“I don't understand, I asked them straight out, what about AIDS? And they looked like they didn't understand my question. It is World Aids Day, how can they not understand my question?”
We're standing in front of the daily schedule for the C17 People's Space Assembly. I am speaking with a South African independent media journalist who has accreditation both with COP17 and the C17. The bathrooms in the university residence where I am staying do not supply toilet paper – you have to provide your own. In contrast, bulk boxes of condoms free for the taking sit on the back of each toilet. In a continent so marked by AIDS the issues of health, poverty, environmental vulnerability and community resilience are inextricably linked. Any discussion of a response to climate change must acknowledge the toll that AIDS has, and continues to, take here.
I am not surprised that the journalist was met with blank stares. Climate change means many different things to many different people. The key issue for one person is often seen as irrelevant or inconsequential by another. In addition to the discussion about AIDS, climate change has been central to the following conversations I have had during the last 24 hours:
We are standing in the cool marble hall of the Memorial Tower of the UKZN. I am speaking with a dynamic young woman who self-describes herself as being fascinated by issues of race and class. She feels that South Africans have not yet fully realized that climate change is the next big issue that inherently ties these power struggles together.
My colleague stops and does a double-take. He has just recognized two people he met at an Occupy Wall Street event in the United States. They explain to us that they are here to run a workshop on unions. Climate change is about employment, workers rights and the necessity of finding a new way of doing business.
“No, no, its not like that, you are not listening to her, she is against her government”. I am being defended by one journalist to another. The issue is the development of Canada's tar sands. I have just been asked why I am being so difficult, and why my country does not care about what happens to the rest of the world. We talk for almost an hour. At the end of it they ask if they can take my picture as an illustration of ordinary Canadians who want to do something about climate change.
There are rarely free tables at lunchtime. You are doing well if you find a free chair. I look around and spot one under a tree. Its a small table, just space for two, and there is already someone there. I go over and introduce myself. He is an executive from the main utility company in a relatively large developing country. For years they have relied on hydroelectricity supplemented by small oil installations but they just built their first coal power plant. They are concerned about the volatility of the oil price, and are under pressure not to build additional coal plants, but have already maxed out their hydroelectricity reserves. The United States is discussing “symmetrical obligations” for developing countries to reduce emissions; what does this mean for countries like this?
I have a feeling they are academics even before we introduce ourselves. I am right. They are human geographers. Both of them specialize in adaptation and community adaptive capacity. Within three sentences our conversation has moved to the ins and outs of political ecology, development theory and conservation. They have come to COP17 because they are trying to build a central hub for development and climate change research.
Some days stairs look longer than others and this is one of those days. I am trudging up the stairs to a plenary session and am joined by a former negotiator for a large developed country. He has lived, breathed and watched the development of climate change policy at the UN level for many years. He looks tired.
I try not to stare but the triangle of silver metal swinging over his forehead is distracting, and each time he turns his head I am slightly worried I will get poked by the long white sticks that protrude perpendicular from his head, just above his ears. The two of us are jammed together in the far back corner of the mini-bus. He and several other Maasai have been sent to the COP by their community to learn more about the possible changes they can expect on their land, and to network with other groups about adaptation strategies. If your community has always relied on livestock, but are facing long-term droughts, what exactly are you going to do?
The main presentations are over and it is time for question period. It is almost 10 pm but people are still animated – what kind of new market mechanisms might be appropriate in the post-2012 regime, and what role might credited sectoral NAMAs play in this? Acronyms are flying fast and furious. This is a conversation by experts, for experts. Beneath this all is a simple question, what needs to happen so that private investors will invest in developing country industries so that they can afford to lower their emissions? And how are we going to do this once the Kyoto Protocol runs out in 2012? Large-scale industrial changes are extremely expensive, and neither the governments of developing nor developed countries can afford to fund these through public funds. At the same time, if one country implements tough regulations and another does not, there is a risk that the industry will just leave. This does not reduce overall emissions, it just means that one country has lost employment. If we cannot find ways of using private money to make these industrial changes, how are we going to reduce the emissions of industries such as steel or cement?
So what is climate change? It is all these things and more. Afterall, this was just one day, and I am just one person.
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