The peacefully permitted protest scheduled to start at Taarnby Station and walk to the Bella Center had yet to impact ingress and egress to the proceedings when I reached the Bella Center by 7:30 this morning. I was able to go right in. Many country delegates spent the night in the center as negotiations went around the clock. The RINGOS (Research and Independent Non-governmental Organizations) quickly filled a large conference room to negotiate the distribution of remaining passes into the conference. Process rather than substantive treaty language has consumed many delegation’s time and energy. The RINGOS gave passes out to those who had been attending RINGO meetings.
I find myself saddened by the development of civil society splintering into RINGOS, BINGOS, ENGOS, etc. Scarce resources certainly lead to conflict, be it access to a seat at the negotiating table or to adequate water, energy, and stable climate. By mid morning a coalition of delegates within the Bella Center marched outside in solidarity with the 4000 individuals gathered at the gate seeking participation in the proceedings.
As a National Wildlife Federation Delegate, I joined the Climate Action Network (CAN) REDD meeting to assess the latest Cop Decision text on forestry. We agreed upon general recommendations regarding remaining bracketed language that should be removed from the text and discussed who could share these recommendations on the ministerial level. I was able to do so with Senator Kerry. His speech raised spirits and set a progressive tone. I also thought highly of the UN panel discussion on climate displacement and the CAN panel discussion on US energy policy, an issue that has involved greater political bipartisanship of late than climate legislative efforts.
Passing members of the press who were editing footage of the morning's demonstrations on their laptops was sobering. Delegates tried to keep each other informed as to what was occurring outside. Public transport to and from the Bella Center was suspended for part of the day as demonstrations in the City Center and outside the Bella Center sought to impact the proceedings. The deliberative process at the ministerial level inched along, weighed down by domestic political realities of respective representatives.
IUCN held a reception and dinner in the elephant house of the Copenhagen Zoo - symbolic on several levels. An old legend tells of five blind men who come upon an elephant. Touching it's side, the first concluded that an elephant is like a wall. Feeling it's tusk, the second decided that an elephant is like a spear. Grasping it's trunk, the third insisted that an elephant is like a snake while the fourth felt the Elephant's leg and knew that an elephant is like a tree. The fifth man held the elephant's tail and said that an elephant is like a rope.
The lesson that I take away from this timeless story is that collective understanding can transcend confusion and can facilitate cooperation.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Observations from COP-15 (by Guest Blogger Elizabeth Burleson)
[Elizabeth Burleson is an environmental law professor from the University of South Dakota School of Law. For more information about her go to http://www.globalenvironmentallaw.com and click on "Burleson" on the opening page.]
I hit the decks running at Cop 15 heading into meetings with no sleep straight from the airport. The World Resource Institute provided an excellent framework for the finance debate between creating new institutions to distribute resources versus employing existing international institutions. Former US Congressman Dick Ottinger and I followed this with a lunch and briefing by the Climate and Energy Funders Group. Together with the Climate Action Network, delegates from a number of foundations (ranging from Rockefeller to Doris Duke) pooled collective understanding on how to effectively finance climate mitigation, adaptation, and innovation collaboration on environmentally sound technology. Forest Day events gathered stakeholders and decision-makers on REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries). I met with a diverse range of United Nations representatives, scientists, economists, academics, and civil society non-governmental delegates. I found this forum to be an incubator of transnational cooperation. Dinner with the Climate and Energy Funders Group led to several great conversations on implementing the Bali Action Plan (1. Mitigation, 2. Adaptation, 3. Technology Transfer and 4. Financing). Having walked roughly 10 miles and stayed up until 2 am to respond to my delegation listserv and an array of Cop email, I felt in a daze arriving at the Bella Center before dawn. It was worth it however for the 20 minute wait to clear security as the lines left many delegates waiting in freezing temperatures for hours. My National Wildlife Federation delegation reported that many left when tensions grew. On the inside of the Bella Center, delegates rushed to find 8 am briefing meetings. A Chinese youth delegate happily shared his perspective on the proceedings to date. Helping the United Nations Environmental Program with their booth and side event materials on adaptation, I had the chance to talk one on one with over 50 country delegates, NGO representatives, and a general cross section of Cop 15 participants.
As a USD law professor teaching and researching climate, water, energy, and good governance, I brainstormed with graduate students that approached the UNEP booth interested in pursuing careers that encompassed climate. They shared their observations on the impact that civil society was having on the international climate proceedings and on the cooperation occurring between public private players. I shared my UN involvement from pre-Rio through Copenhagen including findings as a co-author of a UNEP book entitled GREENING WATER LAW. United Nations observers shared their understanding of Cop developments and coordinated joint side event logistics on core themes. My favorite meeting of the day involved UNEP representatives and several scientists strategizing on environmentally sound battery technology options for the future. Many country delegates stopped by for UNEP materials and to debrief after the Monday interruption of proceedings. I spoke with at least 10 African country delegations regarding their hopes for renewed consensus building.
I helped the National Wildlife Federation put on a side event on Amazonian Forestry issues, coordinating participation by a Brazilian governor (who navigated the long lines into the conference just in time for the presentation). As part of the National Wildlife delegation, Larry was able to obtain entrance into Al Gore’s organization’s new film “Climate of Change.” Gore personally gave an inspiring introduction to the film. Having worked with him at COP IV to the Rio Conference in 1992, I was heartened to see him at the core of bringing civil society into meaningful participation with international decision-makers. We stand at a cross-roads. As a UNICEF delegate to the Bali Climate Conference, I had a heightened sense of the urgency of agreeing upon a shared vision in an inclusive process. Good governance encompasses transparency, representation, and public participation. Efficiency and Equity can both be achieved here in Copenhagen with the requisite trust and political will.
