Climate Talks: AWG / SBTA 2010

Well, like many of you perhaps thought, Bonn was a mixed bag, as negotiations gather speed midway through the year. We were fortunate enough to catch up with a range of interesting and interested people to get their views of challenges ahead and the willingness to address those challenges.

UNFCCC

Christiana Figueres displays determined confidence in the contribution and engagement of parties, but reminds us that business does need the certainty of a post-2012 architecture. Yvo de Boer reflects on his involvement, and assures us there will be money to finance the number of meetings now required.

Delegation heads

US delegation head, Jonathan Pershing, spreads his boundless optimism and Michael Zammit Cutajar considers the broader picture and the self regulatory nature of multilateral treaties. Abdullah Alsaidi, Chair of the G77, and Yemen UN ambassador explores the level of influence of the G77. John Ashe, Chair of the AWG-KP and Antigua and Barbuda’s UN Ambassador, focuses on the need to raise ambition in line with the IPCC recommended targets, and expresses concern over the variance in base years used.

A few of the delegation heads who stopped to talk include EU’s Artur-Runge Metzger, New Zealand’s Adrian Macey, Brazil’s Sergio Serra, Sweden’s Anders Turesson, Nigeria’s Victor Fodeke, and Naderev Sano from the Philippines.

Water and climate change

Dr Ania Grobicki, from the Global Water Partnership, explains how water is the poor cousin within UN institutions, and why water issues need a separate mandate.

To see the full complement of interviews from this session, please visit our website. All interviews will be up by the middle of next week.

The next meeting will be back in Bonn, at the beginning of August, and word is there may be another one scheduled for China in the autumn. The suspicion goes that there’s nothing quite like having a meeting on your home ground to inspire positive feeling and ownership.

Best wishes   Francesca Broadbent   Editor Climate-Change.tv