COP 21 Day 2

Chris Pieper and Akilah Sanders-Reed

Today marked the second day of COP, but the first day where the main nitty-gritty negotiating work began. The halls of the convention center were notably more subdued and the atmosphere more focused as delegates began their work on the negotiating text, a marked departure from the busy, electric, and optimistic atmosphere that characterized COP’s opening yesterday. It’s clear that the grandiose opening ceremony and statements by political leaders has concluded, and that delegates have now rolled up their sleeves and gotten to work.

The morning featured the opening plenary sessions of the Conference of the Parties (COP) and the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP), which reviews and oversees the implementation of the Kyoto Protocol. Various working groups began working today, including the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA), which provides scientific and technical advice to the COP and CMP, and the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action (ADP), which is responsible for developing a climate action protocol for parties to adopt that goes into effect in 2020. The meetings so far seem to be running smoothly and the representatives seem dedicated to efficiently working their way through various meeting agendas and negotiating texts.

Today also marked the opening day of the Climate Generations Center. Open to the public, it is an exposition adjacent to the convention center featuring exhibits and side events on a wide range of topics relating to COP-21. The trains and shuttles were packed as people eager to attend the expo descended upon the small suburb of Le Bourget. After an exciting conversation with a British journalist from Climate Home, who was in line for the shuttle and in a long wait at security, we finally entered the civil society arena of COP21.

The center of the Climate Generations pavilion housed overworked food vendors and brightly colored tables set up like an indoor cafe; adjoining rooms were filled with little booths sponsored by various NGOs. However, as we all explored what was at the Climate Generations pavilion, we also began to notice what wasn’t there: a sense of urgency, energy, and collaboration. The brightly painted plywood lent a forced light-heartedness to the space that obscured any connection to the significance of the proceedings in the official UN conference. The booths mimicked a corporate layout, advertising the logos of various well-meaning organizations. On a small hallway to the side, nine conference rooms housed a series of talks and panels that comprise the heart of the civil society conference. It’s easy to miss them, though — the schedule is only available online, and no signs or announcements remind conference-goers of the programming. We all came prepared to find a space that was somewhat artificial, but not so bland. Despite this, many of us are intrigued to find the human element — what brought everyone else to this strange space, and are they feeling similarly?

Nonetheless, we packed our day with gathering as much information as possible. Between Climate Generations and the events in the Convention Center, dozens of side events and exhibits are being showcased throughout the day. Jessica attended events at the Rio Pavilion on agriculture and forestry, where she heard from delegates from Senegal, South Africa, Paraguay, France, Denmark, Morocco, and the Dominican Republic speaking about the effects their countries already experience from climate change. Kayla and Isabella listened to a brief presentation by indigenous peoples of the Amazon on the invasive corporate presence in their homelands. Chris sat in on the SBSTA plenary session in the morning and attended a side event about the role of cities and subnational actors in promoting climate action and mitigation, particularly in South Asia. Panelists gave examples of local action through case studies in India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.

In the evening, we took the metro to Sciences Po, where we met up with our friends from St. John’s/St. Ben’s universities. There, we engaged in a climate policy seminar with Professors Jon Marco Church and Kari Pryck on French climate policy, a history of climate action in Europe, and background on COP21 being held in Paris. Although we were tired after such a long day at COP21, we found the seminar to be engaging and informative, and it allowed us to learn more about these important topics that we didn’t know very much about in order to contextualize our experience here.

We concluded the evening by exploring the many shops, cafes, and boulevards in Paris’s famous Latin Quarter.