D3/2 - BIG numbers and the meeting of the COP cont.

wow! this is BIG! I have copied part of an email from an IRENA colleague, concerning the numbers of attendees:

"On Tuesday I had to queue for only 1 hour for admission. I am not sure how we all will be able to get in next week as they told us Tuesday morning on the BINGO (Business/Industry NGO) meeting that 35.000 delegates are registered for the meeting; 10.000 delegates, 5000 journalists and 21.000 NGO (only 15.000 NGO [folks, i.e. us] are allowed to come indoors because of security reason). It is best to be early at place on Monday to be sure that we get in."

So, an early start I guess (It took me about 20 minutes to get in at 0920 this morning.)

The COP meeting has proceeded very slowly through the day. There is a major problem: as I understand it (and I may have it WRONG!), Tuvalu and lots of the small guys have requested that a new protocol should be discussed in a new "CONTACT" (i.e. closed) session, so that the US can become formally involved; while China, the Umbrella Group, and lots of the big guys want to continue with the Kyoto Protocol in an open session, with the US only "on side". Serious and heated comments from both sides (except the Yanks, of course, who aren't here as they haven't ratified the KP), culminating in Connie suspending that item so that she could adjourn the meeting (several hours late) until 1500. When she reconvened and got on with reports on CDM etc (the smouldering problem of CCS in CDM again reared up) and so it was all very frustrating. (HMM, re-reading - that's a complex couple of sentences, but it's been a trying day!)

There was a major demonstration outside the hall at 1500, supporting the Tuvalu initiative. We shall see how it works out (and I might find I have it completely wrong, when I read ENB report tomorrow!) Either way, it doesn't bode all that well - there are going to be problems one way or tuther.

Met Christine Milne during the day - she was a little less than her normal bubbly self, but we soon put an end to that, and she continued on in her resolute (and commendable) style. Hope she hangs in there - it's early days, after all.

Philippa Rowland from CEFE has arrived and we had a quick bite at lunchtime, recapping progress with the Bega Solar Farm initiative, and the current "Lifesaving Swim for Solar" programme to solarise the Queanbeyan and some ACT pools.

Attended a side event at lunchtime about the Indigenous Peoples' interests needing to be recognised if we are to be truly sustainable. At the moment, mentions of the UN Charter of the Rights of IPs are amazingly rare in the UNFCCC documentation...

Tonight a side event on Smart Grids; and another on "Sustainable Living vs Sustainable Building", by the RTCC (UK). Should be interesting on both counts. Let's see - after a heavy day, some good info will be welcome.