best presentation of the day, made by Mirna Cunninham, a Miskitu woman, Chair of the Center for Autonomy and Development of Indigenous Peoples and a member of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues of the United Nations, was missed by many.
I was delighted that Greengrants Central American Advisor, Ruben Pasos of Nicaragua, found me early in the morning. He had organized a delegation of indigenous and peasant leaders to speak for themselves at COP16, meet each other, and learn about the complexities of global negotiations. I interviewed several of the 21 people who had been funded by Greengrants. The transcripts are being translated from Spanish as I write. Expect to see them on the website soon.
Samuel Nnah Ndobe had hoped to make it to some of the Forest Day activities, but he was blocked by the demonstration of La Via Campesina and others, happening in town. This was only the second march of COP16. I would rather have been there than inside the strangely frigid meeting halls. People kept asking, “Why are we using so much unnecessary energy when we’re here about reducing emissions?”
The head table, “high level” (they kept introducing panels all day long using those words) presentations of politicians, scientists, World Bank and UN officials, were in stark contrast to the grassroots meeting I attended that evening. I also noticed that few indigenous people or civil society leaders spoke up during sessions. We were mostly spoken to.
“We’ve Experienced Discouragement and Disappointment for 18 Years”
I was invited to a South-North Dialogue organized by the South-South Climate Summit that evening. A few of us had gathered at the 6pm starting time. By 7:30 pm we were more than 50 strong, crowding into a smallish room in one of the few more modest, but perfectly adequate, hotels. Our International Financial Institutions board gave grants to three Jubilee South organizations—in Latin America, Asia, and Africa—and another grant for a member in an organization in Kyrgyzstan to participate in Cancún. Here, people of all colors and ages passionately voiced their concerns about the course of the negotiations. They are incredibly active: organizing a “World Bank out of Climate Finance” campaign; advocating for an International Peoples Tribunal on Debt at COP17 in South Africa; calling for a Referendum on Climate Change; and demanding that there is no climate justice without gender justice. Although, as one person indicated, “We have experienced discouragement and disappointment for 18 years.” Not much is new this year at COP16.
Submitted using Wi-Fi in the Grassroots Global Justice Alliance media room while the Indigenous Environmental Network, Red Road to Cancun broadcasts live.