COP 15

I was in Copenhagen for the International Climate negotiations. Here is what I was saying and doing whilst there:

In conversation with George Monbiot at Klimaforum, The Peoples Climate Conference:

REPORT: Klimaforum09’s success by HansHenrik Samuelsen, Head of Programme, Klimaforum09 – the Peoples’ Climate Summit

“I have spent most of my time at the Klimaforum09: the alternative conference set up by just four paid staff, which 50,000 people attended without a hitch. I know which team I would put in charge of saving the planet.” George Monbiot.

The massive clouds of criticism surrounding the COP15 climate summit have hidden a success story that must be told. It is the story of Klimaforum09 – the alternative climate summit.

“There never was any doubt that Klimaforum09 would play an extremely important role in December, as the stage was set for a closed COP15 conference with highly restricted access. Klimaforum09 not only added to the seriousness of the climate discussion, but also played an important part with a hyped police force and as an important logistic partner to the official conference. Klimaforum09, which took place in the centre of Copenhagen demonstrated the art of the possible and surprised many who had not recognized or understood the need for an open space where all were welcome.

Openness

Klimaforum09 was organized by a wide array of Danish and international grassroots and opened and closed with its prestigious cousin – COP15. The 12 days of the alternative summit featured 202 debates, 70 exhibitions, 43 films, 16 concerts and 11 plays. Present were all from Europe’s most sophisticated band Ojos de Brujo to the small traveller with her guitar; from the five professors and their seminal Synthesis Report to the Greenland sealers that no longer can count on the ice; from the people behind Age of Stupid to Vandana Shiva who had brought her own fresh new film, shot among the melting glaciers of the Himalaya. Most important for Klimaforum09 were people from the global south and their accounts of what it means to live under extreme conditions such as long droughts and the impending peril of ocean acidification. The diversity of narratives was overwhelming and amazed widely. But the simple fact that there existed a space in Copenhagen where these narratives were heard and listened to became, as days passed, the most important factor. The situation at the COP15, where the word “Bella” had lost its positive meaning, amplified this need. At Klimaforum09, doors were wide open every day from 10:00 to midnight and all activities were free.

The contrast

The number of participants at Klimaforum09 was eerily reminiscent of that at COP15, but the resemblance went no further. The stories of people waiting in line outside Bella Center for 10-12 hours in freezing weather and without food or amenities, before being allowed inside or simply turned away, are all too well known. At Klimforum09 there was no queue, because people’s sincerity was not put into question. Passing through the doors was equal to a desire to contribute to the important debate, which was exactly what we wanted.

Approximately €160 million were spent on holding COP15. Half of this amount accounts for the massive police presence, leaving €80 million to a political climate change debate and a Copenhagen Solution. Now we know that there was no Solution, but only a so-called “Accord”, which no one seems to really agree on.

Klimaforum09 worked with a budget of just over €1 million plus some borrowed meeting rooms as its secretariat.

The large NGOs came

As the days went along and it became clear that COP15 had to turn away NGOs, freelance journalists, and others that had been accredited, Klimaforum09 received a call from the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Ministry wished to use one of Klimaforum09’s main venues called Øksnehallen – a space with room for 2,500 people – to receive the expelled NGOs. Originally the idea was to use Øksnehallen for events with unusually high attendance, for spontaneous meetings and as a kind of safety valve for whatever would arise out of bubbling Copenhagen. Our view was that everyone except police in riot gear was welcome in Klimaforum09’s warm halls, and this of course applied to WWF, Greenpeace, Amnesty International and all the other affluent NGOs that had chosen to use their resources inside the Bella Center.

Towards the concluding part of COP15 thousands of excluded accredited guests from Bella Center continued their work in Klimaforum09’s cosy atmosphere. The only requirement from Klimaforum09 was to be informed of larger gatherings and special needs, as it simply was a requirement for general security and for our management of the use of the facilities.

Klimaforum09 received neither money, nor acknowledgement, for its unquestioning naturalness in receiving thousands of extremely frustrated activists from NGO circles, who, according to themselves, were about to burst out in anger.

Police expenses

The €80 million that were spent by the police says something about the Danish authorities’ level of understanding. With simple openness Klimaforum09 showed an alternative and much more inviting approach.

In general the media had done anything they could to create fear amongst the Copenhagener. The Danes were told that the police prepared themselves to fight large numbers of violent activists. It was as if Copenhagen was expected to burn down to the ground for the third time in history.

