Nigel Sizer’s 10th and final post from the UN Climate Change Conference in Bali, which kicked of Monday, December 3rd.
Into extra time!
After a second sleepless night and dramatic wrangling all day, by mid-afternoon the United States capitulated and “joined the consensus.” You’ve all read the news reports and seen the pain on the faces of the exhausted government officials. This was surely the most important decision taken by governments on an environmental issue since the Kyoto Protocol itself was finalized in December 1997. It sets the stage for two years of discussions, pilot programs and further science ending in Copenhagen with COP 15 (via Poland next year) and, hopefully, agreement on commitments beyond 2012 (the end of the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol). Those commitments are likely to include far deeper cuts emissions than anything even imagined in 1997.
What hasn’t come over in the international media coverage, and what I have tried to convey through this blog, is that whatever is happening in the intergovernmental discussions, there are thousands upon thousands of local and national, private and public, scientific and political initiatives blooming around the planet as we all figure out what we can do to help address climate change. I left the Bali Convention Center for the last time incredibly energized by what I have learned, the leaders I had met, and by the vision and creativity I saw each day over the past two weeks.
Descending from the global negotiations back to the communities that Rare works to inspire and help, I look forward to the challenge over the coming weeks and months of helping position this organization as a leading contributor to climate change solutions. Rare can help with demonstration projects to engage communities in reducing forest loss, and with others in conserving coral reefs to improve their resilience to climate change. We can take those experiences with us to Poland and to Denmark and help others to do likewise. We can create a global network of practitioners who can help truly deliver on the Bali promise.
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