Photos From the UN!

The high-level sessions are about the only activities to take place in the General Assembly room, above. These sessions opened on Wednesday and continued for the last 3 days of the conference. There is a changing of the guard just before, when the higher-ranking delegates replace some of the delegates from the first part of the conference.

The UN building (the tall rectangular building in front of the river).

The UN cafeteria looks out over the Long Island. Not a shabby view, if you ask me!

Member country's flags, all lined up and behaving themselves (unlike their countries sometimes :-)!).

Me, and another US citizen delegate, Yochi Zachiai, really exited to be at the UN on the opening day of the conference!

Unlike the General Assembly room, the room where most of the negotiations took place was not very austere. The bright screen at the front left corner is where the text of the policy document was projected for all to see and comment on.

Your Voice at the UN - Friday, May 11

These past two days there has been a lot of speculation about how late negotiations will go… whether negotiations wouldn’t finish until midnight or so on Friday, continue throughout the weekend…. There was even talk about reconvening in two weeks time to finish. UN interpreters (a crucially important bunch that does an amazing job) are only paid through 6:30 pm, and all formal negotiations have to stop when they are released by the clock.

As you may already have read in the news, the 15th Convention on Sustainable Development officially closed on Friday without producing any policy document at all. This was NOT expected, at least not by any of the “buzz” that made it to my ears. So, the products of this conference are every country’s individual position statements, attempts at a collaborative text to recommend policies around sustainable development, and… several weeks worth of contributions to the New York economy by all there for the conference. The world, through the UN, has failed to find consensus.

This is my take. The UN is set up to address our common interests as all nations on one globe. It doesn’t work to advocate narrowly for self-interest. Because policy is non-binding, and because all nations must come to a CONSENSUS in order to move forward, isolationist behavior corrupts the entire process.

The second item on the agenda at closing night was to elect a new chair for the next 2-year cycle. Zimbabwe was chosen to chair the next Convening, with Iran and Israel assisting. For those of you who don’t follow international politics closely, Zimbabwe has been accused of severe human rights abuses recently and has been politically unstable with civil strife for some time now. The U.S. refuses to deal with Zimbabwe. Iran is an oil-rich country that voted, at least in all cycles of this commission previously, for a prolonged dependency on oil. Israel is holds a similar position.

I am still digesting exactly what this means for my outlook on the UN, on humanity itself and how we calculate risk, behave and govern ourselves, as well as on the role we can play to best contribute to all of this. I will post one more blog entry after I’ve had the chance to digest this, addressing where we (the MBD community and our supporters) go from here, and where the merge of sustainability and microenterprise fits into development.

Until now, and in leiu of a definition and a sustainability stat, here are some photos from these amazing two weeks of sessions.

Your Voice at the UN -- Wednesday May 9

After a week and a half of lobbying and negotiations, the “high level” sessions opened Wednesday in the main General Assembly hall. The chair of Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) opened with a message on behalf of his native oil-rich country Qatar and his work as chair of the Commission. His words were not as blatantly anti-change this morning as they have been-- certainly not as they were last week when he countered “energy-security” (the concept of ensuring sustainable and equal access to energy worldwide) with his own concept of “security of demand!” Fortunately for CSD (and all who live on this planet) , the new Secretary General of the UN who replaced Kofi Annan, Ban Ki-moon, has placed climate change and sustainable development at the very top of his priority list since taking office.

The most inspiring speaker this morning was Ms. Gro Harlem Brundtland from Norway. Ms. Brundtland is the authoress of the very definition of Sustainable Development (as adopted by the UN), former head of the World Health Organization, authoress of a book entitled “Our Common Future,” and recently appointed special envoy to the UN on climate change. This is a woman who is very experienced with many of the drastic and immediate issues our world faces. She shared this morning that, “poverty is our greatest challenge… it is a scar on the face of humanity… it degrades people and environment alike.” She also stated that in her view climate change is a single and all-important struggle that all of humanity faces together, that no one can buy their way out of its effects.

