Victims of Comfort
Wednesday, 23 December 2009 by IsabelBottomsBuffers
Tuesday, 15 December 2009 by IsabelBottomsThis is one of those horribly difficult posts to write.
Monday was the worst day of the whole conference so far for us. I (Isabel) spent the day careering around from one place to the next trying to pull strings that I don’t have, and just generally being entirely at the mercy of the UN process. (more…)
The good, the bad and the grazers
Monday, 14 December 2009 by IsabelBottoms
The good…
Today we’ve been busy attending, taking notes and summarising the main plenary sessions for Kiribati. The talks have been tense and amongst the inhuman UN language there have been tears and anger from the official negotiators. We witnessed the spokesperson from Tuvalu break down as he spoke in utter desperation to save his culture, community and livelihood. The future of his whole country is in the hands of a few. (more…)
A quick fix?
Monday, 14 December 2009 by IsabelBottomsOn Thursday, we (Isabel and Jess – the two lawyers of the group) sat in on a side event entitled ‘Recognising and protecting human rights within the Copenhagen agreement’. As the talk unfolded, it hit us just how significant this issue is. It is so obvious, yet seems to somehow have eluded the general concerns surrounding climate change. (more…)
Drowning in the flood of information flying out of Copenhagen? We’re here to help
Monday, 14 December 2009 by IsabelBottomsYou may be following the whirlwind of stories in the press that is engulfing Copenhagen. Unless you’re superhuman you’re probably confused, as are many delegates here. For a country that can’t send many negotiators, keeping up with the endless simultaneous meetings, working groups and documents becomes an impossible task. Kiribati, the island state we are currently working with, are in this position. So to keep us all up to speed on who is saying what we went to a useful briefing on the positions currently being advocated at Copenhagen. (more…)