Mariana González Araujo - My Blog

Mexico was the host of the 16th Conference of the Parties COP16 during two weeks, November 29^th-december 10^th, at the beauty (but almost all artificial) Cancun beach, in Quintana Roo.

I can´t compare COP15 to COP16 because I didn´t go to Copenhagen, but I can tell about my point of view and my perception during the Cancun process, and one word serves to describe my feelings: unplugged.

About logistic ALL the spaces were really far from each other, they were unplugged. From the hotel zone to the Cancunmesse took like 1 hour to get there, from there to Moon Palace like 30 minutes and 45 minutes if you want to go to Villa Climatica. All of these of course in official transport to official events. But, what about the non-official ones?

The alternative spaces were occupied by Klimaforum, Via Campesina and Espacio Mexicano (Oxfam and WWF) that beyond the bureaucratic arrangements that they had to solve to get those spaces and the lack of money, their programs were so weak and desolated. The dialogue and the cooperation were not in table. The march that was planned to December 7^th was unplugged and all the civil society too.

The youth began with force at COY and one of the biggest goals at the COP framework was the inclusion of their changes to article 6^th. The inclusion and respect of informal education on the climate change, the importance of CC in the curriculum and the promotion of capacity building and support to youth initiatives (especially those led by youth NGOs).

Summarizing, the COP16 began with no expectation and end with no redemption. The important debates like the 1.5 review, REDD+ and indigenous people finished as it were expected, with polarized positions the majority agrees except Bolivia.

Finally, my proposal will be keep linked. At COP be in just one room or facilitate the mobilization to attend the official negotiation but also the side and the alternatives events. And for the negotiators and general participants keep involve and inform, please give to informal spaces the same importance than official ones and share the information all the time.

All the voices need to be consider but you have to be prepared. Sometimes the languages will be an issue, especially for those that can´t understand English, and somehow I can understand that lack but if you go to the next COP please at least READ about the main debates when somebody asked you, you can be able to talk about it and support your PRO or AGAINST position, DON´T GO ON AUTOPILOT. 

cop16, méxico, climatechange, youth

It was a double day session hosted by ECLAC and the Mexican government through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with some of the most important Latin American organizations with previous work on Climate Change.
The main objective of the session was to know the concerns of the south NGOs about the general dialogue lines to be presented in the next COP16 and how the Secretariat and the Mexican government can deal or involve it in the official processes.
In the first session only we, the Latin NGOs, talk about the risks about the main climate regional issues related with local necessities; the vulnerable groups, REDD+ and the AOSIS proposal about the “1.5 review”.
About the vulnerable groups, the GYAN contribution was to include youth as special agents of rights in the same floor with the native people and the women.
With REDD+ our proposal was the review of the positive incentives, the monitoring process. The discussion about themes like historic debt or national indicators was not easy deal but the themes are still on table.
Finally, the positions about AOSIS were divided. For some, the “1.5 review” is the proposal that the Latin NGOs should support but for others, the Cochabamba proposal to demand the “1 grade” is the most appropriated.
The second day session was a Plenary with the ECLAC ministry Alicia Bárcenas, the ministry of Foreign Affairs from Mexico Patricia Espinosa and the UNFCCC Secretariat Horacio Peluffo and all the NGOs invited.
The discussion was related to the NGOs declaration, the presentation of the UNFCCC president and some logistic and thematic questions about COP16.
The conclusion was to involve the most vulnerable sectors in the Climate Change consequences (native people, youth and women), to review the monitoring process of REDD+ and to articulate the Cochabamba and the AOSIS proposal and to include an entire process with the participation with NGOs for the next COP17 in South Africa.

youth, eclac, cop16, mexico