With another day at COP done, I can feel myself orienting to the space and rhythm of the conference. Don’t get me wrong, COP is still chaotic and overwhelming, however, knowing where all of the bathrooms and coffee stops are really improves morale. I’ve arrived back to my hotel room exhausted, though with a sense of linear clarity over the day’s events. Instead of blindly walking into a series of climate related meetings, I had a focused schedule centered on one topic: Loss & Damage (mostly).
One thing that was clear to me in those meetings was the sheer amount of tension around the issue. The first of the two meetings was concerned with the Santiago Network, a set up concerned with the implementation and access to funds allocated to Loss & Damage. In the informal meeting delegates were discussing the first draft of the body text when issues started to rise over how quickly loss and damages funds would be implemented. Some groups, concerned for the desperate need of countries in the global south, wanted to make sure the Santiago Network was implemented quickly, even if there were pieces of it that were incomplete. Others wanted to make sure that every aspect of the Santiago Network was addressed before its implementation (though motives for doing so were unclear). Tensions were really starting to rise until suddenly all observers without a seat (there were maybe 10 chairs and about 50 of us) were kicked out of the room to watch the session virtually. This led to us missing the vast majority of the meat of the dialogue, only catching the last 15 minutes. In which, the US and Jamaica were in an argument over…something. Due to the time missed I had neither the context of the conversation nor the deep knowledge of the issue to understand what the actual issue was. A frustrating point for me.
Luckily this was but one of TWO meetings over Loss & Damage. Later in the evening, after a short stint at the Ukrainian pavilion (I’ll get into that in another post), I headed to watch the first of a very large meeting over L&D. Since L&D is such a new and controversial agenda item, there were dozens of observer parties. Unsurprisingly, the vast majority of us (and even some delegations which was very surprising) were forced into an overflow room to watch via broadcast. Though due to troubleshooting and travel time we missed the intro, which wasn’t the biggest travesty since this time is usually spent with introductory statements.
When we finally started watching, we witnessed the contention between the Caribbean countries and the framing of Loss & Damages. Under the current structure, Loss & Damages has a certain GDP requirement in order for a country to qualify for receiving funds. Caribbean countries like Barbados, however, make more than the required GDP. This is a major issue because the Caribbean island countries are some of the most affected and damaged countries by climate change and cannot afford to finance adaptation and reconstruction.
Interventions by both Barbados and Antigua and Barbuda quickly raised tensions in the room after they stated that they would not end the session until this was resolved (a very dramatic statement). This prompted South Africa to step in and state that they only had an hour to discuss in the first meeting and would have many more opportunities to deliberate so as to not rush. And then…well then we were kicked out of the room we were watching from.
Logistics of this scale are of course challenging. There should be a great deal of grace and understanding when it comes to being a guest. However, whenever such issues prevent advocates from observing, that is a serious issue. One of the biggest benefits of COP is the creation of a space for civil society to engage with international leaders and dialogue over climate change. I hope we are able to better engage as the week goes on.