Finding my feet

Esther Babson

The first day at the conference can be whittled down to one word, whirlwind. Emily comparing it to Disneyworld is a perfect comparison. After being bused to the drop off point, we had to wait in lines (or “queues” as our British and Australian counterparts taught us) in the heat just hoping to get into the metaphorical rollercoaster which we eventually entered. The first objective upon entering the conference center was just to find a place to meet and once that was established, at a small semi-circle of cushion chairs, we were all set free. At first I didn’t know what to do with myself. I had contacts I could email but finding WiFi at first was impossible and I had no idea where anything was! We also learned from a fellow internet user that there were no maps beyond the few laminated ones at info desks which you could not take with you. Finally WiFi was found and emails were able to be sent and checked, which of course is when the real “ride” began. Suddenly I found myself rushing off to a side event on the EU-Africa scientific cooperation on climate change at the EU pavilion which I had to locate and ended up being not even part of the main center!

EU African Cooperation

The talk was actually really incredible. Representatives of various groups working with both Africa and the EU on climate change explained the efforts and goals of this cooperation. Luca Perez from the EU Commission began with the Europe’s Regional Research Programme which gives grants to co-finance research activities, including climate change research in the EU but also with Africa. This includes a program KNOSSOS or Knowledge from Science to Societies which helps to inform policy makers about the science which is worded in a different way then they are used to. I believe that having this “translation” of science to policy is critical in moving forward with dealing with climate change but also in these negotiations. If the negotiators don’t realize how real and serious the problem is, they won’t act. There were many more speakers but one of my personal favorites was Christiane Gerstetter from the Ecologic Institute discussing Climate Induced Changes on Water and Security. She works specifically with CLICO which uses case studies from 11 countries in order to fill in gaps in the research on if there will be more or less conflict as a result of climate change and what are those local level conflicts and analyzing current policy frameworks and giving suggestions for improvement. This area of study is exactly what I’m interested and it was so amazing to hear about groups working on this critical issue. As I continue with day 2 and the rest of the conference I hope that I’ll be able to continue searching out similar gold mine events.