Jennifer HelgesonI attended the first week of the COP15 (Conference of Parties) in Copenhagen with a small international team from Initiatives of Change.I am American, but I split my time between energy efficiency work for the U.S. government and graduate school in London where I am a PhD student at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment. Most of my work deals with exploring how individuals’ perceive long-term risks. Among other activities, I report for ‘Climatico'.

At COP15 I was following the development of the REDD mechanism (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation). It was hoped that a (legally binding) agreement would be reached to eclipse the Kyoto Accord for the period post-2012. People had dedicated years of their lives to making Copenhagen a real success and well, sometimes the best intentions go unrealized…

This was the first time that there was a dedicated Initiatives of Change (IofC) presence at a COP, though members of IofC have taken significant parts in the negotiations in past years. The Caux Forum for Human Security has realized the important linkage between human security, environment, and economic issues. Thus, a group that came together through the IofC network set out for Copenhagen in order to seek niches for trust building.

I was joined by Tom Duncan of Australia, Francis Ward of the UK, Marcia Lee of the USA, and Rishab Khanna of India. We were lucky enough to get excellent support and invaluable guidance from the veteran environmental journalist Geoff Lean, Martin Frick, the Deputy CEO/Director of the Global Humanitarian Forum, Nithiyananthan Nesadurai, a public relations consultant from Malaysia, and Chad Briggs, of Lehigh University and a senior fellow at the Institute for Environment Security. In my typical work with climate change economics, the “human face” of climate change is hidden beneath calculations.

I was at the Bella Center (the conference center hosting COP15) last March to present a paper on long-term discounting. During that run-up conference to COP15, the science discussions appeared to set the stage for real action during COP15. But, in many ways, the COP itself was absolutely laden with tit-for-tat politics, at times ignoring the clear “human face” of climate change in favor of self interests.

I interviewed the delegation from the small island nation of Kiribati. I listened to the leaders of Kiribati tell me matter-of-factly about losing their lands to slow but persistent sea level rise. How can an agreement not be formulated when governments are seriously negotiating action plans to evacuate citizens who may become ‘environment refugees’ in the next decade? At times, I felt as though I was standing on the periphery, looking in on a free-for-all and wanted to force the negotiators to listen to the human stories of climate change.

Once I returned to the USA, I was waiting eagerly for the deal that was sure to come out of Copenhagen. But the final deal includes no real targets and is certainly not a binding one. It is hard not to take this seeming failure to heart. There were so many in Copenhagen who wanted to reach a viable deal to literally save people, biodiversity, etc. around the world. The linkage between poverty and climate change is very strong, and they are solved in tandem or not at all.

One of the largest disenablers of improvement in these conditions is distrust between the developing and developed world. Observation of basic interactions in the negotiations point towards what Mohamed Sahoun has coined the ‘mémoire blessée.’ Effectively, this ‘wounded memory’ describes the past experiences (e.g. war, colonialism) that underlie difficult relations between nations well into the future. It is tragic to see how these wounded relationships play out over unrelated issues, such as climate change.

Our IofC group discussed the lack of trust in the most basic sense throughout the negotiations, during side events, and in informal interactions. We concluded that mistrust tends to be cultivated through and is the outcome of transaction-focused, as opposed to relationship-focused, negotiations. Now we are ready to aid in the monumental task of enabling relationship-focused trust that goes beyond the attitudes of “us versus them.” I think IofC is ready to be instrumental, but when will those in the position to build the firm agreements needed to mitigate climate change be ready?

Together our IofC team established the following action steps to begin to build trust in COP negotiations among other suggestions:

• An equal voice for all stakeholders. (This includes a stronger multi-lingual approach within the negotiations).

• Protection for those who chose to speak freely within the negotiations.

• The use of mediation within climate change negotiations.

• Greater use of interest based negotiations – highlighting the reasoning behind certain positions. Thus allowing for greater mutual understanding and accommodation.

• Addressing past pain and wounded memories between countries and coalitions in order to reconcile and build future trust.

I was editing the above list when the gentleman next to me asked if I understood any French. After speaking for a few moments, I realized he was a Member of Parliament (MP) from Senegal. I helped him write a very basic English e-mail. And then I realized, just how much of a disadvantage those with English as a second (or in many cases third) language truly suffer throughout the negotiation process, especially in the most informal communications. I have been in good touch with this MP since that day and one major action to improve building trust and respect in informal situations at the COP has come to me. I hope to mount a campaign through IofC to include more availability of translation for informal situations (e.g. e-mail writing) during future COPs.

There is no doubt, my time in Copenhagen changed me, and sparked a need to help improve such negotiations. I wish to thank the amazing IofC team who inspired so much of what I wrote in this commentary. I look forward to working with IofC to make this a reality and to ensure that Copenhagen is not repeated, but that we obtain viable and fair targets, that point towards climate justice in the future.

If you are interested in knowing more or working towards greater trust in subsequent COP meetings, especially campaigning for informal translation activities, please email Jennifer F. Helgeson, co-director of the Environment and Economy Group, Caux Forum for Human Security. Details about the United National Climate Change conference can be found at: http://unfccc.int/2860.php.