Her message was not of doom; but hope. Humanity’s seemingly chronic struggle with poverty is both the challenge and the opportunity—in poverty itself lays the potential. The new “green economy”—that is, the demand for new products and services, the shift to more sustainable lifestyles, and a new understanding of humanity’s wellbeing as a whole and how that affects all individual’s well being as a whole—this new economy can “save the world from poverty and from climate change.”

After hearing Ms. Brundland speak, several of us US citizen delegates met with two delegates to the U.S.Mission to the United Nations. It was striking how different the position of the U.S. government is from every one of its citizen delegates to the convention. Which isn’t to say there are many citizens who also hold their view, because there are. In a nutshell, the U.S. does not think world governments or other concerned bodies should work together. It believes wholly in the power of the free market and the private sector to solve all and be all. No laws, no agreements, no time-bound targets in the public sphere that limit soveirgnity or regulate for common interest. In their eyes, if a need exists for increased sustainability or a change in lifestyles, the market will follow with the best solution.

Today's Definition is:

Time-Bound Target: In the context of policy, it is a law or recommendation that defines when a certain activity or transition will be completed. For example, many countries and NGO’s at this conference support phasing out the use of fossil fuels within 10 or 20 years. This is a time-bound target.

Sustainability Stat of the Day: Did you know that the City of Oakland, CA, has committed to being oil independent by 2020? The resolution reiterates that transitioning to a green economy is intended to CREATE Jobs, Increase JUSTICE, and STOP GLOBAL WARMING. Read more at http://ellabakercenter.org/img/messages/rtf/Oil-Independence-Resolution-and-FAQ.pdf.

That's all for now!

Caitlin

Your Voice at the UN -- May 7, 2007

Many of you know that MBD is transforming its office building on 700 Kalamath street to a zero-waste building (we understand it’s the first office building in Denver to do so!) by purchasing sustainable and renewable products, composting, and recycling our waste. Although I am extremely proud of us for making this commitment and allocating the resources necessary to make it happen, it has at times felt like a very small thing.

However, today, I had an experience that made me realize that this seemingly small act is really what change is all about. Right outside the General Assembly doors, there is a smoky little café where all of the “real” negotiations between government delegates happen, called the Vienna Cafe. When I first arrived, it did strike me as ironic that we walked out of the session on air pollution right into its hazy cloud, but today it struck me after negotiations on climate change and industrial development that not even five feet from the conversation between all united nations in the world, food was being served in disposable, largely styrofoam containers. Wow, just think! Such a simple switch, soon to be a money saving switch as the market grows, and yet some barrier delays the switch even for an organization that meets about it!

Today’s Definition is:

Renewable (as distinct from sustainable): capable of being replaced by natural ecological cycles or sound management practices.

Note: this is often distinct from sustainable. Being renewable make a material or practice sustainable. For example, biofuels are made from agriculture and organic materials and are therefore a renewable source of energy, but they are not always sustainable because they can compete for resources needed for food and also product harmful greenhouse gas pollutants. For more information on biofuels specifically, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biofuels.

Sustainability Stat of the Day: One of the recommendations proposed at this conference is the creation of a Sustainability Index that would bring the Gross National Product (GNP) up to speed with modern realities as the global measurement of progress. Such a sustainability index would account for social and environmental progress as well as economic progress. Though not exactly what’s being proposed, the country of Bhutan is the first to implement an alternative index--- called the Gross National Happiness Index. Read more about this fascinating index that accounts for environmentalism, cultural preservation, equitable distribution of wealth and responsive governance at http://www.sustainabilityincubator.com/newsletter.asp?action=retrievearticle&ssui=5.

As for an update on the conference proceedings... We have been waiting around, a lot, for countries to gather consensus amongst their coalitions and agree to all of their suggested changes to the text of the policy document.

The amazing thing about these negotiations, watching them from the sidelines as I do not represent a government, is that ultimately it is individual people – real people with personality quirks, human relationships, strengths and insecurities-- who decide that some meaning they fought for in the document can be conceded, or that they will stick to their proverbial guns and not let go. Government delegates do all of this in the moment, while bantering with one another, in real time. They don’t consult with their governments, or call the office back home, or verify that the point they are conceding can be given in the spirit of international collaboration. Policy is created and finalized, at the end, by individuals and human interaction in a very real sense…. I knew this, but still somehow it is not what I expected...