In the mid afternoon on Monday Dec. 14, I witnessed the central hall of the Bella Center become the venue for a blue rain poncho clad intervention by civil society supporting Africa. Roughly 60 people began yelling “We stand with Africa, Kyoto Targets Now.” They held signs that reiterated these statements and were soon surrounded by cameras as the entire hall filled with thousands of participants stopped to take note. It remained orderly and did not take on the level of tension of the participants unable to enter the Bella Center. Yet, many NGO delegates were critical of the handling of public participation. Up to 100,000 individuals marched on Saturday in support of international cooperation on climate change. Amnesty International condemned leaving people bound for 4 hours forced to sit on city streets in freezing temperatures, arresting nearly 1000 and then releasing all but a handful). The general sense was that responding to a few brick throwers should not risk the safety and civil rights of civil society at large. Many delegates are now torn between trying to attend Bella Center proceedings and risking unrest as rumors circulate that protests might hinder access at the venue. All non-governmental delegations have been required to reduce their delegations by two thirds. Some delegations are coordinating via Skype meetings while others are shifting their focus to Klimaforum09 events.
As I write on Tuesday Dec. 15th, I am able to watch snow flurries swirling around Tivoli’s roller coaster rides, while helicopters circle above. I can hear people yelling and sirens calling. Local warning systems are needed the world over to provide accurate advice for people on the streets as natural or political events unfold. I am suppressing a foreboding, as someone who could watch the smoke from the towers on 9/11 and listen to days of hovering helicopters. I remain optimistic that light will shine through these short days in Copenhagen and together the international community will find peaceful middle ground that effectively responds to our collective climate change challenge.
I hit the decks running at Cop 15 heading into meetings with no sleep straight from the airport. The World Resource Institute provided an excellent framework for the finance debate between creating new institutions to distribute resources versus employing existing international institutions. Former US Congressman Dick Ottinger and I followed this with a lunch and briefing by the Climate and Energy Funders Group. Together with the Climate Action Network, delegates from a number of foundations (ranging from Rockefeller to Doris Duke) pooled collective understanding on how to effectively finance climate mitigation, adaptation, and innovation collaboration on environmentally sound technology. Forest Day events gathered stakeholders and decision-makers on REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries). I met with a diverse range of United Nations representatives, scientists, economists, academics, and civil society non-governmental delegates. I found this forum to be an incubator of transnational cooperation. Dinner with the Climate and Energy Funders Group led to several great conversations on implementing the Bali Action Plan (1. Mitigation, 2. Adaptation, 3. Technology Transfer and 4. Financing). Having walked roughly 10 miles and stayed up until 2 am to respond to my delegation listserv and an array of Cop email, I felt in a daze arriving at the Bella Center before dawn. It was worth it however for the 20 minute wait to clear security as the lines left many delegates waiting in freezing temperatures for hours. My National Wildlife Federation delegation reported that many left when tensions grew. On the inside of the Bella Center, delegates rushed to find 8 am briefing meetings. A Chinese youth delegate happily shared his perspective on the proceedings to date. Helping the United Nations Environmental Program with their booth and side event materials on adaptation, I had the chance to talk one on one with over 50 country delegates, NGO representatives, and a general cross section of Cop 15 participants.
As a USD law professor teaching and researching climate, water, energy, and good governance, I brainstormed with graduate students that approached the UNEP booth interested in pursuing careers that encompassed climate. They shared their observations on the impact that civil society was having on the international climate proceedings and on the cooperation occurring between public private players. I shared my UN involvement from pre-Rio through Copenhagen including findings as a co-author of a UNEP book entitled GREENING WATER LAW. United Nations observers shared their understanding of Cop developments and coordinated joint side event logistics on core themes. My favorite meeting of the day involved UNEP representatives and several scientists strategizing on environmentally sound battery technology options for the future. Many country delegates stopped by for UNEP materials and to debrief after the Monday interruption of proceedings. I spoke with at least 10 African country delegations regarding their hopes for renewed consensus building.
I helped the National Wildlife Federation put on a side event on Amazonian Forestry issues, coordinating participation by a Brazilian governor (who navigated the long lines into the conference just in time for the presentation). As part of the National Wildlife delegation, Larry was able to obtain entrance into Al Gore’s organization’s new film “Climate of Change.” Gore personally gave an inspiring introduction to the film. Having worked with him at COP IV to the Rio Conference in 1992, I was heartened to see him at the core of bringing civil society into meaningful participation with international decision-makers. We stand at a cross-roads. As a UNICEF delegate to the Bali Climate Conference, I had a heightened sense of the urgency of agreeing upon a shared vision in an inclusive process. Good governance encompasses transparency, representation, and public participation. Efficiency and Equity can both be achieved here in Copenhagen with the requisite trust and political will.
In the mid afternoon on Monday Dec. 14, I witnessed the central hall of the Bella Center become the venue for a blue rain poncho clad intervention by civil society supporting Africa. Roughly 60 people began yelling “We stand with Africa, Kyoto Targets Now.” They held signs that reiterated these statements and were soon surrounded by cameras as the entire hall filled with thousands of participants stopped to take note. It remained orderly and did not take on the level of tension of the participants unable to enter the Bella Center. Yet, many NGO delegates were critical of the handling of public participation. Up to 100,000 individuals marched on Saturday in support of international cooperation on climate change. Amnesty International condemned leaving people bound for 4 hours forced to sit on city streets in freezing temperatures, arresting nearly 1000 and then releasing all but a handful). The general sense was that responding to a few brick throwers should not risk the safety and civil rights of civil society at large. Many delegates are now torn between trying to attend Bella Center proceedings and risking unrest as rumors circulate that protests might hinder access at the venue. All non-governmental delegations have been required to reduce their delegations by two thirds. Some delegations are coordinating via Skype meetings while others are shifting their focus to Klimaforum09 events.
