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Dickinson to Durban » Entries tagged with "Cancun Agreements"

AOSIS Increases Urgency

Claire Tighe ‘13 Just tuned into a press briefing hosted by AOSIS to hear about their progress in the last two weeks. What is the state of their demands for the outcomes of COP17? Have these changed over the last two weeks? What about since the last few COPs? What is left to be done? According to the vicechair of AOSIS, their negotiating positions have not changed much since 2009, as they still use the “Protocol Approach,” which advocates for a second commitment of the Kyoto Protocol (KP). However, since the last two COPs, AOSIS has increased the level of urgency with which they approach the negotiations. They do this by highlighting scientific findings that predict catastrophic climate change, particularly for the most vulnerable (small island states). According to AOSIS, their negotiating … Read entire article »

Filed under: Climate Change, Environmental Justice, Environmental Politics, Featured, Key COP17 Issues, Mosaic Action, Student Research

USA, China, EU not on the same page for Long Term Action

USA, China, EU not on the same page for Long Term Action

By Timothy Damon ’12 Earlier today I sat in on the open meeting of the Ad hoc Working Group for Long Term Cooperative Action (AWG-LCA), a body tasked with looking ahead and considering the future trajectory of activities under the UNFCCC process. There I had the opportunity to witness a brief exchange between several major players, including the USA, EU, and China. I will recount this episode and provide some analysis. Shortly after I entered the room, … Read entire article »

Filed under: Climate Change, Key COP17 Issues

CAN Updates-Day 3

Each day at 12:30, a group called Climate Action Network International (or CAN) holds press (and public) briefings on the state of the negotiations. Here are a few of their highlights: Going into COP17, there are “big political problems that need to be resolved.” (Georgiana Woods, CAN Australia) These are mostly technical issues about how the negotiations will work and how to proceed with this COP. Unfortunately, it may be that the delegations cannot quite do this. Rather, next week, once many of the political leaders join the conference, they will be able to decide what is realistic for the negotiations, and how to move forward. According to Woods, “This meeting is a turning point for negotiations. We’ve gone as far down the road of deferring action as we can.” This is … Read entire article »

Filed under: Carbon Markets, Climate Change, Conservation, Consumption, Environmental Justice, Environmental Politics, Featured, Key COP17 Issues, Mosaic Action, Student Research

Stand Aside (and Don’t Deliver)

We spoke informally with a Norwegian delegate who suggested that if the United States doesn’t plan on agreeing to anything big, they should at least stand aside and stop blocking agreements from happening. Interesting idea. … Read entire article »

Filed under: Climate Change, Environmental Justice, Environmental Politics, Key COP17 Issues, Mosaic Action