At no time did Klimaforum09 see demonstrating activists as a problem. First and foremost a demonstration should be seen as a right. In a democracy any right deserves to be listened to, which is where Klimaforum09 persistence in having an open space ready for any argument comes in. When you from official side choose to handle demonstrations as a problem, you also to a large extend choose to ignore the core message in the demonstration. That creates a sense of powerlessness, that is not worthy in any democratic context.

Two out of 6,000

Instead of a blind focus on activists the challenge Klimaforum09 faced was that of drug addicts and pickpockets at the nearby central station. Therefore Klimaforum09 agreed to the presence of two uniformed police officers at the venue. When mentioning the two officers, it should be noted that it was two out of the 6,000 that were on duty during the climate summit in Copenhagen.

Every day a police meeting was held. The purpose was to go over the current challenges together and find solutions. Fortunately the druggies and thieves stayed away, but as it turned out we soon realized an unexpected challenge – namely what is best described as stray riot police officers who insisted on interring the venue and, as it ridiculously was argued, participate in the climate debate regardless of their dress code. Note in this connection that the police itself categorised the Klimaforum09 venue as a low security zone throughout the COP15.

Today an absurd fact remains. If Klimaforum09 had not had back-up by two police officers and a set of direct phone numbers to high ranking police officers, the conference would have been invaded again and again by riot police who personally (and provocatively) saw every gathering as a threat. Copenhagen must have looked like a battle zone to them.

Working with the frustration

The police clearly consider that the masse arrests during the demonstration on December 12th were unfortunate, but that the situation could have been much worse. Though recognition still remains to be heard there should be no doubt that Klimaforum09 played a central role after the demonstration and also on December, 13th, 15th, 16th, and 17th, channelling the frustration felt in Copenhagen in a constructive way rather than allowing it to simply explode.

COP15’s multidimensional collapse did not make Klimaforum09’s work easier. A leader of one of the large NGO networks unexpectedly announced on December 17th that he was afraid that the frustration among his people had become so intense that he no longer could answer for their actions. At the moment it seemed like COP15 had planted a living bomb inside the alternative climate summit.

Today, Klimaforum09 can pat itself on the back and recognize that its role was absolutely indispensable – not because Klimaforum09 had any control over events in the streets, but because the conference stayed accommodating and welcoming, listened, and credibly and reliably opened the doors.

Lesson to the high-handed males

It is important not to praise oneself simply because things could have gone worse, but rather to concentrate on what could have been done better. Let this also be a reminder to the police regarding its future work and continuous talk about improving the dialogue. It makes absolutely no sense to work half a year on an agreement of corporation with the police and then find out that you have to engage in silly arguments with an army of provocative combat ready officers, who is astray. There are clearly too many high-handed males in the Danish police force, for whom a healthy training in social intelligence would do the utmost good.

€80 million is a lot of money in very many contexts. The existence of Klimaforum09 showed how exaggerated and hyped the police work was, which on numerous occasions was characterized by ignorance or just simple nervousness. Klimaforum09 showed how get things to run even when presidents announce their arrival. One late afternoon, President Nasheed of the Maldives walked in through the main entrance to see the exhibitions. The two policemen stayed away and everything went smoothly, watched only by three smiling security guards.

Towards higher ground

Because of a grotesquely low budget, the starting point for Klimaforum09 was a hardworking group of four who did not get going until all of Europe went on summer vacation in 2009. At that time, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had been working on COP15 for over a year and a half. With help from internships, the secretariat grew and consisted in the end of twenty dedicated women and men. In addition to the twenty, one must not forget to mention the 400 volunteers who really slaved away in December and helped to make Klimaforum09 a unique experience free of Coca-Cola commercials and energy companies who speak with a forked tongue. Without these altruistic volunteers, the ship would have sunk. With the companies we would have lost our integrity.

Thus Klimaforum09 became the place where people could follow the COP15 process, find expert answers and discover alternative solutions, that deliberately was kept out of the political negotiations. The openness offered by Klimaforum09 provided a much needed sense of democratic organization.

The lesson to be learned from the contrast between the Klimaforum09 and COP15 budgets is that you can not buy quality. Fancy meeting rooms at €160.000 apiece at COP15 did not guarantee that things worked. It was still just a meeting room. Klimaforum09 brought people together. No one came to be serviced. People came to participate and herein lay the differences. Klimaforum09 participants had the opportunity to be part of it all. Not a single door was closed. So few resources and tens of thousands of committed people in and out? Klimaforum09’s experience concerns the entire UN system and is about dialogue and openness. If the UN wants to maintain popular involvement in solving the climate crisis, there is only one way to go and it starts and ends with two-way communication. Involvement is about the opportunity to be heard and listened to. The alternative is failure to understand the severity of the crises that people everywhere are facing. How are people supposed to make the solutions their own if they do not understand the seriousness of the problems?