As I write on Tuesday Dec. 15th, I am able to watch snow flurries swirling around Tivoli’s roller coaster rides, while helicopters circle above. I can hear people yelling and sirens calling. Local warning systems are needed the world over to provide accurate advice for people on the streets as natural or political events unfold. I am suppressing a foreboding, as someone who could watch the smoke from the towers on 9/11 and listen to days of hovering helicopters. I remain optimistic that light will shine through these short days in Copenhagen and together the international community will find peaceful middle ground that effectively responds to our collective climate change challenge.
Monday, December 14, 2009
Jordan Trip, Copenhagen Conference (by Bob Percival)
I returned to the United States on Saturday after spending a productive and enjoyable week in Jordan. The purpose of my trip was to assist in developing an environmental law curriculum for Jordanian law schools. At present only two environmental law courses are being taught in Jordan - an introductory environmental law course at Yarmouk University and an international environmental law course at Amman University -- and there are few course materials on the subject available in Arabic. In order to help jump start the teaching of environmental law, it has been decided that an environmental law problem will be the subject for the annual Jordanian National Law School Moot Court competition. The competition has become extremely popular among the Jordanian law schools and competition is fierce. On Monday afternoon I met with law professors from seven Jordanian law schools who responded positively to the idea of using an environmental topic for the 2010 competition after three consecutive years of using commercial law topics.
On Monday morning we attended the opening session of an Environmental Litigation Training Workshop that U.S. EPA was conducting for Jordanian judges. I spoke briefly with EPA Chief Administrative Law Judge Susan Biro, James McDonald, director of management for EPA’s Office of Administrative Law Judges, and Timothy Epp, counsel to EPA’s Environmental Appeals Board. Adnan Zawahreh, director of the inspectorate for Jordan's Ministry of Environment showed a video of himself uncovering a secret pipe that had been concealed underneath another pipeline in order to hide pollution violations. After being caught red handed the company needed two more warnings before agreeing to come into compliance. Mr. Adnan explained the importance of using videos to document environmental violations.
On Tuesday morning December 8 I met with Yehya Khaled, Director General of the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature (RSCN), and Chris Johnson, director of Wild Jordan, at the RSCN offices in Amman. Their groups are NGOs who have been given responsibility by the Jordanian government for managing the country's six protected areas. They discussed the difficulties of enforcing the country's relatively good laws governing protected areas and local resistance to land use planning regulations. Wild Jordan, which is a subsidiary of the RSCN, emphasizes the importance of melding environmental protection efforts with the economic needs of local communities, something they are doing by promoting eco-tourism. RSCN and Wild Jordan are starting their own school that will be used to train the Royal Rangers, the country's environmental police, and they plan to locate it in an abandoned quarry.
On Tuesday morning I also visited the University of Jordan where I met George Hazboun, the dean of the law school, and several other law professors. I then had lunch at the Hotel Intercontinental with Jordanian Justice Minister Ayman Oodeh, Minister of Environment Khaled Irani, Lawrence Mandel, Deputy Chief of Mission for the U.S. Embassy, and officials from U.S. AID. Comparing notes on environmental disputes in the U.S. and Jordan, I mentioned the Stop the Beach litigation that was just argued in the U.S. Supreme Court. It turns out that Jordan has a slightly different issue concerning the shrinking Dead Sea where structures initially built near the water are now located far away from the water’s edge.
On Wednesday I gave a lecture on environmental law at Yarmouk University in the town of Irbid, Jordan, near the Syrian border. The university has 32,000 students with more than 700 students in the law school. Law school dean Ayman Masadeh remembered me from his visit to the University of Maryland School of Law last spring. Yarmouk is the only school trying to teach introductory environmental law and the professor who is doing so, who is from Iraqi, discussed whether the U.S. military could be held liable for environmental damage in his home country.
On Wednesday night I had dinner with the group of judges who are on the board of the Arab Council for Judicial Legal Studies. These included the president of Lebanon's appellate court, a Supreme Court Justice from the Palestinian Territories, and judges from Morocco and Algeria. I learned that King Abdullah had fired the Jordanian prime minister and dissolved the cabinet so that both the Environment Minister and Justice Minister I had lunch with the day before were no longer in office, at least temporarily, until a new cabinet is formed.
On Thursday morning December 10 I gave a lecture on environmental law at Philadelphia University, a private university with 6,000 students located in the town of Ayn al Basha al Badida. Following the lecture there was a spirited question and answer session that included a question by a student who asked whether the U.S. military could be held liable for environmental damage in Iraq. I showed brief clips of some of the most recent environmental law films my students at Maryland had made and one of the professors indicated that he would be interested in having his students experiment with making environmental films. The Jordanian Ministry of the Environment is planning to host a film competition next year that will include a category for student films.
On Thursday afternoon I made a presentation on “The Emergence of Global Environmental Law” to a small but select audience of lawyers at the King Hussein Club in downtown Amman. The group included Judge Abdullah, the Jordanian judge most interested in environmental law, and Adnan Zawahreh, director of the inspectorate for Jordan's Ministry of Environment. After my presentation we had a really wide ranging discussion of developments in environmental law in different parts of the world. The audience seemed particularly interested in my experience in China.
Photos of my trip to Jordan are available online at: http://gallery.me.com/rperci/100629.
Meanwhile the Copenhagen conference continues. For guest blog reports from some of my friends who are attending the conference, go to www.globalenvironmentallaw.com and click on “Huang Jing” and “Miller” at the top of the opening page.
