COP 15 Daily Log

Pretty interesting day here in Copenhagen. I am at the Bella Center, which is where the "official" COP 15 is taking place. It is a huge maze of a building with a ton of exhibits, meetings of the United Nations and all sorts of  very cool side programs. Technically the COP 15 is the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change or UNFCCC. There are 192 countries participating in the official events and meetings and around 15000 people from around the world here at just the UN happening.
This morning I observed a cleansing ceremony by several different Indigenous Peoples groups, ( see Video ) and  sat in on the United Nations Committee on Subsidary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA) which was largely procedural, but interesting anyway.  Although not on the agenda, several UN delegates to the committee requested that a priority for this committee must be to urge the UN to make deforestation an integral part of the final agreement. This really means funding to mitigate the effects of deforestation, much of which is taking place in developing nations. UN REDD is a great link to learn more about this issue.

Here is the UNFCCC definition of the SBSTA

The Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA) advises the COP on scientific and technical questions. The SBSTA meets twice a year, and it works for both the climate convention and the Kyoto Protocol.

 The UNFCC  has a pretty good explanation of how it does the work if any interest in that. Here's the link UNFCCC How it works 

 There are many other unofficial events which will be the "alternative" program...those should be really interesting! Meanwhile enjoy the pics and be well and happy.

CT