Klimaforum09 could talk for a long time about what happened and how things were handled, but the important question is surely: how do we proceed from here?

Klimaforum10

At Klimaforum09, we are now talking about contributing to a Klimaforum10 in Mexico in connection with COP16. It is of course the Mexicans themselves who will be responsible for bringing together civil society and even find a suitable place. But Klimaforum09’s basic experience, in particular regarding the importance of having a place where everyone is welcome, is fundamental for further work. The UN should recognize this.

It is far from enough to have what are called side-events under the same roof as the official negotiations, as was the case at the Bella Center. The popular understanding of the climate crisis must be lifted to a much higher level, and this can only be done with total transparency.

Klimaforum09 has shown a path that needs to be followed!”

By HansHenrik Samuelsen, Head of Programme, Klimaforum09 – Peoples’ Climate Summit

A nifty blog: climate-action.blogspot.com

You can also watch more at Positive TV

Arrival in Copenhagen on the Climate Express with Achim Steiner, Roz Savage and a whole host of others: The Climate Express train

17.12.09: At the Peoples Climate Conference I called on COP15 to become accountable and transparent to the people. I asked for next time for real-time video streaming of the negotiations, not that they remain behind closed doors as they have done this time. I also called for a referendum by the people. Bolivia has been brave enough to run with this idea. You can have your say by answering the following questions on their website.

So the climate negotiations are over. The end result was a 3 page document, now named the Copenhagen Accord (not a Treaty because it is non-binding, it states a few principles to “take note of”) which no country has signed up to in any event. In other words, it has no lawful authority or standing at all, it is a mere statement of vague intent. Arguably this is a crime against the planet (a sin of omission, you might say) and against all those who live within, upon and on it.

Compare this to how an international genocide case would be addressed (the abuse here being the equivalent – let us call it Planet Earth genocide, or for short: terracide). This is a case for the International Criminal Court, which is where genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes are heard. For our purposes, the ICC powers have now been extended to address terracide as well (for we accept that damage and death of the planet means damage and death of many species, including humans, who are dependent upon the survival of planet life). The case has been brought on behalf of The People of the Planet against their heads of state who we claim have failed to take action to stop the terracide.

Counsel for the various heads of states (the heads of state are vicariously liable for those who have been perpetrators of terracide on their patch of the planet), present to the court an unsigned piece of paper proposing a suggested outcome – only none have signed it. The judge points out that an unsigned document is not an outcome that a court of law can accept. It is a comprehensive failure to negotiate and moreover the listed terms of (non)agreement are on the face of it unacceptable. And so it is that The Peoples case for Planet Earth shall be immediately listed for trial to be heard on the earliest possible date.

Meanwhile, in the world arena of political posturing, with no judge to take control of the situation, proceedings have been adjourned for the 15th time over 15 years, with no set date put in place. Interim measures have proven to be utterly ineffectual and the terracide of our planet continues unabated….

.....Friday night through to the small hours of Saturday I was holed up in the aptly named Fresh Air Centre.

It is the hub for the alternative reporters – the bloggers, the independents, the green journos, the non-mainstream voices; the ones seeking to report the truth, not just the hot air. I say this informedly after witnessing propaganda news coming out of the likes of CNN (distraction news: continual reporting on how bad China’s pollution is) and on local Danish news (false news: how the Danish PM had saved the day).

We sat there digesting the live streaming of Obama’s press statement from the airbase before he headed home and the subsequent responses from the Bella Centre from the other Heads of State. Only, the streaming was constantly cut, and in the end we were left with very little from any nation. Our sources in the Bella Centre were faring no better, and although they were there literally outside the negotiation room, they were unable to access any more information. Those out on the streets (this was now 2am) who earlier had gone to march in protest had all been rounded up under the newly imposed preventative powers of the police (paranoia powers: if in doubt, spray pepper gas and arrest anyone acting suspiciously). Hundreds were left seated outside on the cold ground, handcuffed and held there through the night (presumably until the negotiators had gotten safely to their beds). It was minus 7 degrees outside.

All of this is so wrong.

Why has this all gone so horribly wrong?

3 issues come to the fore. Barak Obama in his final statement touched on the same three points that cut to the crux of the problem.