On Monday morning we attended the opening session of an Environmental Litigation Training Workshop that U.S. EPA was conducting for Jordanian judges. I spoke briefly with EPA Chief Administrative Law Judge Susan Biro, James McDonald, director of management for EPA’s Office of Administrative Law Judges, and Timothy Epp, counsel to EPA’s Environmental Appeals Board. Adnan Zawahreh, director of the inspectorate for Jordan's Ministry of Environment showed a video of himself uncovering a secret pipe that had been concealed underneath another pipeline in order to hide pollution violations. After being caught red handed the company needed two more warnings before agreeing to come into compliance. Mr. Adnan explained the importance of using videos to document environmental violations.
On Tuesday morning December 8 I met with Yehya Khaled, Director General of the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature (RSCN), and Chris Johnson, director of Wild Jordan, at the RSCN offices in Amman. Their groups are NGOs who have been given responsibility by the Jordanian government for managing the country's six protected areas. They discussed the difficulties of enforcing the country's relatively good laws governing protected areas and local resistance to land use planning regulations. Wild Jordan, which is a subsidiary of the RSCN, emphasizes the importance of melding environmental protection efforts with the economic needs of local communities, something they are doing by promoting eco-tourism. RSCN and Wild Jordan are starting their own school that will be used to train the Royal Rangers, the country's environmental police, and they plan to locate it in an abandoned quarry.
On Tuesday morning I also visited the University of Jordan where I met George Hazboun, the dean of the law school, and several other law professors. I then had lunch at the Hotel Intercontinental with Jordanian Justice Minister Ayman Oodeh, Minister of Environment Khaled Irani, Lawrence Mandel, Deputy Chief of Mission for the U.S. Embassy, and officials from U.S. AID. Comparing notes on environmental disputes in the U.S. and Jordan, I mentioned the Stop the Beach litigation that was just argued in the U.S. Supreme Court. It turns out that Jordan has a slightly different issue concerning the shrinking Dead Sea where structures initially built near the water are now located far away from the water’s edge.
On Wednesday I gave a lecture on environmental law at Yarmouk University in the town of Irbid, Jordan, near the Syrian border. The university has 32,000 students with more than 700 students in the law school. Law school dean Ayman Masadeh remembered me from his visit to the University of Maryland School of Law last spring. Yarmouk is the only school trying to teach introductory environmental law and the professor who is doing so, who is from Iraqi, discussed whether the U.S. military could be held liable for environmental damage in his home country.
On Wednesday night I had dinner with the group of judges who are on the board of the Arab Council for Judicial Legal Studies. These included the president of Lebanon's appellate court, a Supreme Court Justice from the Palestinian Territories, and judges from Morocco and Algeria. I learned that King Abdullah had fired the Jordanian prime minister and dissolved the cabinet so that both the Environment Minister and Justice Minister I had lunch with the day before were no longer in office, at least temporarily, until a new cabinet is formed.
On Thursday morning December 10 I gave a lecture on environmental law at Philadelphia University, a private university with 6,000 students located in the town of Ayn al Basha al Badida. Following the lecture there was a spirited question and answer session that included a question by a student who asked whether the U.S. military could be held liable for environmental damage in Iraq. I showed brief clips of some of the most recent environmental law films my students at Maryland had made and one of the professors indicated that he would be interested in having his students experiment with making environmental films. The Jordanian Ministry of the Environment is planning to host a film competition next year that will include a category for student films.
On Thursday afternoon I made a presentation on “The Emergence of Global Environmental Law” to a small but select audience of lawyers at the King Hussein Club in downtown Amman. The group included Judge Abdullah, the Jordanian judge most interested in environmental law, and Adnan Zawahreh, director of the inspectorate for Jordan's Ministry of Environment. After my presentation we had a really wide ranging discussion of developments in environmental law in different parts of the world. The audience seemed particularly interested in my experience in China.
Photos of my trip to Jordan are available online at: http://gallery.me.com/rperci/100629.
Meanwhile the Copenhagen conference continues. For guest blog reports from some of my friends who are attending the conference, go to www.globalenvironmentallaw.com and click on “Huang Jing” and “Miller” at the top of the opening page.
Guest Blog Post from Copenhagen Conference from Huang Jing (China Youth Climate Action Network)
December 13, 2009: Two months ago, I learned from the CYCAN (China Youth Climate Action Network) website that Chinese Youth would form a delegation to go to Copenhagen to attend the COP-15. I got very excited about this precious opportunity.
In the next two months, I applied for the selection process, got interviewed by the selection committee, attended a training workshop by Chinese experts, participated in the preliminary group meetings, and made fundraising efforts for the group with my teammate.
Finally, we successfully formed the 1st Chinese Youth Delegation which contains 40 young Chinese leaders. We represent a nation that makes up one-fifth of humanity, and a youth population of 400 million people. Our main missions are to represent China’s Youth Commitment to a Low Carbon Future and to set a precedent of Chinese Youth engagement on important international issues. To this end, we plan to organize various campaigns with one theme called “no other way but now”. We also set up our own blogs, the Chinese blog can be viewed at http://chinayouthcop15.blog.sohu.com/ and the English blog is located at http://chinayouthcop15.blogspot.com/ . You can also see the small bilingual bios of each member of our delegation from this link http://green.sohu.com/s2009/6945/s268376734/.
In the following two weeks, we have divided into three teams to conduct our activities: a policy team, a communications team and a campaign team. The policy team will focus on the negotiations in COP-15. The communications team is responsible for contact with international and domestic media while the campaign team will launch many interesting youth campaign activities both inside and outside the Bella Center.
There is No Other Way but act NOW!
[For more photos of Huang Jing in Copenhagen go to http://www.globalenvironmentallaw.com and click on "Huang Jing" at the top of the opening page.]
