Delegates for Bali needed - only magicians apply

It's day 4 of the conference and I, for one, am exhausted. I know how delegates from some of the poorer nations must feel. I remember several years ago when I first became an activist, a round of WTO negotiations was taking place and I was told of the difficulties for poorer nations to even follow negotiations at these big conferences. I don't think I really appreciated then what this meant, but being here in Bali it is obvious that rich nations can flood the various meetings with experts whilst poorer nations must surely be expected to bring magicians who can be in seven places at once.

The main conference centre is a hive of activity with highly technical discussions going on in several fora including the UNFCCC, the Kyoto Protocol, the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technical Advice (SBSTA), the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI) and others. That is not to mention the countless bilateral discussions, meeting of political groupings such as the G77 and the EU, the packed schedule of side events and official briefings, the press conferences...the list goes on.

To cover all of these meetings, the Australian government has, according to the official participants list, 110 delegates attending the conference. That, surely, is more than enough to provide genuine experts to all of these complex areas and ensure Australian interests are met in the negotiations. Australia is facing severe consequences from climate change as a major drought has plagued the country for at least the last 6 years. Indeed, the new government swept to power partly on the back of it's commitment to ratifying the Kyoto protocol, an act it carried out on the first day of the conference.

The Seychelles is at far greater risk. Recent reports on the island show that extreme weather events are becoming more common and that global warming has led to intense bleaching of the beautiful coral reefs that exist of its shores. The Seychelles has 3 people registered for the conference. With no offence intended to those delegates, it is clear that the two representatives of the Ministry of Environment, Natural Resources and Transport along with one Ambassadors, can not be expected to follow such complicated negotiations.

Talk about an unfair playing field.

I think this is a crucial role for NGOs at conferences such as this. GCAP, as well as Oxfam and other agencies, are working hard to ensure that the poorest people and nations are not forgotten during these meetings. That the impact on humanity is not subsumed by technical jargon.

I was privileged to join a panel at a meeting in the fabulous civil society compound near to the main conference centre yesterday. The compound, unlike its ultra-modern conference centre counterpart, is built as a temporary Indonesian village boasting raised wooden huts with thatched roofs, open sides, no central heating, and masses of passion from the mainly Indonesian participants. There were at least 80 people sat cross-legged on reed mats at the meeting I addressed and, following three presentations, there was a clamour for their stories to be heard. We heard from Indonesian farmers who are now only able to harvest rice once a year whereas before it was twice, from teachers in Jakarta whose students sometimes cannot get to school due to increased flooding, from an activist in Kalimantang whose livelihood is being destroyed as owners of a massive coal mine cut down forests and pollute the area.

This is where real action is happening, not inside the cozy air-conditioned confines of the conference centre. This is where there is real passion for change. As civil society activists, it is imperative upon us to make delegates hear these voices.

We will continue to do so.#