As counsel acting on behalf of the people of the planet, I present an emergency application for remedial steps to be imposed in time for the next COP.

The Peoples Reasons:

1. The system as it currently stands does not work. As has been demonstrated with the comprehensive failure of the 187 ratified parties to uphold the binding Kyoto Agreement, it is pointless to sign up to any type of new agreement, especially an even weaker non-binding one.

2. Utter lack of transparency of proceedings. In these climate negotiations, we have evidence that documents were suppressed and meetings held behind closed doors. We call for full and frank disclosure to be implemented so that everybody knows what is happening and we can collectively come to informed decision making. We call for any information which is of potential assistance to be publicly disclosed all to scrutinise. If pertinent and relevant, concealment of evidence and process cannot be an option.

3. There has been a complete disintegration of trust. Accusations of secret meetings, the implementation and use of excessive policing laws, the ousting of NGO’s – all this and more bear the hallmark scars of the collapse of trust. It is pertinent to remember that the politicians and heads of state are there to represent us, the people.

The Peoples Proposals:

1. Change the approach from business as usual to rapid transition.

a) Instead of market provision agreements, implement binding international public trust doctrine law. This would ensure a shift from business opportunities being put first to planet protection being foremost, with direct responsibility and protection provisions implemented which identify duties and obligations. Mechanisms for restorative and ecological justice can then be put in place which if ignored are actionable in a court of law;

b) cut the damaging subsidies ($300 billion per annum which props up the fossil fuel industry), replacing them with emergency subsidies for the rapid roll-out of clean energy solutions (with each nation putting in place the required emergency legislation to facilitate this);

c) replace the word sustainability with responsibility in all documents.

2. Change the procedure from hidden to transparent.

Transparency and accountability procedures be implemented at all levels. The onus will be on the UN to give full and frank disclosure of all proceedings. Any information which is of potential assistance shall be disclosed all to scrutinise. In a court of law the onus is on the defendant to ensure that all procedures and all documents in the negotiation process are open to public scrutiny at all times. This must be the norm for the UN. Closed door meetings be banned. Specific application will have to be heard to determine whether there is exceptional reason for public interest immunity to apply, with right to appeal.

a) all negotiators to be under the age of 40 – they are the ones who are going to have to live through the outcome;

b) all negotiations are filmed live for real-time public access;

c) the public who are in attendance at the COP will be given the ability to vote on issues as they arise to give real-time indicators of their views into the process to assist with negotiations;

d) all leaders make themselves available to their people at some point during the COP to account for their progress.

3. Establish trust between our leaders and between the politicians and people.

This will be achieved in part by implementation of the above suggestions, but more steps are required:

a) banish the 3 tier system (negotiators = participants, NGO’s = observers, the remainder are excluded) and treat all who attend as participants;

b) de-criminalise the process. Cancel the police powers which alienate the process;

c) ensure gender balance at all levels – 51% of the world is female, but 96% of the negotiators at top level are male. With more female input we would have a better balance of proposed solutions;

d) provide for, listen to and act upon the voice of the people – those who come with wisdom, the indigenous voice, the activists, those who have travelled to the negotiations out of the personal agenda that they care for the planet and want to find an equitable solution. All voices be fully acknowleged and embraced, not marginalised;

e) ensure enough time for negotiations and for rest. Leaders allocating just 2 days to the process has proven to be useless. Decisions made on 48 hours worth of concentrated sleep deprived negotiations lead to desperate and misplaced responses (as COP 15 demonstrated);

f) implement and subsidise supportive mechanisms that are required on a basic level: sustenance and nourishment for all, intellectually, physically and spiritually. For example, more events be open to the public online and on ground to demystify the various aspects of the process (the People’s Climate Summit to be implemented at each COP with even more accessibility to all, with more voices being heard from all arenas), good affordable fresh organic food (too many activists were starving by the end of the fortnight due to exhorbitant basic living expenses), more host family support (5,000 people stayed with host families in Copenhagen), massages for participants…

4. The next COP be in 6 months.

Such is the urgency of the problem, a year is too long to wait to begin again – six months should be the absolute latest. When all of the above is implemented, then we will hear Barak Obama and all our leaders making a speech worthy of a standing ovation.

With enormous thanks to all the people of the planet who helped with their proposals for a good COP. Together we can make this happen.

Upcoming Speaker Event in London on 20/01/10:

From bad COP to good COP – A peoples report from COP 15 & preparations for COP 16. Read more here