5 - Chaos and Kyoto

Chaos and Kyoto

Confusion and chaos struck the Bella Centre yesterday.

Outside, campaigners, lobbyists and press queued for up to eight hours to access the negotiations in freezing temperatures. The metro was even suspended to prevent more people from arriving at the centre.

Inside the Bella Centre, negotiations were put on hold for five hours following a standoff between African countries and rich, industrialised nations.

The President of the conference held informal consultations over the weekend on two draft negotiating texts complied by the UN at the end of last week. These consultations were due to continue on Monday morning, but African nations were not happy with the schedule. They felt not enough time was being devoted to negotiating potential amendments to the Kyoto Protocol, which covers emissions reductions commitments for all developed countries, except the US.

African nations refused to participate in these consultations as they were concerned industrialised countries were pushing talks in the wrong direction. They believe wealthy countries are undermining negotiations by attempting to scrap the Kyoto Protocol – currently the only tool in place for regulating climate change.

Shortly after the news broke hundreds of campaigners showed solidarity with African nations by staging an impromptu protest. They took to the floor chanting, and carrying placards that read: “We stand with Africa; don’t kill Kyoto!”

Abandoning the Kyoto Protocol would be a major set back for delivering a meaningful global climate change deal. It would affect all countries, especially the world’s poorest. For these countries the negotiations are a matter of survival. Vulnerable communities across the world need a fair, ambitious and binding climate agreement, of which the Kyoto Protocol is an essential element.

After hours of confusion and a little bit of crisis management, talks resumed and continued well into the small hours.

Gordon Brown has already arrived in Copenhagen, two days ahead of schedule. He and the other world leaders who will join him later in the week, must do all they can to ensure we get a fair, ambitious and binding deal here in Copenahgen – and for rich countries this means re-committing to the Kyoto Protocol, and agreeing to reduce their emissions by at least 40% by 2020.

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