{"id":1040,"date":"2019-12-03T20:56:53","date_gmt":"2019-12-03T20:56:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/cop\/?p=1040"},"modified":"2022-03-09T21:39:17","modified_gmt":"2022-03-09T21:39:17","slug":"day-2-venues-and-meetings-at-cop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/cop\/2019\/12\/03\/day-2-venues-and-meetings-at-cop\/","title":{"rendered":"Day 2: Venues and Meetings at COP"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wow! Today has been a whirlwind. My day began\u00a0at 9am at\u00a0the YOUNGO Spokes meeting, which is a daily meeting of\u00a0youth representing NGOs at the conference. I then proceeded to attend negotiations\u00a0sessions on two key issues at COP 25 \u2014 Article 6 of the Paris Agreement (which Jenn talked about in her latest post) and the Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage (which Allie discussed yesterday) \u2014 as well as two side events at country pavilions and two\u00a0official side events hosted by the UNFCCC, before leaving the venue around 8pm.<\/p>\n

Since there are so many venues and\u00a0meetings at the COP, I thought it would be helpful to provide visuals and descriptions of the different types of events and negotiations.<\/p>\n

Official Negotiations – Plenaries and\u00a0Contact Groups<\/strong><\/p>\n

Plenaries:<\/strong> Plenaries are open to all in attendance. They are held in large halls (see below) and are used as forums for public speeches, the adoption of agendas, all procedural issues, and the adoption of any decisions\/conclusions.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_5177\"<\/a>
One of two plenary halls<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"IMG_4566\"<\/a>
Inside of the Baker plenary hall during COP 25’s opening ceremony<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Contact Groups: <\/strong>When agenda items in plenary warrant further discussion (they almost always do), contact groups are formed. Contact group discussions generally take place in smaller settings (though not always as you will see below). Contact groups work out detailed texts that are then adopted\/approved in plenary. These events are sometimes open to observer organizations and sometimes not.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_8515\"<\/a>
Outside of the Article 6 negotiating room<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"IMG_9172\"<\/a>
Inside of the Article 6 contact group negotiations. This session felt more like a plenary than a nitty-gritty negotiation<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"IMG_7786\"<\/a>
Outside of the WIM negotiating room<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"IMG_2098\"<\/a>
At the WIM contact group . Negotiators are seated around table with observers on the outside.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It is also important to note that “official” negotiations continue outside of these sessions informally in\u00a0negotiating blocks,\u00a0bilaterals, and multilaterals.<\/p>\n

Informal Proceedings – Side Events and Exhibits<\/strong><\/p>\n

Official Side Events:<\/strong> These are thematic talks sanctioned by the UNFCCC. They serve as opportunities for observer organizations \u2014 which are limited in official negotiating capacity \u2014 to engage with the conference, share information, and promote climate action.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_3453\"<\/a>
Outside of the rooms in which the official side events are held<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"IMG_4483\"
At a side event<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Pavilion Side Events:\u00a0<\/strong>Similar to the official side events, pavilion talks are opportunities for observer organizations to share their work and engage with the conference. These events, however, are curated based on the pavilion host’s (an NGO, UN body, or country) positionality on the climate crisis. Below are pavilions from two countries, the IPCC, and a NGO representing a coalition of development banks.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_5627\"<\/a>
IPCC pavilion<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"IMG_8665\"<\/a>
Chile pavilion<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"IMG_4512\"<\/a>
International Development Finance Club pavilion<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"IMG_4471\"<\/a>
India pavilion (it’s HUGE!)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Official Exhibits:<\/strong> These serve as additional opportunities for\u00a0observer organizations to share their work with the conference attendees. They function almost as rotating poster sessions (as the exhibits shift every couple of days).<\/p>\n

\"IMG_2898\"<\/a>
Official exhibits<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wow! Today has been a whirlwind. My day began\u00a0at 9am at\u00a0the YOUNGO Spokes meeting, which is a daily meeting of\u00a0youth representing NGOs at the conference. I then proceeded to attend negotiations\u00a0sessions on two key issues at COP 25 \u2014 Article 6 of the Paris Agreement (which Jenn talked about in her latest post) and the … Continue reading Day 2: Venues and Meetings at COP<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/cop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1040"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/cop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/cop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/cop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/cop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1040"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/cop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1040\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1062,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/cop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1040\/revisions\/1062"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/cop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1040"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/cop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1040"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/cop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1040"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}