Conference of Parties 15, Day 9

Wednesday would be my last day at the Bella Center due to the restrictions on NGOs. As the high-level briefings are underway, many of the sessions are closed to the public or require yet another access pass. A few of us went to Tycho Brahe to watch the last open plenaries before the high-levels resumed. The COP which was scheduled first never took place. We thought little of this and waited for an hour for the CMP plenary to begin. Apparently party delegates from Brazil, India, and several other countries were prevented from entering the building due to the complications with security. South Africa on behalf of the G77 and China stated that the COP/CMP texts were in no shape to present to ministers. They requested one more day of technical work. This sentiment was supported by India, Philippines, China, Algeria, Senegal and Oman. Sweden interjected to say that the text is well developed with a great deal of options and brackets. Technical work has been exhausted in several areas; it is now time for political work and bargaining. Connie hastily suspended the plenary so that the high-level segment of the programme could proceed. She then resigned as President of the COP. Danish PM Lars Løkke Rasmussen assumed the Presidency and Connie was appointed as a "special representative" to oversee the negotiations. It was quickly added that a new Danish text will be made available which was based largely on the LCA and KP texts as negotiated.

The audience was in shock. First there was silence, followed by an explosion of exclamations from the floor. Lars attempted to begin the high-levels but Brazil interrupted with a point of order. The delegate from Brazil asked why the COP plenary never took place as scheduled and when they would see the new LCA text (delegates worked all night through 7 am in LCA contact groups). The Executive Secretary responded that the COP Plenary would begin at 1 pm. China supported Brazil in its concerns, adding that this is a grave issue. It violates the trust between countries, particularly between host countries and all other parties. This lack of transparency will have grave consequences. For a host country to put forward a new text shows that it does not respect parties. India and South Africa reiterated these sentiments. The delegate from the Maldives (whom I'm pretty sure was President Nasheed) said that though he understands the concerns of Brazil, China, and India, negotiations must continue after years of work. Lars attempted several times to resume the high-level segment of the programme but was interrupted by the same parties. After nearly an hour delay, Heads of State began their statements.

With the late start and drama of the morning, no one asked if we were authorized to be in the room (which we were not). Nafie Ali Nafie, Assistant to the President of Sudan, began the high-level segment with a speech on behalf of the G77 and China. The Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Meles Zenawi, made a statement on behalf of the African Group. Tillman Thomas, Prime Minister of Grenada, spoke for the Association of Small Island States. The position of Least developed countries was present by Pakalitha Bethuel Mosisili, Prime Minister of Lesotho. Sweden's Minister for the Environment, Andreas Carlgren, spoke on behalf of the European Union and Penny Wong, Australian Minister for Climate Change and Water, spoke for the Unbrella Group. These coalition speeches included the positions and demands for an outcome at Copenhagen. The statements continued with the positions of individual countries: President of Senegal Abdoulaye Wade, President of Mali Amadou Toumani Touré, President of Venezuela Hugo Chávez Frias, and President of Surname Runaldo Ronald Venetian. The Heads of State speeches ranged. Most were very predicatable--the threat of climate change, how it is already affecting their country, their demands and reductions targets (if applicable). The President of Senegal talked about what "great" things they are already doing to be green. Many of the projects were not very ambitious or progressive, some were actually harmful to the environment. Hugo Chávez was by far the most amusing. He is seriously crazy. Though some of the things he said were meant as jokes, other equally humorous statements were completely serious. A few highlights include jokes taking a jab at developed countries: “If the climate was a bank, the world would have already saved it.” More outrageous were his rants: "There is a ghost lurking; it is silent in this room, a terrible ghost. Nobody wants to identify this ghost….it is capitalism." He speech drew lots of laughs, some in amusement, some in awkward discomfort. It was truly outrageous.

While we were inside the plenary hall, apparently a riot was taking place outside. It has been reported that 4,000 protesters marched outside Bella in a campaign to "Reclaim Power." Organized by anarachist groups, the march intended to disrupt the negotiations--no deal is better than a bad deal. Hundreds of delegates inside the conference staged a "walk out," joining the rioters outside. Apparently the demonstration cause quite a disturbance both inside the conference and outside. As the media reported, the protests were broken up by the Danish police by sometimes violent means. We were in plenary when we found out what was going on and only saw what was going on outside from what was shared on the internet. Thursday, NGO presence will be restricted even further. After the riots the Secretariat was prepared to completely exclude civil society from the remainder of the negotiations. David Turnbull, Director of CAN International, met with the Secretariat and was able to raise the NGO presence to 300 individuals. NGOs will now be operating from bases outside of the conference center, so much for transparency...