Blog
15.November 2007 - 05:19
At the Nairobi Climate Conference
This story is about arriving too late, fumbling about, challenging meeting rooms, wet buttoms, muddy toes, dysfunctional phones and incoherent logistics. However, all’s well that ends well.
I arrived at the beautiful, rainy and wonderfully verdant Nairobi in the morning. The night flight went well, no disturbances, which means that apparently I had slept. The difficulties didn’t start until I was actually at the destination. The battery of my cell phone was almost dead so that, after arriving at the hotel, I decided to wait a little longer after my shower to charge my cell phone at least a bit – otherwise, I would not be able to find my assistant Miikka or my other colleagues.
But – I hadn’t remembered the adapter. In Kenya, there are other British things than just the left hand traffic: those awful plugs. I called the hotel reception and asked for an adapter to be brought to my room. “Please wait a moment; we’ll get back to you.” I knew immediately that, in Africa, I would never be called back. And they didn’t.
The journey to the meeting place took quite a while. “It is a puzzle,” said the taxi driver as he stopped the car at the roadside. I already began to get a little worried – how long would putting together this puzzle take, and what was it all about, anyway. After a quarter of an hour, a motorcade appeared; perhaps the President was already leaving the opening ceremonies of the climate conference. Then, the ride continued. After all, I had left the hotel in good time and was now happy that I got around to the first briefing. I went through the normal routine procedures and got a meeting badge around my neck. After a long search, I finally found the EU pavilion and the office of the presiding country, Finland, in the last corner of the huge conference space. On my way here, I’d stepped in red mud. I learnt that at the Finnish office, one could get their phone charged – there was trouble-free euro current available. I sat down on the wall-to-wall carpeted floor, right next to the cell phone charging point, as there were no free chairs anywhere to be seen. I immediately received a useful piece of advice to get up and find a chair somewhere, as there had been a flood in the conference space and the floor was soaking wet. It definitively was. When I finally got my phone working, Miikka told me to hurry to the meeting.
So, I went to find the room; it took quite a while. I ran into two other colleagues , who had the same problem. Miikka called and gave me the directions, but my battery died again, right in the middle of the call. After some fifteen minutes and a great many wrong directions, I finally found the Rhinoceros room. But – nobody was there. A man came along and told me that the MEPs convened one floor below. And exactly there they weren’t, but after another quarter of an hour and lots of asking around the Crocodile room was found. I managed to attend the last 15 minutes.
The time for the lunch break came. After lunch, an optional excursion was arranged out in the countryside, but as I had skipped the malaria medication, I really thought it would also be best to pass over the mosquito swarms. I decided to go back to the hotel and write a column (4 deadlines this week). I finished the column, sent it on its way and departed to the conference venue. The ride of 25 minutes now took a whole hour and the evening grew dimmer. When I finally got there, a little late I’m afraid, I was really annoyed having missed a good ten minutes of Enestam’s and Dimas’ brief. Forget it! I lost more than that, because the electronic security guard, checking our conference IDs, announced on the screen that Korhola’s badge is INACTIVE. “This is not valid. You had better leave and come back tomorrow. It’s/it is too late to do anything anymore.”
I was not going to take this. I insisted that they must find somebody who could help. Finally I got in, by using my inactive badge, after having found someone who assured that I was acceptable. I managed to attend the last 15 minutes of the briefing.
A press conference followed the briefing. Dimas: we have already achieved a lot.
Enestam: The EU will achieve all of its goals, all the institutions together, the Parliament’s support is of vital importance. Dimas, about the question on setting pressure on the US to play along: the message from the US is quite clear; Kyoto will not be ratified. The US will increase its emissions, whereas the EU is only one percent from the level of 1990 when speaking about the aggregate entity. A more approachable path in regard to the US must be sought. The situation in the US is changing rapidly; 9 of the eastern states practise emissions trading, California’s bill is also important. The re-examination of the Kyoto Protocol will be discussed during these days.
We grilled Enestam and Dimas to repeat the same things which came out in their own briefing. I have always demanded import taxes for those who will stay out of the battle against climate change – now Dimas and Enestam agreed to do so. Well, perhaps Dimas formulated it a little bit milder: carbon tax or whichever other, we will analyze both its advantages and disadvantages.
Oh well, at least, that’s something. I am happy even about speculations, because the pressure’s increasing. But actually – that is really nothing. The analyses will take their time. And what’s more, emissions by China and India cannot be touched through any duties as the Kyoto sets no targets for these two.
And besides; we can be happy about the emissions trading practised by the singular states of the US. But to harmonise it with the EU system will take its time. A nasty fact for the competitiveness of the EU’s emissions trading sector will be the 3rd period, starting in 2013 and lasting over 5 years, perhaps even 15. There is no time to bring any other partners onboard with the same equitable conditions.
All’s well that ends well: in the evening, we went out for dinner to the most splendid place. I tried crocodile, ostrich and a camel shin. Yummy!
You will find my report (in Finnish) on the results of this unfortunate climate conference in the Theme of the Month.