By this point, countries have suggested many different changes to the language in the document. All these suggested changes are projected onto the wall of the meeting room as negotiations proceed, and many are in conflict with one another.

How are new meanings added, deleted, and how are different country’s conflicting desires resolved? In very quiet voices, and with suggestions to change benign things such as the format, mixed in with drastic changes to the content. Although the process appears quite civil, it’s a very quiet game of diplomatic murder and resuscitation of the ideas and the document.

We shall see whose game is won by the end of the week. Will it be the small island nation, Tuvalu, whose delegate has so much as pleaded for countries to take this seriously because his island is disappearing beneath rising waters and his government is preparing to resettle their citizens? Read more about this at http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/rough/2005/12/tuvalu_that_sin_1.html. Or is it the OPEC nations who are forecasting dependence on fossil fuels for the foreseeable future (or at least until oil runs out)? My bias must be apparent, but the truth is that most players, and certainly all players with a vote, represent a “special” interest!

Your Voice at the UN-- May 3, 2007

I think I should step back and provide a bit more clarity on the objectives of this conference, now that I understand it better. This conference exists to produce a document—specifically, this document contains recommended policies for nations to engage in sustainable development.

The chair of the Commission released a “negotiating text” last Wednesday, during the first week. This document came out of a preparatory meeting for the conference with all of the 53 member countries. Let me say here that most here, including the countries that negotiated the original draft, were happy. Suffice it to say that the second line is…” Given that fossil fuels will continue to play a dominant role in the energy mix in the decades to come, the development and use of advanced and cleaner fossil fuel technologies should be increased.” Most interests here-- nations, NGO’s, and delegate scientists alike want there to be a time-based transition to energy sources that are both renewable and far more sustainable than fossil fuels.

And that is just energy. The document also addresses air pollution, climate change, and industrial development. I have been mostly involved in the work with the Industrial Development policies, ensuring that the overall language is supportive of economic, social and environmental justice for all. Microfinance is one piece of that, within the larger context of sustainable capacity building. Specifically, I keep hammering away that we need to include the following:

1. Along with foreign investment, we need to highlight the need for local ownership and control of economies.
2. A sustainability index must be implemented that accounts not only for economic growth but also social and environmental well being.
3. We must support sustainable innovation and entrepreneurship, including through innovative financing (and microfinance).

Thank you, MBD community, for demonstrating that these are both important and possible!

The mood of the day Wednesday took a drastic turn when our focuses were pulled away from innovative industrial development, air pollution policy, and climate change to energy—there has been a significant amount of support for nuclear energy. NGO’s, Women, Youth and Children, Indigenous People—many of the major groups have come out against it because of it’s danger to vulnerable people and ultimate unsustainability. This afternoon, when the chair’s text was released it did not include nuclear energy in its proposal. Whew!

Do you have thoughts on the struggle between surviving and planning for the future? That’s essentially what this is… although the argument is that there are many other ways to survive the energy crisis than through creating dangerous nuclear plants that generate waste…

Today’s Definition:

Adaptation: Acknowledging that the effects of climate change are already and will continue to take place regardless of greenhouse gas emission reduction in the future, adaptation is the process by which humans will adjust and compensate for these changes environmentally, economically and socially, for survival. To read more about what adaptation to climate change looks like in the United States, see http://www.pewclimate.org/press_room/sub_press_room/adaptation.cfm

Sustainability Stat of the Day: Did you know that the United States currently owes over $1.2 billion worth of dues in arrears to the United Nations? The best graphical history of this I’ve found is at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_and_the_United_Nations.

Thanks for sending your thoughts.... keep them comin'!

Caitlin

Your Voice at the UN -- May 1, 2007

The second full day coordinating with interest groups and preparing to lobby government delegates! I am having the time of my life, but I'm exhausted!

I noticed today that I am very comfortable talking about certain aspects of sustainable development, and hardly feel qualified on others (even though I am asked to speak on behalf of the Youth Caucus for those issues too!). I think what has happened is that I have been entrenched in one field the past three years--developed in depth knowledge about microenterprise, issues around economic development and organizational development.