In the next two months, I applied for the selection process, got interviewed by the selection committee, attended a training workshop by Chinese experts, participated in the preliminary group meetings, and made fundraising efforts for the group with my teammate.
Finally, we successfully formed the 1st Chinese Youth Delegation which contains 40 young Chinese leaders. We represent a nation that makes up one-fifth of humanity, and a youth population of 400 million people. Our main missions are to represent China’s Youth Commitment to a Low Carbon Future and to set a precedent of Chinese Youth engagement on important international issues. To this end, we plan to organize various campaigns with one theme called “no other way but now”. We also set up our own blogs, the Chinese blog can be viewed at http://chinayouthcop15.blog.sohu.com/ and the English blog is located at http://chinayouthcop15.blogspot.com/ . You can also see the small bilingual bios of each member of our delegation from this link http://green.sohu.com/s2009/6945/s268376734/.
In the following two weeks, we have divided into three teams to conduct our activities: a policy team, a communications team and a campaign team. The policy team will focus on the negotiations in COP-15. The communications team is responsible for contact with international and domestic media while the campaign team will launch many interesting youth campaign activities both inside and outside the Bella Center.
There is No Other Way but act NOW!
[For more photos of Huang Jing in Copenhagen go to http://www.globalenvironmentallaw.com and click on "Huang Jing" at the top of the opening page.]
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Copenhagen Conference Guest Blog by Alan Miller
Here is the first guest blog post from the Copenhagen climate negotiations from guest blogger Alan Miller, principal climate change specialist for the Environment Department of the International Finance Corporation. For more information on Alan Miller go to www.globalenvironmentallaw.com and click on "Miller" at the top of the welcoming page.
Thurs. Dec. 11: Observations from the Copenhagen Climate Negotiations (COP15) (by Alan Miller)
For an old climate hand – my experience in climate negotiations goes back before the Rio Conference to early “90s – I tend to think I’ve seen it all. The Copenhagen meetings have upped the ante in several ways. The sheer numbers are daunting, an estimated 20,000 registered delegates, observers, and media from over 150 countries. The logistics of entry every morning resemble a crowded airport as we all descend on the dozen or so security lines. Inside a small town awaits, with cafes (open faced sandwiches appealing), dozens of exhibits, colorful attire from traditional garbs of developing countries, and hundreds of NGOs and special interest organizations from every perspective – religious, gender, youth, indigenous peoples, and justice. Some groups are clearly here for the first time -- for example, a Chinese business organization – and are understandably overwhelmed and confused by the experience. As an American it’s great to see the U.S. with a strong presence including a small theater where the EPA Administrator and many other federal officials give presentations every afternoon.
One of the most enjoyable features of the conference is the presence of large numbers of energetic teenagers sponsored by Greenpeace and other organizations. Some wonder around in green paint and space alien attire asking random passers-by to “take me to your climate leader”. Others appeared in pajamas with pillows and sang “Give Peace a Chance” on the anniversary of the “sleep-in” by John Lennon and Yoko Ono.
The Danish organizers have done an impressive job in managing the crowds but also maintaining an environmental ethos. Recycling bins are everywhere. All delegates get free public transportation and have access to free bicycles for commuting (the conference site is several miles from the city center but next to a metro stop). Climate-change related art and culture events dot the town, from concerts (the Back Street Boys) to 8 meter cubes representing the volume taken by a ton of carbon dioxide.
Of course the main event – almost hidden in the noise – are the negotiations themselves. A sense of optimism pervades the halls based on next week’s arrival of an expected 110+ heads of state. President Obama’s appearance alone generates great expectations, something we associate with American politics but which turns out to be equally true of people from most of the world. The first week is dominated by career negotiators and more mundane matters, refining texts that have been under negotiation for the two years since the Bali Action Plan was adopted, removing brackets and consolidating competing options. One trend that continues to evolve is the seeming disintegration of the G77 and China, the bloc of developing countries who have traditionally negotiated as one. At the November climate meetings in Barcelona, the African countries walked out, halting negotiations for almost a day. This time it’s the small island states demanding discussion of more aggressive goals and threatening to disrupt the process.
As of today (Thursday morning) it doesn’t seem possible it can all come together in a week’s time. Yet I left yesterday with a strongly positive hearing after sitting at a small briefing for international organizations by Yvo de Boer, the Convention Executive Secretary. As he told us, heads of state “don’t come together to commiserate, only to celebrate”. Am hoping he’s proven correct.
Thurs. Dec. 11: Observations from the Copenhagen Climate Negotiations (COP15) (by Alan Miller)
For an old climate hand – my experience in climate negotiations goes back before the Rio Conference to early “90s – I tend to think I’ve seen it all. The Copenhagen meetings have upped the ante in several ways. The sheer numbers are daunting, an estimated 20,000 registered delegates, observers, and media from over 150 countries. The logistics of entry every morning resemble a crowded airport as we all descend on the dozen or so security lines. Inside a small town awaits, with cafes (open faced sandwiches appealing), dozens of exhibits, colorful attire from traditional garbs of developing countries, and hundreds of NGOs and special interest organizations from every perspective – religious, gender, youth, indigenous peoples, and justice. Some groups are clearly here for the first time -- for example, a Chinese business organization – and are understandably overwhelmed and confused by the experience. As an American it’s great to see the U.S. with a strong presence including a small theater where the EPA Administrator and many other federal officials give presentations every afternoon.
One of the most enjoyable features of the conference is the presence of large numbers of energetic teenagers sponsored by Greenpeace and other organizations. Some wonder around in green paint and space alien attire asking random passers-by to “take me to your climate leader”. Others appeared in pajamas with pillows and sang “Give Peace a Chance” on the anniversary of the “sleep-in” by John Lennon and Yoko Ono.
