COP16 update: Week One
Dec. 6, 2010
During the first week of the UN climate conference in Cancun, Erb Institute student Miguel Sossa helped a non-profit agency launch a sustainable-marketing campaign, ate lunch with like-minded students from across the world, observed as foreign dignitaries positioned their appeals, shook hands with a top UN official who replied "Go Blue!," and shared thoughts on the rice trade with an ambassador on his ride back to his hotel.
"Observing COP 16 offered an amazing up close look at just how hard it is to align so many conflicting interests with respect to climate change policy creation and execution," Sossa said. "The UN delegates are very well versed on the issues, but without economic drivers in place and the ability to change economic catalysts, their ability to exact change seems less effective relative to other organizations worldwide. Given this, I will share with SNRE the importance of furthering the business, negotiation, and group training of its students to prepare them to be effective environmental leaders in the future."
The attitude and mood of conference attendees varied. "Delegates from developing nations tended to view the negotiations as critical to their immediate welfare, whereas you did not hear the same sense of urgency in developed nation responses." Sossa said.
í¢â‚¬Å“During week one it has not been testy in the manner that Copenhagen was very testy,í¢â‚¬ said Gabriel Thoumi, project manager at Forest Carbon Offsets and a 2008 Erb graduate. Thoumi described the mood in Cancun as "tentative yet positive."
The conference ends on Dec. 10. Follow the U-M students' blog at climateblue.org.
Press release on SNRE students attending the conference: