Billed as ”Hopenhagen”, the climate talks in Denmark had acquired another tag by Wednesday night this week — ”Constipagen”.
Progress in the negotiations continued to be painfully slow. As anger, suspicion and backstabbing continued to plague the talks in week two, hopes were fading that an ambitious, legally binding deal could be reached.
Some delegates still held out hope for a political agreement leading to a legally binding regime in less than six months. But the developing nations believe that any political deal at this stage will be little more than greenwash.
On Thursday there was talk of extending the conference into the weekend in a bid to achieve something substantial.
On Wednesday, with violent protests outside the venue, negotiators admitted that they had moved backwards.
”Unfortunately, I feel that this entire conference, the entire process has been very, very badly handled,” Indian Environment Minister ÂJairam Ramesh said after meeting Brazil, South Africa and China on Wednesday night.
It became clear on Thursday morning that delegates were holding out for a miracle and the arrival of a messiah to save the process. Some were pinning their hopes on United States President Barack Obama, who arrives on Friday.
However, the US is seen as one of the villains of the conference, which refuses to commit to ambitious emissions control targets.
The other perceived arch-villain is Canada. Corridor gossip suggested that the Canadian agenda is to ensure that the Copenhagen process yields no agreement.
The umbrella group, which includes Canada and Australia, has dug in its heels, insisting that developing countries, particularly China, should agree to emissions caps and commit to verifying emissions. China scoffed at the idea.
Amid the roughhousing the small island states raised a sobering voice, saying they were in ”clear and present danger” from rising sea Âlevels. ”It’s a matter of survival for us and we have to continue to negotiate to the last minute,” said Vanuatu’s prime minister, Edward Natapei.
The Africa group continued to be a major force in the negotiations, with South Africa one of its leaders. This was despite unhappiness that Ethiopia’s prime minister, Meles Zenawi, appeared to break ranks with his African colleagues by seeking an independent deal with France and the United Kingdom on the financing of adaptation and mitigation in the developing world.
The South African delegation refused to discuss the issue, but is understood to be deeply aggrieved by the Ethiopian proposal, which envisaged less than half the aid the rest of Africa is asking for.
After meeting the African group on Wednesday afternoon South Africa’s environment minister, Buyelwa Sonjica, said Africa would not stray from the Nairobi position.
”The Nairobi Declaration was agreed on by African environment ministers and ratified by [presidents] … it is the voice of the African continent and its peoples,” said Sonjica.
Some critics suggested that caucusing with Ethiopia might have been a deliberate ploy by the developed world to drive a wedge into the African group.
Developing countries were also upset about the circulation of a second Danish text, which the Danish prime minister, Lars Lokke Rasmussen, the new president of the conference, threatened to table. China and India said they would not allow a ”parachuted document” to dictate negotiations.
Heads of state began arriving on Wednesday and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, Bolivian President Victor Morales and Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe delivered speeches on the plight of the developed world, while attacking rich countries.
”If the climate had been a bank, it would have been bailed out by now,” Mugabe said.
South Africa’s president, Jacob Zuma, was set to deliver his address on Thursday night. The United Nations said it expected 190 heads of state in Copenhagen, the biggest such gathering outside New York.
David Turnbull, director of Climate Action Network, said the Copenhagen conference was unprecedented in terms of the number of heads of state and amount of global attention focused here.
”We need to see them take leadership,” he said. ”We want an open, transparent process.”
Jeremy Hobbs, head of Oxfam, said having so many heads of state at the conference was remarkable.
”It’s an enormous political opportunity which is about to be squandered, unless something radical happens in the next 24 hours,” he said.
