Emission Targets: please finish your sentences

by Juan The 12th Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC has shown the different ways in which numbers can be manipulated to comply with the Kyoto. Canada, for example, conveniently has spoken of achieving 60% reductions by 2050. The number alone will place Canada as a leader in meeting Kyoto-and-beyond targets, but they omitted the rest of the sentence. 60% reductions using a 2003 baseline, that...

Thank You Denmark!!!

by Matthew Two rounds of applause concluded Denmark’s Minister for the Environment and Nordic Cooperation, Connie Hedegaard, at her high-level speech today. Finally somebody said what we all were thinking, and more. Connie started off her speech with a question: “Does anybody here think that Climate Change is not a problem?” Silence followed. Then another question: “Does anybody think...

We may be small…

by Sarah Connie Hedegaard, Minister of Environment of Denmark, just made the most exciting speech I have heard here so far. Perhaps it is my Danish pride surfacing, but this dynamic speaker not only hit the nail on the head by saying that, although we make progress at these meetings, COP is a frustrating process that is not enough, but enthusiastically announced DK’s bid to host COP15-COP/MOP5...

Weather and development

by Sarah After lunch, I walked by the World Meteorological Institute’s (WMO) booth and decided to try to get a better idea of how people actually monitor things like atmospheric temperature, sea surface temperature, weather, etc. and how that information is used. After speaking to a WMO representative, I have gleaned the following info, which I think is interesting. There are several satellites...

Time is running out, youth organize in Nairobi

by Juan  With only 4 days for the closing of the UNFCCC negotiations, the North America youth delegation has doubled efforts to press for outcomes from this meeting that will safeguard help us combat climate change. Over the next 24 hrs we will be organizing a press conference, a meeting with the minister of environment of the United Kingdom, while meetings with the European Union, United...