The Danish organizers have done an impressive job in managing the crowds but also maintaining an environmental ethos. Recycling bins are everywhere. All delegates get free public transportation and have access to free bicycles for commuting (the conference site is several miles from the city center but next to a metro stop). Climate-change related art and culture events dot the town, from concerts (the Back Street Boys) to 8 meter cubes representing the volume taken by a ton of carbon dioxide.
Of course the main event – almost hidden in the noise – are the negotiations themselves. A sense of optimism pervades the halls based on next week’s arrival of an expected 110+ heads of state. President Obama’s appearance alone generates great expectations, something we associate with American politics but which turns out to be equally true of people from most of the world. The first week is dominated by career negotiators and more mundane matters, refining texts that have been under negotiation for the two years since the Bali Action Plan was adopted, removing brackets and consolidating competing options. One trend that continues to evolve is the seeming disintegration of the G77 and China, the bloc of developing countries who have traditionally negotiated as one. At the November climate meetings in Barcelona, the African countries walked out, halting negotiations for almost a day. This time it’s the small island states demanding discussion of more aggressive goals and threatening to disrupt the process.
As of today (Thursday morning) it doesn’t seem possible it can all come together in a week’s time. Yet I left yesterday with a strongly positive hearing after sitting at a small briefing for international organizations by Yvo de Boer, the Convention Executive Secretary. As he told us, heads of state “don’t come together to commiserate, only to celebrate”. Am hoping he’s proven correct.
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Jordan Trip, Stop the Beach Argument, Thai Decision, Bhopal Anniversary, India Climate Plan & Copenhagen
I arrived in Amman, Jordan early this morning to assist the ABA’s Rule of Law Initiative in the development of environmental law courses for Jordanian law schools. This afternoon I met with Jordan’s Minister of Environment Khaled Irani in his office at the Ministry of Environment. Environmental law is developing rapidly in Jordan as illustrated by the fact that the Ministry of Environment now is responsible for administering 19 laws, including many that initially were not considered environmental laws. However, penalties for environmental violations remain very low and often do not recoup the economic benefit of noncompliance. Following the meeting with Minister Irani, I went to the Palace of Justice where I met with Judge Abdullah Abu Ghanem, the Jordanian judge who is most interested in developing environmental law training programs for the judiciary. With his assistance, officials from U.S. EPA’s Environmental Appeals Board and Office of Administrative Law Judges will start a three-day environmental law training course here tomorrow for Jordanian judges.
On Monday November 30 my Environmental Law class debuted this year’s group of environmental law films. A total of 13 films were produced by the students, the most ever. On Wednesday December 2 the class concluded the semester by going on a field trip to the U.S. Supreme Court to watch the oral argument in a fascinating property rights case challenging Florida’s efforts to protect eroding coastline. The case of Stop the Beach Renourishment v. Florida Department of Environmental Conservation involves a challenge to a Florida Supreme Court decision upholding a Florida law designed to facilitate state efforts to prevent beach erosion. A tiny group of property owners are arguing that the Florida court committed a “judicial taking” by abruptly reinterpreting Florida common law to not require the property line of owners of beachfront property always to extend to the water. Under the law the state acquires ownership of new land created by the state-funded replenishment program seaward of the prior property. Because he owns Florida beachfront property, Justice Stevens recused himself from the case and did not participate in the oral argument, raising the possibility that the decision below could be affirmed by an equally divided U.S. Supreme Court.
On Wednesday the Supreme Court of Thailand largely upheld an injunction that had been issued in September to stop construction of $12 billion worth of petrochemical and power projects for failure to perform full-blown environmental impact assessments. The court ruled that work on 65 of 76 projects planned for the Map Ta Phut industrial park near Bangkok had to be suspended pending the completion of adequate environmental impact reports. The court based its decision on a provision added to the Thai constitution in 2007 that subjects industrial development projects to environmental and health studies.
Thursday marked the 25th anniversary of the deadly chemical leak at a Unon Carbide plant in Bhopal, India that quickly killed thousands of nearby residents while permanently maiming tens of thousands. Tragically, the site has not been cleaned up and many continue to be exposed to chemical contamination there. After lawsuits filed against Union Carbide in the U.S. were dismissed, the company settled with the government of India for only $470 million, leaving survivors of the dead with an average compensation payment of $2,200 per victim. See Suketu Mehta, A Cloud Still Hangs Over Bhopal, N.Y. Times, Dec. 3, 2009, at A33 (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/03/opinion/03mehta.html).
With the start of the Copenhagen conference approaching, the Australian Senate narrowly defeated a compromise plan to create a cap-and-trade program to control the country’s emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs). India announced that while it would continue to oppose any binding limits on its GHG emissions, it would seek to reduce the carbon intensity of its economy by 20 to 25% by the year 2020 compared with 2005 levels. The Indian government said it would propose legislation to impose fuel efficiency standards on all vehicles by December 2011 while urging lower levels of government to adopt green building codes. On Tuesday December 1 the Financial Times reported that Chinese wind farm projects have been suspended from receiving Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) grants while an investigation is undertaken to determine if the projects will result in genuine reductions in carbon emissions. Kathrin Hille, Geoff Dyer & Fiona Harvey, UN Halts Funds to China Wind Farms, Financial Times, Dec. 1, 2009 (http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/128a52de-deaf-11de-adff-00144feab49a.html.) China has received nearly half of all CDM credits issued worldwide to date.