Published: November 15, 2006
http://www.korhola.com/2006/11/nairobin-ilmastokokouksessa/
This story is about arriving too late, fumbling about, challenging meeting rooms, wet buttoms, muddy toes, dysfunctional phones and incoherent logistics. However, all’s well that ends well.
I arrived at the beautiful, rainy and wonderfully verdant Nairobi in the morning. The night flight went well, no disturbances, which means that apparently I had slept. The difficulties didn’t start until I was actually at the destination. The battery of my cell phone was almost dead so that, after arriving at the hotel, I decided to wait a little longer after my shower to charge my cell phone at least a bit – otherwise, I would not be able to find my assistant Miikka or my other colleagues.
But – I hadn’t remembered the adapter. In Kenya, there are other British things than just the left hand traffic: those awful plugs. I called the hotel reception and asked for an adapter to be brought to my room. “Please wait a moment; we’ll get back to you.” I knew immediately that, in Africa, I would never be called back. And they didn’t.
The journey to the meeting place took quite a while. “It is a puzzle,” said the taxi driver as he stopped the car at the roadside. I already began to get a little worried – how long would putting together this puzzle take, and what was it all about, anyway. After a quarter of an hour, a motorcade appeared; perhaps the President was already leaving the opening ceremonies of the climate conference. Then, the ride continued. After all, I had left the hotel in good time and was now happy that I got around to the first briefing. I went through the normal routine procedures and got a meeting badge around my neck. After a long search, I finally found the EU pavilion and the office of the presiding country, Finland, in the last corner of the huge conference space. On my way here, I’d stepped in red mud. I learnt that at the Finnish office, one could get their phone charged – there was trouble-free euro current available. I sat down on the wall-to-wall carpeted floor, right next to the cell phone charging point, as there were no free chairs anywhere to be seen. I immediately received a useful piece of advice to get up and find a chair somewhere, as there had been a flood in the conference space and the floor was soaking wet. It definitively was. When I finally got my phone working, Miikka told me to hurry to the meeting.
So, I went to find the room; it took quite a while. I ran into two other colleagues , who had the same problem. Miikka called and gave me the directions, but my battery died again, right in the middle of the call. After some fifteen minutes and a great many wrong directions, I finally found the Rhinoceros room. But – nobody was there. A man came along and told me that the MEPs convened one floor below. And exactly there they weren’t, but after another quarter of an hour and lots of asking around the Crocodile room was found. I managed to attend the last 15 minutes.
The time for the lunch break came. After lunch, an optional excursion was arranged out in the countryside, but as I had skipped the malaria medication, I really thought it would also be best to pass over the mosquito swarms. I decided to go back to the hotel and write a column (4 deadlines this week). I finished the column, sent it on its way and departed to the conference venue. The ride of 25 minutes now took a whole hour and the evening grew dimmer. When I finally got there, a little late I’m afraid, I was really annoyed having missed a good ten minutes of Enestam’s and Dimas’ brief. Forget it! I lost more than that, because the electronic security guard, checking our conference IDs, announced on the screen that Korhola’s badge is INACTIVE. “This is not valid. You had better leave and come back tomorrow. It’s/it is too late to do anything anymore.”
I was not going to take this. I insisted that they must find somebody who could help. Finally I got in, by using my inactive badge, after having found someone who assured that I was acceptable. I managed to attend the last 15 minutes of the briefing.
A press conference followed the briefing. Dimas: we have already achieved a lot.
Enestam: The EU will achieve all of its goals, all the institutions together, the Parliament’s support is of vital importance. Dimas, about the question on setting pressure on the US to play along: the message from the US is quite clear; Kyoto will not be ratified. The US will increase its emissions, whereas the EU is only one percent from the level of 1990 when speaking about the aggregate entity. A more approachable path in regard to the US must be sought. The situation in the US is changing rapidly; 9 of the eastern states practise emissions trading, California’s bill is also important. The re-examination of the Kyoto Protocol will be discussed during these days.
We grilled Enestam and Dimas to repeat the same things which came out in their own briefing. I have always demanded import taxes for those who will stay out of the battle against climate change – now Dimas and Enestam agreed to do so. Well, perhaps Dimas formulated it a little bit milder: carbon tax or whichever other, we will analyze both its advantages and disadvantages.
Oh well, at least, that’s something. I am happy even about speculations, because the pressure’s increasing. But actually – that is really nothing. The analyses will take their time. And what’s more, emissions by China and India cannot be touched through any duties as the Kyoto sets no targets for these two.
And besides; we can be happy about the emissions trading practised by the singular states of the US. But to harmonise it with the EU system will take its time. A nasty fact for the competitiveness of the EU’s emissions trading sector will be the 3rd period, starting in 2013 and lasting over 5 years, perhaps even 15. There is no time to bring any other partners onboard with the same equitable conditions.
All’s well that ends well: in the evening, we went out for dinner to the most splendid place. I tried crocodile, ostrich and a camel shin. Yummy!
You will find my report (in Finnish) on the results of this unfortunate climate conference in the Theme of the Month.
Published: November 15, 2006
http://www.korhola.com/2006/11/nairobin-ilmastokokouksessa/