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GLASGOW, Scotland (dpa) – The princes, presidents and prime ministers have left, and the real mask-to-mask climate negotiations are now beginning.
For the next 10 days, maybe longer, the professional diplomats at the overcrowded United Nations climate change conference will have to convert the marching orders left by their heads of government into compromises and agreements. The talks will take place in a limited number of meeting rooms in Glasgow, with a Friday 12 November deadline and a record-long agenda of 104 items to clear.
Negotiations are restricted by the pandemic, but supported by a year and a half of virtual meetings, instant soup from Norway and chocolates from Swiss and Australian diplomats.
The pressure of deadlines will certainly increase from next week. The meetings will take place around the clock. Eating and sleeping are set aside unless someone is dozing off in a seat or on a coworker’s shoulder.
“We eat together and spend hours in conference centers with little sleep and poor food. It’s a bit of a crazy bonding experience, but it builds trust. And trust is the key to compromise, ”said Kelley Kizzier, vice president of the Environmental Defense Fund, who served as the European Union negotiator for 15 years.
At least 120 meetings were scheduled for Wednesday, with more to be added. But only 25 meeting rooms are available in the sprawling conference complex, where half of the buildings are makeshift, with makeshift roofs and rows of immaculate but cool portable toilets. And these rooms allow a limited number of people inside due to social distancing rules that aim to keep everyone 1.5 meters apart.
Between meetings, everyone has to clean for 15 minutes, which is what the Scottish government insists, said Laura Lopez, the conference administrator for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, who are negotiating on a site that is technically UN-owned.
“The problem is, our people aren’t that disciplined,” said Lopez. “You keep talking and don’t leave the room.”
The rooms in which it happens are often the rooms next door in which it happens.
“The deals are very often made outside of the room,” said longtime negotiator Yamide Dagnet, now chief negotiator at the World Resources Institute. Countries indicate their positions at the table, but compromises crop up in the hallways, during coffee breaks, leftover meals, and other away times, she said.
For this reason, face-to-face meetings cannot be replaced by virtual ones, said experienced negotiator Tosi Mpanu Mpanu, who heads one of the two main UN negotiating groups
“You meet someone in the hallway, and there you agree on the comma and semicolon, and that’s missing,” he said in virtual meetings.
The 18 months of virtual negotiation brought people closer together and made them work more together. But they have to personally seal the deal, said Mpanu Mpanu and Marianne Karlsen, who heads another UN negotiating group
“People have to sit at eye level,” said Karlsen.
Both attribute improvements over previous meetings to the pandemic and the months of virtual meetings.
“I really think the pandemic has brought an extra level of flexibility,” said Mpanu Mpanu.
Over the past few years, the United Nations has put beanbags in meeting rooms and offices to take naps during the recent crisis, Lopez said. But the pandemic killed that this year.
Karlsen said a key to survival is having a supply of snacks, chips, chocolate and fruit – as well as her personal contribution.
“I always bring extra baggage with instant soups,” said Karlsen. The Australian and Swiss financial negotiation teams are known for bringing chocolate.
“And there are no conditions,” said Mpanu Mpanu.
When talks come late and people get tired, bigger, richer countries with additional negotiators have a head start over smaller nations, he said.
“If you’re not up to date, people will take advantage of that,” said Mpanu Mpanu.
In the past, negotiators were often escorted into the rooms by observers, often from non-profit organizations. But the talks are now closed to these groups and to the media.
Because of the virus, the UN Climate Change Bureau has tried to offer more remote access to meetings. With several poorer island nations unable to send negotiators and room occupancy severely restricted by health regulations, the remote system is vital, but it was fraught with glitches.
Observers and activists have complained that they cannot attend or follow meetings online.
At the UK’s largest diplomatic event to date, the UN apologized for the video glitches, the lack of accessibility for an Israeli cabinet member and the long, slow security lines.
The security lines were slow because 25,000 people picked up passports. But only 10,000 people can be there at any given time because of the pandemic, and the lines need to be wider and fewer to ensure social distancing, Lopez said. The conference had to temporarily stop admitting people because of the 10,000 person limit.
But hardships are only part of the deal with the negotiators, said Karlsen: “There are no easy-born children in this process.”
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Follow AP’s climate reporting at https://apnews.com/hub/climate. Follow Seth Borenstein on Twitter at https://twitter.com/borenbears.
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The Associated Press Health and Science Department is supported by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
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