Wednesday December 8th

Another packed day at COP16 leaves me exhausted.  I went to a few open sessions (yes there were some open meetings today!)  this morning.  Then I attended a briefing by South African ministers about the next COP which will be held in Durban, South Africa.  They indicated that they will support youth involvement in those negotiations to the best of their abilities, though were vague about specific logistics (someone asked how the buildings would be arranged, given the inconvenience of two separate locations here in Cancun).  

I had earlier heard about an event being held at a hotel off-site titled "Advancing REDD+: New Pathways and Partnerships," (REDD+ is a text on forest conservation in developing countries) which had an exciting list of speakers including Ban Ki-Moon, Jonathan Pershing, and Jane Goodall; so I headed over to the Messe and then caught a bus with some other SustainUS delegates to the Marriot Hotel where it was happening.  The event was long (3 hours) and it turned out that Jane Goodall only gave a video message and Jonathan Pershing was replaced by another US negotiator, but there were still very interesting segments.  

The first speakers were the Prime Minister of Norway, the President of Guyana, the head of Indonesian President's Delivery Unit for REDD, and George Soros (a private investor in mitigation against climate change).  The dialogue included the President of Guyana stating that they have not yet received the promised aid from Norway.

Another interesting section was about "Sustainable Supply Chains for Reducing Emissions" in which the Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme, the Chairman and CEO of Conservation International, and Rob Walton the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Walmart discussed the power held by corporations to choose where they source their products.  Rob Walton told about Walmart's recent efforts to sell only products that come from sustainable sources- including a plan to only buy sustainable beef from Brazil to prevent tropical deforestation.

A video introduction by Jane Goodall about "Enhancing the Biodiversity Benefits of Forest Carbon" contained her traditional message of hope and humility; she reminded us that humans are not the only species on the planet and that forests should be conserved simply for the sake of their inhabitants, though emissions cuts are a definite benefit.  This was followed by a speech by Robert Zoellick- the president of the World Bank.  He insisted also that we do not want a silent forest and mentioned a Wildlife Premium Program which would provide funding aimed at specific attractive species' habitats.

We headed back to the Messe for a delegation meeting before calling it a night.