What is Copenhagen?

1. Copenhagen is the capital of Denmark.
2. Copenhagen is a Tony Award winning play by Michael Frayn, based around an event that occurred in Copenhagen in 1941, a meeting between the physicists Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg.  (From Wikipedia,)
3.  Copenhagen is the United Nations Climate Change Conference being held in the city of Copenhagen beginning today. 

You have probably heard the word "Copenhagen" a lot lately.  I first heard it being used in the third context last April at the Indigenous People's Summit on Climate Change here in Anchorage.  I had three days then to get a sense of what it was about.  So, here's a brief primer to get you started finding out more.  This will probably have a lot more impact on all of our futures than say, the Super Bowl, even if we aren't watching it live on television.  You can, however, watch webcasts.  


The host country's official website:

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Website

Who or What is the UNFCC?  From the UNFCC website:

Bodies of the Framework Convention, Actors in the Negotiation Process, and the UNFCCC secretariat

Bodies of the Convention and partner agencies
* The Conference of the Parties (COP) is the prime authority of the Convention. It is an association of all member countries (or "Parties") and usually meets annually for a period of two weeks. These sessions are attended by several thousand government delegates, observer organizations, and journalists. The Conference of the Parties evaluates the status of climate change and the effectiveness of the treaty. It examines the activities of member countries, particularly by reviewing national communications and emissions inventories; it considers new scientific findings; and it tries to capitalize on experience as efforts to address climate change proceed.

* A Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA) counsels the Conference of the Parties on matters of climate, the environment, technology, and method. It meets twice a year.

* A Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI) helps review how the Convention is being applied, for example by analyzing the national communications submitted by member countries. It also deals with financial and administrative matters. The SBI meets twice each year.

* Several expert groups exist under the Convention. A Consultative Group of Experts (CGE) on National Communications from "non-Annex 1 Parties" helps developing countries prepare national reports on climate change issues. A Least Developed Country Expert Group (LEG) advises such nations on establishing programmes for adapting to climate change. And an Expert Group on Technology Transfer (EGTT) seeks to spur the sharing of technology with less-advanced nations.

* Partner agencies include the Global Environment Facility (GEF), which has existed since 1991 to fund projects in developing countries that will have global environmental benefits. The job of channeling grants and loans to poor countries to help them address climate change, as called for by the Convention, has been delegated to the GEF because of its established expertise. And the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) provides services to the Convention, although it is not part of it, through publishing comprehensive reviews every five years of the status of climate change and climate-change science, along with special reports and technical papers on request (see the section on the IPCC under "Climate Change Science.")

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Actors in the negotiation process

* Countries belonging to the Convention hold the real power -- they take decisions at sessions of the Conference of the Parties (most decisions are reached by consensus). Member countries often form alliances to increase efficiency and maximize influence during negotiations. The Conference has several groupings representing the concerns of developing countries, least-developed countries, small-island states, Europe (through the European Union), non-European industrialized nations, oil-exporting nations, and nations committed to "environmental integrity."

* Countries get extensive input from other sources, both through official channels and in behind-the-scenes chatter. This is not surprising, considering that the global climate is facing a major threat, coastlines and even countries may disappear, and industries and livelihoods may wax or wane. . . not to mention that millions of dollars are being allocated for programmes and activities.

* "Observer" is the official -- and misleadlingly quiet-sounding -- term for groups and agencies allowed to attend and even speak at international meetings, but not to participate in decision-making. Among observers permitted by the Convention are intergovernmental agencies, such as the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the World Meteorological Organization (WMO); the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD); the International Energy Agency; and the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). To date, over 50 intergovernmental agencies and international organizations attend sessions of the Conference of Parties.

* Observers also include a lively crowd of non-governmental organizations, known as "NGOs." These represent business and industrial interests, environmental groups, local governments, research and academic institutes, religious bodies, labour organizations, and population groups such as indigenous peoples. To win accreditation as observers, NGOs must be legally constituted not-for-profit entities "competent in matters related to the Convention." Currently, more than 600 NGOs are accredited to participate in meetings related to the Convention.

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The UNFCCC Secretariat
* A secretariat staffed by international civil servants supports the Convention and its supporting bodies. It makes practical arrangements for meetings, compiles and distributes statistics and information, and assists member countries in meeting their commitments under the Convention. The secretariat is based in Bonn, Germany.

Alaska's role in the Conference.  I'm stepping out on limb here, because I'm not at all sure how many Alaskans are taking part and in what capacities.  So I'll just list what I know and any readers who know more can comment.

Indigenous People's Global Summit on Climate Change (link goes to this blog's coverage of the Summit) - was held in Anchorage last April.  That conference brought together representatives of Indigenous peoples from around the world to give direct testimony on how climate change is affecting their ways of life and to prepare for Copenhagen. 

The Summit's website gives a better description and has a link to their declaration (link goes to pdf file):

The Inuit Circumpolar Council hosted April 20-24, 2009 in Anchorage, Alaska a Global Summit on Climate Change that brought together indigenous delegates and observers.

The purpose of the summit was to enable Indigenous peoples from all regions of the globe to exchange their knowledge and experience in adapting to the impacts of climate change, and to develop key messages and recommendations to be articulated to the world at the Conference of Parties (COP) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in Copenhagen, Denmark in December 2009.

Indigenous Peoples from all regions of the world depend upon the natural environment.Their rich and detailed traditional knowledge reflects and embodies a cultural and spiritual relationship with the land, ocean and wildlife.

However, human activity is changing the world’s climate and altering the natural environment to which Indigenous Peoples are so closely attached and on which they so heavily rely.

In a very real sense, therefore, Indigenous Peoples are on the front lines of climate change. They observe climate and environmental changes first-hand and use traditional knowledge and survival skills to adapt to these changes as they occur.  Moreover, they must do so at a time when their cultures and livelihoods are already undergoing significant changes due, in part, to the accelerated development of natural resources from their traditional territories stimulated by trade liberalization and globalization.

Reflecting their position as “stewards” of the environment and drawing upon their age-old traditional knowledge—the heart of their cultural resilience—Indigenous Peoples were among the first groups to call upon national governments, transnational corporations and civil society to do more to protect the Earth and human society from climate change.

Indigenous delegates were selected from each of the UNPFII regions, with a view to ensuring balanced representation of professional expertise, gender balance and stakeholder participation within the available funds. Additional participants include both indigenous representatives and observers, who were interested in attending the Summit and were able to fund their own costs.

The United Nations University (UNU)  assisted the Summit in synthesizing relevant background information and providing logistical and media support. During the Summit, UNU provided substantive assistance in the form of rapporteuring, writing reports and proceedings, and aiding the Summit organizers with auditing procedures.

 APRN reported on some Alaskans going to Copenhagen including students from UAF's Rural Development Program; Patricia Cochran, the head of the Alaska Native Science Commission and coordinator of the Indigenous Peoples Summit; as well as Larry Hartig, Alaska's Commissioner of Environmental Conservation.  You can listen to the APRN piece here.

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