So far the media interest in the Tianjin talks has been, well – lackluster – but like many of these conferences before – you never really know until the minute you are there. This one will hold a bit of a special place in the history of Climate Change talks as it will be the first climate negotiations being held in a Chinese city.
Things are stirring at the Tianjin climate negotiations. Participants are getting impatient. The Australian delegation is getting impatient. The lead negotiator from the US, publically declared his impatience in a speech that bordered on anger. I think many in the room sympathised with him.
This morning I had the opportunity to speak with a senior negotiator from a different delegation to Australia. When I asked about progress he was tight-lipped. After a few moments he paused and said “well, you can think of it this way, there were blue skies yesterday… but today we can’t see far at all because of the haze”. I think the negotiator was correct in both literally and metaphorically.
It’s the opening day of the climate negotiations in Tianjin, China. As I am writing this, the Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC Christiana Figueres is giving her opening address to all the nations of the world. She just said “Now is the time to advance the search for common ground…It is in no one’s interest to delay action”.
We'd encourage you all to go along to this Australian Conservation Foundation night of inspirational stories from Ms Ursula Rakova from the Carteret Atoll in Papua New Guinea, accompanied by wine, music and comedy.
This week on Oxfam’s 3things we marvelled at the resilience of our fellow young people doing it tough in Pakistan.
This is an exciting time for climate change campaigning in Australia. Send a clear message to our new Minister for Climate Change, Greg Combet, that the government’s renewed mandate for climate action must not be squandered.
Climate Tracker Phil looks at Australia's position in the lead-up to the next climate negotiation session in Tianjin, China.
Oxfam staff member Jane Beesley reports from the field about our hygeine kit program in Pakistan, and why one of the first things we distribute in an emergency is the simple, incredibly effective bar of soap.
As a worker on a low wage, sometimes I get scared when I imagine my future. I worry that when I am elderly my own situation won’t be that different from my neighbours. Even in their old age they have to work very hard just to scrape by.