I don’t think I behave as a delegate today as I would have when I was a student of political science without on the ground experience with the work of implementation. While I know about economic development and have been the bridge to linking these concepts to energy and waste reduction and air pollution within the context of microenterprise, this Convention is a tremendous learning opportunity for me about many other environmental issues!

Today I attended the strategy meeting of the NGO’s. I love to network with these folks as I’m more familiar with this work culture from my own experience. I also assisted in crafting the Youth Caucus statement on Industrial Development. We had a 1 minute slot on the floor of the UN to communicate what we feel needs to change in the current policy proposal, and what our priorities are for sustainable development. Read our statement here.

Today’s definition:

Poverty is a condition in which a person or community is deprived of, and or lacks the essentials for a minimum standard of well-being and life. Poverty may also be defined in relative terms. In this view income disparities or wealth or power disparities are seen as an indicator of poverty.

Poverty reduction (or poverty alleviation) is any process which seeks to reduce the level of poverty in a community, or amongst a group of people or countries. Poverty reduction programs may be aimed at economic or non-economic poverty. Some of the popular methods used are education, economic development, and income redistribution. Poverty reduction efforts may also be aimed at removing social and legal barriers to income growth among the poor.

Sustainability Stat of the Day: Did you know that the current crisis in Darfur, Sudan involving ethnic cleansing is fundamentally linked to a water shortage? This climate-change related issue helped spur the ethnic and racial tension in Darfur, and many argue that the solution must address water to create a lasting peace at all. (http://www.enn.com/today.html?id=10888)

Thanks all for now. I leave for the UN every morning at 7:45 and often don’t get back until 11 or midnight. Pauses in the blog mean only there is work being done here!

Signing off,

Caitlin

Your Voice at the UN -- April 30, 2007

Day 1 was long and wonderful. Far from being token representatives, our group of US residents began by drafting our opening statement and reading it on the floor. I will post our statement in a comment here if you’d like to read it.

The reason we are able to contribute to the policy formation and be recognized on the floor is that we, as members of the Youth and Children Caucus, have status as a “Major Group” along with Women, NGO’s, Trade and Labor Unions, Indigenous Peoples and others important stakeholders in Sustainable Development. After all, the youth of today are the generation that will be affected next by energy, climate and development issues next. Being young does not often offer up additional opportunities, but this qualifies as one, big such opportunity. There are so many young folks here, all with extremely diverse and learned backgrounds. Though we are young, we have the reputation of “knowing our stuff” and being valuable contributors to the policy.

I met today with the U.S. office to the UN today as well. The U.S. seems to be signing onto concepts and policies that the rest of the UN has developed and agreed to for some time now. It was a rather beaurocratic meeting (meaning, I don’t think there was much of substance to come out of it), but I did meet a gentleman from the USDA there who is working on rural energy issues in the United States. MBD recently reinvigorated our rural programming and I am excited about the partnership possibilities with the Regional USDA folks, pairing wind mills with ranchers to “milk” the skies!

Todays definition (will be relevant for tomorrow!)

Industrial Development: I do not like any of the definitions that come up on a web search. This term refers to all things business and industry, labor, investment, and economic policy. Microfinance, for example, fits into the category of Industrial Development. So do infrastructure projects that create the capacity for growth and development. And, so would certifications for specific types of businesses and products such as “organic,” “free-trade,” “Colorado Proud” or MBD’s new certification for its holistically responsible business… to be announced soon! I digress, but this certification will address social, economic and environmental attributes of client businesses and asks them to commit to progress, allows access to an incentive program, and is likely to be called MBD CARES – or, Creating a Renewable Economy. Interested in this project or getting certified?

Sustainability Stat of the Day: Did you know that 71% of the earth’s surface area is water, but 97% of this water is too salty to drink? The remaining 3% of fresh water is largely groundwater or ice. Demand for fresh water is in fact met by 0.3% of total global water reserves. (World Atlas of Sustainable Development, Sacquet)

That’s all for now. I’m exhausted and I expect the pace to pick up tomorrow. I spent a full 17 hours out working and commuting today.

With love from New York,

Caitlin