COP 22 Day 2

Day two of COP22 was much more manageable than the first. We knew our way around, and arrived with a plan of all the events and panels we wanted to attend. Our day began in the Marrakesh Plenary Hall with a meeting of the parties and the president of COP. Here, delegations give statements related to the theme of the respected plenary meetings. Delegations advocate for their nation's concerns, interests, and requests that relate to the meeting's theme. The Plenary Hall is where the official negotiations and modalities are discussed. During the first week, meetings are attended by bureaucrats who discuss issues that are less politicized. The second week higher level ministers and diplomats tackle issues the lower level bureaucrats don't have authority over. It is important to keep in mind that delegates are always speaking from the position of their government, not their own personal position. 

We heard from several representatives. The first speaker we heard from was from Thailand and spoke on behalf of "The Group of 77 and China." He urged transparency, inclusiveness, access to climate finance, and urgency in putting the Paris Agreement into action. The speakers that followed included representatives from the European Union, Australia on behalf of the Umbrella Group, Switzerland on behalf of the Environmental Integrity Group, Saudi Arabia on behalf of the Gulf States, Mali on behalf of the African Group, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the Maldives on behalf of small island states, just to name a few. All speakers reiterated their support for the Paris Agreement and for the requests set forth by the representative from the Group of 77 and China. They called for swift implementation and action to carry out the Paris agreement, and for sufficient time to conduct negotiations concerning the nuances and technicalities of the agreement. The countries most threatened by climate change spoke of the very real impacts that climate change is having on their nations and the impact it will further have on their nations if the agreed upon 2 degree Celsius cap is not met. 

Following this introduction to the negotiations, we found our way to the US center for a talk titled How Morocco is Advancing Clean Energy and Climate Adaptation at Home, which was sponsored by USAID and the State Department. We were hoping that this talk would be relevant to our research in Morocco, as the title of the talk invoked themes of foreign funded development and clean energy. However, it soon became evident that this talk was more about showing "inspiring" videos about aid projects that the US is funding in Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan, and the speaker only had basic knowledge about USAID involvement in Morocco. This event felt like a USAID solicitation rather than an event to inform the audience about any solid climate initiatives that USAID is or will be involved with in the coming years. Perhaps it was more telling what the speaker chose not to say. 

The final event we attended was titled Traditional Indigenous Peoples Knowledge as a Viable way for Climate Change Adaptation. The purpose of the event was to give panelists, who represented their indigenous community, a platform to voice their concerns,k challenge,s and knowledge to a wider audience. The relevance and importance of indigenous people is often overlooked in mainstream debates and discussions around climate change. Some voiced anger about western involvement in climate initiatives within their respected countries that failed to take into account the wisdom and opinions of indigenous peoples. We appreciated this perspective; so much of what we have hard at the COP so far has been from a very European and western perspective.