Day 3 Policy Updates: Contact Groups

by Lara Shirley There has been a general breakdown of bigger negotiations into smaller contact groups, which are often closed. COP In Finance, all agenda items were discussed. However, long term finance proved to be the most contentious. Philippines on behalf of the G77 stressed the importance of clarity in the pledged 100 billion per year by 2020 and urged scaling up of finance from the Fast...

Day 2 Policy Updates: Welcome to COP

by Bogdan Zymka and Lara Shirley Since these were the first two days of COP19, not much exciting has happened: only a couple contentious discussions in various forums. In the COP (Conference of the Parties), the G77+China strongly emphasized the need for a finance roadmap and strong mitigation targets calling it "an implementation COP". Definite finance targets are on track to become a key...

YOUNGO Intervention to CMP Plenary on Adaptation Fund

by Surya Karki and Nathan Thanki Intervention delivered by Surya Karki on behalf of Youth NGOs; Thank you Mr. President. My name is Surya, and am speaking on behalf of the youth constituencies. I am from Nepal where I have seen firsthand the impacts of climate change. Droughts are impacting agriculture, the main source of income for people in my village, and people are going hungry as a result....

Expelled from the United Nations: How the Executive Secretary Reacts to Solidarity with the Phillippines

By Maria Alejandra Escalante and Graham Thurston Hallett Before anything please watch this moving testament by Yeb Sano, head of the delegation of the Philippines. Four hours in, day one, COP19: Poland. Half a planet away, while the other half perishes with 20 years of inaction. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is tasked with saving the planet from anthropogenic...

First day, first actions, first signs of hope

by Lucas Burdick                 This is a late post, and very much a developing story. “Climate change means we face a future where super typhoons will no longer be one-in-one hundred year events…” said head negotiator for the Philippines, Yeb Sano, at the opening plenary of the COP. You could hear the tiredness in his voice and as he spent much of...