Wading into the Wonderful World of Policy

posted by Louis, of the New Zealand Youth Delegation

Before we came to Copenhagen many people told us that a conference like this would be so confusing and crazy that hardly anyone would know what was going on. It seems that prophesy has finally come true. With back-room negotiations, NGO’s and civil society being barred entry and changes occurring by the minute, it is difficult for anyone to keep up.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and UNFCCC Executive Secretary Yvo de Boer

As I have written earlier, the key thing to remember is that behind all this complexity there are simple realities: leaders are making decisions which affect lives. This slogan is summed up by the International Youth Climate Movement – “survival is not negotiable”. This is why it is so important that we help our leaders to make the right decisions in these critical days. One great way to do this is to make sure you have signed this petition.

However, if you do want to delve into the nasty world of negotiations over here, then here goes… Basically, the two broad groups of issues are how to reduce emissions and how to pay for the consequences of emissions. Even if we take action now, developing nations will suffer significantly from the consequences of emissions. Developing nations want compensation for the costs of this (dubbed “adaptation”). Estimates put these costs in the range of $50 – $200 billion per year.

The bigger issues, however, centre around how countries should actually reduce their emissions in the first place. There are a host of issues here:

• How much developed countries should reduce: 25-40% is the ideal amount, but New Zealand, Australia, the United States and Canada are dragging their heels;
• What sectors should be included: Agriculture in New Zealand is the big one, but certain countries (including New Zealand) have also been working hard to exclude carbon emissions from logging; – How to help the developing world transition to a low-carbon future: sharing of technology and finance are on the table;
• Whether developed countries should be able to “buy” credits by investing in forestry or green technology in developing countries: this is good in theory, but has the potential to become an easy escape route for developed countries who want to keep on polluting;
• How to ensure that developing countries reduce their emissions too: currently developing countries have lower emissions, but many developed countries are demanding monitoring of developing countries (especially China and India) to ensure they reduce emissions in the long-term.

That is just skimming the surface, so if you are desperate to wade into the wonderful world of policy, then check out these links for updates: the latest text is analysed here, a great NGO blog is regularly updated here and if you are really keen, then visit here for a detailed analysis of each day of negotiations.