Poznan

Back from Poznan and what a ride it was! Literally.....18 hours of train journeys through Belgium and Germany. Poznan is beautiful, cultural and hospitable. The market square is a treat. But, most of my time was spent getting to know the Internaitonal Fair grounds quite intimately. That's where this year's climate change negotiations are being held. From my alarm sounding off at 6.30am to collapsing on my bed at midnight, it was an intensive time of understanding a new language of COP, COP/MOPs, SBIs, SBSTAs, Contact working groups, Articles and sections. What was the highlight? Possibly the NGO party halfway through the negs, where government delegates, NGOs and journalists were all boogeying down on the dance floor at Tuba club. We even had a delegate from the Ministry of the Environment for Brazil waiting in line to get into the club.

Its an amazing experience sitting through various groups negotiatin in plenaries and working groups, informal sessions which are closed to all non-governmental people adn listening to political negotiators wording their positions in language dripping with meaning that is over the heads of people who are new to this world of language. "I must insist Mr. Chairman" basically means "No, I don't accept your proposal. Accept mine or we're in a deadlock." "We need more time to review the proposals put on our table," basically translates into "We are trying to buy more time while we do the math here but if it doesn't add up and we're not happy we are going to do everything in our power to put the brakes on." Poznan will forever go down in history as part of the climate change negotiations. We had a Kyoto Protocol and a Bali Action plan. So maybe a Poznan Plan???

In the end, I'm happy to be back and have a few days rest before getting my flight to Christmas in India. I have to pop off now but you'll hear from me soon - I'll have to let you know how my manuscripts were regarded in the two workshops I'm attending tomorrow. Watch this space!