While I will not be among the 15,000 people attending the Copenhagen conference, I have arranged for four friends who will be there to serve as guest bloggers. They should present a diverse set of perspectives on the events taking place there. The four are: environmental law professor Betsy Burleson from the University of South Dakota, my former student Huang Jing from Beijing who will be attending as part of the China Youth Action Network, Alan Miller, principal climate change specialist in the Environment Department of the International FInance Corporation (http://beta.worldbank.org/people/miller), and my former student Yvette Pena-Lopes who is Legislative Affairs Director of the Blue-Green Alliance.
On Monday November 30 my Environmental Law class debuted this year’s group of environmental law films. A total of 13 films were produced by the students, the most ever. On Wednesday December 2 the class concluded the semester by going on a field trip to the U.S. Supreme Court to watch the oral argument in a fascinating property rights case challenging Florida’s efforts to protect eroding coastline. The case of Stop the Beach Renourishment v. Florida Department of Environmental Conservation involves a challenge to a Florida Supreme Court decision upholding a Florida law designed to facilitate state efforts to prevent beach erosion. A tiny group of property owners are arguing that the Florida court committed a “judicial taking” by abruptly reinterpreting Florida common law to not require the property line of owners of beachfront property always to extend to the water. Under the law the state acquires ownership of new land created by the state-funded replenishment program seaward of the prior property. Because he owns Florida beachfront property, Justice Stevens recused himself from the case and did not participate in the oral argument, raising the possibility that the decision below could be affirmed by an equally divided U.S. Supreme Court.
On Wednesday the Supreme Court of Thailand largely upheld an injunction that had been issued in September to stop construction of $12 billion worth of petrochemical and power projects for failure to perform full-blown environmental impact assessments. The court ruled that work on 65 of 76 projects planned for the Map Ta Phut industrial park near Bangkok had to be suspended pending the completion of adequate environmental impact reports. The court based its decision on a provision added to the Thai constitution in 2007 that subjects industrial development projects to environmental and health studies.
Thursday marked the 25th anniversary of the deadly chemical leak at a Unon Carbide plant in Bhopal, India that quickly killed thousands of nearby residents while permanently maiming tens of thousands. Tragically, the site has not been cleaned up and many continue to be exposed to chemical contamination there. After lawsuits filed against Union Carbide in the U.S. were dismissed, the company settled with the government of India for only $470 million, leaving survivors of the dead with an average compensation payment of $2,200 per victim. See Suketu Mehta, A Cloud Still Hangs Over Bhopal, N.Y. Times, Dec. 3, 2009, at A33 (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/03/opinion/03mehta.html).
With the start of the Copenhagen conference approaching, the Australian Senate narrowly defeated a compromise plan to create a cap-and-trade program to control the country’s emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs). India announced that while it would continue to oppose any binding limits on its GHG emissions, it would seek to reduce the carbon intensity of its economy by 20 to 25% by the year 2020 compared with 2005 levels. The Indian government said it would propose legislation to impose fuel efficiency standards on all vehicles by December 2011 while urging lower levels of government to adopt green building codes. On Tuesday December 1 the Financial Times reported that Chinese wind farm projects have been suspended from receiving Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) grants while an investigation is undertaken to determine if the projects will result in genuine reductions in carbon emissions. Kathrin Hille, Geoff Dyer & Fiona Harvey, UN Halts Funds to China Wind Farms, Financial Times, Dec. 1, 2009 (http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/128a52de-deaf-11de-adff-00144feab49a.html.) China has received nearly half of all CDM credits issued worldwide to date.
While I will not be among the 15,000 people attending the Copenhagen conference, I have arranged for four friends who will be there to serve as guest bloggers. They should present a diverse set of perspectives on the events taking place there. The four are: environmental law professor Betsy Burleson from the University of South Dakota, my former student Huang Jing from Beijing who will be attending as part of the China Youth Action Network, Alan Miller, principal climate change specialist in the Environment Department of the International FInance Corporation (http://beta.worldbank.org/people/miller), and my former student Yvette Pena-Lopes who is Legislative Affairs Director of the Blue-Green Alliance.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Fox News Appearance, Australian Climate Legislation, U.S. & China Pre-Copenhagen Pledges & Remembering Tom Graff
On Monday November 23, I was quoted in an article in USA Today about climate change litigation in the wake of of the Fifth Circuit’s decision in the case of Comer v. Murphy Oil USA. After a widely-read conservative blogger attacked me on Tuesday for being quoted as saying that the litigation was “difficult”, I was invited to appear live on Fox Business News on Wednesday to discuss “green lawsuits”. I was interviewed from the Fox News studio in Washington by Stewart Varney, who was in New York. He apparently was not well-briefed on who I am because he accused me of being the inspiration for the lawsuits, which he claimed were mere “grandstanding” to undermine the political process. I noted that I was not involved in the litigation, but that throughout U.S. history citizens have turned to the courts when severe environmental problems emerged that were not being addressed by the regulatory system. He then bizarrely asserted that it was only my opinion that climate change had yet to be addressed by the regulatory system. Varney then argued that the U.S. should require unsuccessful plaintiffs to pay defendants’ attorneys fees (the English rule) in order to deter such “frivolous lawsuits” that clog the courts. I responded that more environmental lawsuits are brought by business interests seeking to reduce regulation than by environmentalists seeking to strengthen it and that our legal system is “the envy of the world,” as I well understand from my experience in China.
Watching the pre-Copenhagen debate it is striking how the climate change deniers have been trying to spin the purloined emails from the University of East Anglia and polls showing a decline in public support for cap-and-trade as somehow confirming that climate change does not exist. Actor Ben Stein, representing the deniers on CNN, claimed that they now represent the “truth lobby” rather than what James Carville called the “pollution lobby.” In light of the massive advertising campaign by opponents of GHG limits, a decline in public support for cap-and-trade is not surprising, but clear majorities in both political parties, and virtually all world leaders still acknowledge the importance of limiting GHG emissions.
