The Conversation - Dawn R Bazely | Idil Boran | Sapna Sharma
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| Children march at the welcoming ceremony of the Conference of the Parties (COP23) in Bonn, Germany (UNclimatechange/flickr), CC BY-NC-SA
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The United Nations climate conference in Bonn, Germany, is an
enormous event with a complex agenda. But here, on the ground, we see
that it is much more than just a meeting of the signatories to the
Paris Agreement.
Delegates from nearly 200 countries are meeting here to discuss the
pathway towards the Paris Agreement, which aims to keep the mean global
temperature increase below 2℃, and to prepare for the first
global stocktake — a review of countries’ progress towards their climate commitments, in 2018.
At this year’s
Conference of the Parties (
COP23),
as at others, these government delegations will negotiate the wording
of texts, debate their differing points of view and seek common ground
in intense meetings that are often closed to outsiders.
But there are thousands of other attendees, called observers, milling
about the hallways and pavilions, shoulder-to-shoulder with party
delegates. These observers come from a wide variety of non-governmental
organizations and intergovernmental organizations, representing
Indigenous peoples, youth, women, farmers and businesses, to name a few.
These observers represent civil society, not a country’s government.
They are also known as “non-state actors” — and their influence at the
UN climate negotiations is growing.
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| Frank Bainimarama, COP23 president
and Fijian prime minister, addresses the crowd at the U.S. Climate
Action Center. The event showcased what U.S. sub-national and non-state
actors are doing to reduce emissions.
(Schuyler Null/World Resources Institute), CC BY-NC-SA |
Joining efforts
It wasn’t until 2009, at the COP15 in Copenhagen, that the
participation of civil society in climate talks was galvanized. Since
then, the conventional model of
multilateralism, where country delegations talk to each other and non-state actors observe these negotiations, has moved towards an
increasingly inclusive space. National and regional delegates are now encouraged to interact with non-state actors in a more collaborative way.
Frank Bainimarama, the Fijian prime minister and COP23 president, has
frequently referred to this engagement in his speeches at this year’s
meeting. He has said that the non-party actors are essential to helping
countries find solutions to climate change mitigation and adaptation.
The newly released
Yearbook of Global Climate Action 2017
illustrates how these non-party actors, including cities and regions,
can sometimes take action more quickly within their own districts. In
recognition, the UN has
invited members of observer groups
to participate in many of the sub-groups and committees of the UN
Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and to work alongside
its staff and the parties.
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| The Fiji Pavilion at the COP23 meeting on climate change in Bonn, Germany.
Author provided (No reuse) |
In Bonn, observers have organized panels on diverse aspects of
climate change, from forests to human security to ethics and finance.
These events showcase climate actions, share expertise and add a dynamic
element to the meeting. The members of country delegations have a long
history of participating in these panels and discussions.
The pavilions, side events and official panels cover over 50,000
square metres of space. We visited the European Space Agency’s booth to
learn about how it is monitoring Greenland’s melting ice sheet and
attended a yoga class in the India pavilion to stretch and relax during a
long, stressful day.
#WeAreStillIn
This year, the significance and relevance of observers has reached a
new peak following the White House’s announcement that the United States
will withdraw from the Paris Agreement. For the first time in the
history of these talks, the United States declined to host an official
pavilion. Its delegation has held only one event, a
U.S. government sponsored panel on “clean coal.”
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| People hold banners at the U.S. Climate Action Center.
(World Resources Institute/flickr), CC BY-NC-SA |
There is, however,
a very large presence of non-state actors from the United States.
This coalition of governors, mayors, CEOs, universities and religious
leaders, including former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg,
California Governor Jerry Brown and former Vice President Al Gore, have
pledged to ensure the United States delivers on its climate commitments.
The
America’s Pledge initiative will
aggregate and quantify
the actions of states, cites, businesses and other non-national groups
in the United States to drive down greenhouse gas emissions. This is no
small outcome: If the America’s Pledge community were a country, it
would be the
world’s third largest economy.
A role for academia
There is no shortage of academics, including many students, at the
climate change meetings. York University professors, staff and students
have attended annual COP meetings since 2009 as part of an observer
group known as the Constituency of Research and Independent
Non-Governmental Organizations to the UNFCCC (
RINGO).
RINGOs advocate for the use of the best available research — from
science, technology, engineering, mathematics, social sciences and
humanities — to inform climate policy. In Bonn, we have been meeting
first thing every morning. At one meeting this week, we learned how our
daily summaries of the negotiations have been a valuable resource for
other civil society groups such as environmental non-governmental
organizations.
These meetings provide students with the chance to learn about the
negotiation process by being involved in it. For professors, they’re an
opportunity to provide experiential education, and to design classes
around the climate change meetings.
Intersections and interactions
The near-constant news conferences provide a clear picture of how
RINGOs and other NGOs influence the parties and the negotiations.
Speakers from diverse constituencies launch policy and research reports at these events. Earlier this week, the
Civil Society Review, a group of 120 organizations, released
their assessment of global climate change commitments.
The panelists explained that countries cannot delay action on climate
change because it is already affecting the world’s most vulnerable
peoples. Their message was clear and accessible.
Many observers and delegates from less-developed countries are
displaying frustration at the slow progress on some of the COP23 agenda
items. During the news conference, a climate scientist in the audience
asked the panel whether civil society should abandon the UNFCCC process.
The panelists were unanimous in saying that civil society should
continue to work with the UN framework.
“There is no space other than the UNFCCC where we can talk about
multilateral finance for developing countries. Developed countries are,
currently, just not willing to discuss loss and damage finance,” said
Brandon Wu, director of policy and campaigns at
ActionAid USA.
Despite the progress made with the Paris Agreement, the task ahead remains formidable. According to
Carbon Budget,
CO2 emissions are rising again following three years of stability.
There is still much work to do on adaptation, climate finance and
protecting the countries most vulnerable to the adverse effects of
climate change. This work does not always go smoothly. Nevertheless,
observers are clearly cautiously optimistic.
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