Stakeholders engagement in the climate negotiations

1. Stakeholders engagement in the climate negotiations Challenges and opportunities Sebastien Duyck,University of Lapland,sebastien.duyck@ulapland.fi

2. Overview • Recent developments (up to and at the COP16) • Access to information and Transparency issues • Public Participation • Review Processes • Short term opportunity for improvements • Key recommendations

3. Progress over the past year • COP15 a dramatic exercise of democratic denial • Lack of transparency of the main process • Impossibility for many delegates to obtain their accreditation • Exclusion of almost all observers from the last days of the negotiations • Constructive discussions through the year between stakeholders and the secretariat • Important progress regarding logistical challenges

4. Particular issues at the COP16 • Limits imposed on peaceful actions • Restrictive opportunities for actions • Logistical constraints • Multiple venues, most NGO activities located 8 kilometers away from the negotiations • General issue of the lack of access to negotiating sessions

5. Access to Information - Transparency • Main issues • Lack of access to many sessions • Tripartite discussions between the secretariat, the host country and civil society • Additional Opportunities • Increase use of the webcasts • Publication of official transcripts

6. Public Participation in the Negotiations • Contributions to the session • Interventions in the negotiations • Submissions of input • Freedom of Demonstration • Timeframe and flexibility for the organization of peaceful actions • No censorship of messages by the Secretariat

7. Review Processes • Rapid and transparent appeal process open to NGOs • With regards to decisions over exclusions/restrictions of stakeholder engagement • Legal standing for stakeholders • Implementation of the mechanisms established under the Kyoto Protocol

8. Short term opportunities for Improvements • In-session workshop on stakeholders engagement (June 2011) • Role of civil society in the planning of and during the workshop • SBI needs to take a substantive decision on the basis of the outcomes of the workshop • Need to focus on effective participation at the core of the negotiations, not on the creation of parallel processes • Other workshops foreseen in the Cancun Agreements

9. Participation in the bodies established under the Convention • Creation of new bodies foreseen in the Cancun Agreements • Transitional Committee of the Green Climate Fund • All meetings open to observers and all relevant information made available, including webcasts of the sessions • Procedures for the active participation of members of civil society • Adaptation Committee • Include civil society representatives as members of the AC • Open the meetings of the AC

10. Key recommendations for the UNFCCC • Open meetings to observers as a general rule • Allow for more effective participation through interventions and submissions • Review the participation guidelines, in order • to restrict participations only with regards to objective criteria • to respect the freedom of expression of observer organizations • Include fully civil society in the workshops and in the bodies established under the Cancun Agreements