Australia’s governing Labor party and the opposition Liberal party reached agreement this week on compromise legislation to cut GHG emissions by 25 percent from 2000 levels by the year 2020. The deal was accomplished through significant compromises, including exempting agriculture from GHG controls, nearly doubling the emissions allowances given for free to power companies, and increasing subsidies to industries (including the coal industry) perceived to be harmed by the legislation. While it remains unclear whether the legislation will win enactment right away (some Liberal senators are breaking with their party’s leadership and arguing that parliament should wait to see what happens in Copenhagen), the legislation includes a carbon tax commencing in 2011.
Both the U.S. and China revealed what they are willing to do to reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) prior to next week’s Copenhagen conference. In line with the Waxman/Markey bill that passed the House in June, President Obama announced on Wednesday that the U.S. would reduce its GHG emissions by 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020. He also promised to attend part of the Copenhagen conference while on his way to Sweden to accept the Novel Peace Prize. China announced that Premier Wen Jiabao would attend the Copenhagen conference. While China did not pledge to reduce the absolute level of its GHG emissions, it announced that it would seek to reduce the “carbon intensity” of its economy (levels of CO2 emissions per unit of gross domestic product) by 40 to 45 percent by 2020. Both the U.S. and Chinese pledges were viewed by observers in glass-half-empty/glass-half-full terms. They represent progress in the sense that for the first time both nations - the two largest emitters of GHGs in the world - have made serious promises to the international community to start controlling their emissions. Yet they are disappointing to many environmentalists because they clearly are inadequate to achieve the global goal of containing global warming to no more than 2 degrees Celsius. People in the know in China report that the U.S. had proposed to the Chinese leadership that the two countries package their proposals together as part of a “G-2” effort to influence the Copenhagen negotiations, but that the Chinese insisted that any coordination should be done in the larger context of the G-20.
The growing partisan divide on climate change and other environmental issues makes one nostalgic for the days when groups like the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), my former employer, were able to obtain high-level support from all parts of the ideological spectrum for aggressive environmental protection initiatives. EDF attorney Tom Graff, who died this month after a long battle with cancer, reveled in building diverse coalitions to support innovations in water management policy. Tom helped hire me to join EDF’s Berkeley office in 1981, though I never actually ended up there when the organization decided that it would be best for me to stay in D.C. due to the arrival of the Reagan administration. Even though his ideas often upset entrenched interests, Tom was someone who commanded enormous respect from everyone. He will be sorely missed by EDF, which has lost nearly all of its most experienced legal talent, and by the global environmental community.
Watching the pre-Copenhagen debate it is striking how the climate change deniers have been trying to spin the purloined emails from the University of East Anglia and polls showing a decline in public support for cap-and-trade as somehow confirming that climate change does not exist. Actor Ben Stein, representing the deniers on CNN, claimed that they now represent the “truth lobby” rather than what James Carville called the “pollution lobby.” In light of the massive advertising campaign by opponents of GHG limits, a decline in public support for cap-and-trade is not surprising, but clear majorities in both political parties, and virtually all world leaders still acknowledge the importance of limiting GHG emissions.
Australia’s governing Labor party and the opposition Liberal party reached agreement this week on compromise legislation to cut GHG emissions by 25 percent from 2000 levels by the year 2020. The deal was accomplished through significant compromises, including exempting agriculture from GHG controls, nearly doubling the emissions allowances given for free to power companies, and increasing subsidies to industries (including the coal industry) perceived to be harmed by the legislation. While it remains unclear whether the legislation will win enactment right away (some Liberal senators are breaking with their party’s leadership and arguing that parliament should wait to see what happens in Copenhagen), the legislation includes a carbon tax commencing in 2011.
Both the U.S. and China revealed what they are willing to do to reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) prior to next week’s Copenhagen conference. In line with the Waxman/Markey bill that passed the House in June, President Obama announced on Wednesday that the U.S. would reduce its GHG emissions by 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020. He also promised to attend part of the Copenhagen conference while on his way to Sweden to accept the Novel Peace Prize. China announced that Premier Wen Jiabao would attend the Copenhagen conference. While China did not pledge to reduce the absolute level of its GHG emissions, it announced that it would seek to reduce the “carbon intensity” of its economy (levels of CO2 emissions per unit of gross domestic product) by 40 to 45 percent by 2020. Both the U.S. and Chinese pledges were viewed by observers in glass-half-empty/glass-half-full terms. They represent progress in the sense that for the first time both nations - the two largest emitters of GHGs in the world - have made serious promises to the international community to start controlling their emissions. Yet they are disappointing to many environmentalists because they clearly are inadequate to achieve the global goal of containing global warming to no more than 2 degrees Celsius. People in the know in China report that the U.S. had proposed to the Chinese leadership that the two countries package their proposals together as part of a “G-2” effort to influence the Copenhagen negotiations, but that the Chinese insisted that any coordination should be done in the larger context of the G-20.
The growing partisan divide on climate change and other environmental issues makes one nostalgic for the days when groups like the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), my former employer, were able to obtain high-level support from all parts of the ideological spectrum for aggressive environmental protection initiatives. EDF attorney Tom Graff, who died this month after a long battle with cancer, reveled in building diverse coalitions to support innovations in water management policy. Tom helped hire me to join EDF’s Berkeley office in 1981, though I never actually ended up there when the organization decided that it would be best for me to stay in D.C. due to the arrival of the Reagan administration. Even though his ideas often upset entrenched interests, Tom was someone who commanded enormous respect from everyone. He will be sorely missed by EDF, which has lost nearly all of its most experienced legal talent, and by the global environmental community.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
