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Hague - CO6 Climate Change Conference - Holland - 17/11/00 [see the pictures]
Visiting the CO6 Climate Change Conference in The Hague, Holland over the week of 17th November 2000, was a truly weird and wonderful experience. Arriving as part of the Rhythms of Resistance samba action band, who also caroused at the Prague S26 IMF demonstrations, we were immediately thrust into the thick of events. The band arrived to co-join with the Dutch "Electric Blue" samba band and play at a number of events and actions many of which were organised by the Rising Tide coalition. A carnivalesque sambalutionary way of highlighting the important environmental issues at stake and under discussion at the official COP6 conference.
The conference from 13-24th November 2000 and officially entitled The 6th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change was ostensibly a way for international delegations to meet and look at ways to ratify the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. This protocol attempted to ensure legally binding reductions of CO2 gases in an effort to reduce the growing problem of the greenhouse effect. The agreement was aimed at developed countries predominantly in the Northern Hemisphere in an attempt to cut their emissions of fossil fuels by 5.2% below 1990 levels, by the year 2008. For example, countries such
as the USA, a major contributor of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere produces 24% of all global carbon dioxide emissions with only 4% of the world's population. Other main points on the agenda included: establishing rules that allow developed countries to earn emission credits from project participation in the developing world rules that take into account carbon stored in forest sinks rules that govern emissions which enable corporations to buy and sell surplus credits creating relevant groups to monitor national emissions rates.
The first major event of the week was a Friends of the Earth initiated dike-building project which was planned to enclose the conference centre where the delegations were amassed. A grey wintry Saturday welcomed a large crowd comprised of children, families, grandparents, a ska band, the media, NGO volunteers and other assorted bods. These participants managed to fill 6000 sacks with sand before building a huge wall in only 2 hours. The wall was then bedecked with banners and posters depicting developing countries submerged under water whilst Uncle Sam stands head above the sea, precariously upon bags of dollars.
Unfortunately the samba band were unable to participate in this spectacle until the very end. As a result of the Dutch police refusing to allow us nattily attired musicians the right to use public transport to the site, preferring to escort us on an hour long walk to the outskirts of The Hague, we were only able to arrive in time for the closing ceremonies. This was the beginning of a week of police harassment during which we were to discover that the two linked samba groups consisting of a core of 20 or so silver and blue clad drummers had been assigned it's very own police unit.
The following day heralded a dark, wet Critical Mass and an ambitious attempt to make the world's largest bicycle. That is... the shape of a bike as seen from the air. A well attended euro-wide mix of every conceivable form of bicycle (including some inconceivable ones) along with the infamous Rinky Dink pedal-powered sound system, gathered in a central plaza fighting the wind and rain with wheelies, drum and bass and the staccato sounds of a samba band attempting to play on wheels. The critical mass then cycled off once more to the conference centre site for a mini-demo where a good time was had by all, at least until the cold got the better of everyone.
Throughout the week, people from a diverse selection of NGO's and direct action groups were entering the conference centre and talking with delegates without problem, alongside speeches and seminars held at a central Hague site which was something of a counter conference, attracting speakers from an international communtiy.
Most notably this included Dr Owens Wiwa, the brother of Ken Saro Wiwa, who spoke movingly of the problems the Ogoni people were still facing from Shell oil in Nigeria. He made it clear that this wasn't an isolated incident, indicating that multinationals were complicit in harassing communities on a global scale and consequently responsible for leaving developing countries trailing ecologically and financially behind.
The mid-week launch took on the different tone in the form of a champagne launch of a carbon trading website. This is an 'innovative' new way of allowing countries to seek to maintain their emissions limits rather than reduce them, as agreed under the Kyoto Summit. A means of trading with under-developed countries for the right to "buy up" their spare emissions allowance, rather than see them go to waste. This new form of corporate trading through the classified sections of their web sites, allows a multitude of environmental and emission exchanges.
These include Agriculture Carbon Credits and Industrial Carbon Reduction Credits available for purchase and also allows governments and multinationals to specify their requirements, be it purchasing "spare" carbon credits or looking for emission reduction project partners. The soiree was gatecrashed by a few activists who mingled with the movers and shakers responsible for helping to strangle the planet and , passing out leaflets, discussing the issues arising from the web trading launch. Meanwhile en
route to play outside this event, the samba band and assorted dancers was once more coming under fire from the police who followed the small procession and impounded one vehicle and it's driver, leaving a raggle taggle group of sambatistas to play cat and mouse with the coppers ending the fun by all and sundry disappearing into a local hostelry to carry on the knees up.
A small anti-nuclear demo organised by WISE Amsterdam was held at the Maliveld park in The Hague city centre. Despite the low attendance (not more than 300 people) and the peaceful nature of the protest, one samba band, some samba dancers and a number of American college Greenpeace affiliates (with some spontaneous radical cheerleading!), there was a massive riot police presence and many arrests took place. The reason for this became obvious when, without clear verbal warning, the police proceeded to arrest the entire group of musicians and a number of students, leading many to be held in solitary confinement for up to 26 hours for refusal to be named and remaining silent (this in solidarity with non-EU citizens as a way of ensuring equal treatment).
Meanwhile at the conference centre, a group of UK activists were thrusting cake into the face of the head of the US delegation, Frank Loy. A quite harmless gesture, but normally an arrestable offence. Here no arrests were made. The reason...? Holland really wants to reduce global carbon emissions, embarrassing the American government being one of the ways to attempt to create a consensus. However, as a result of the global concern over climate change, there is an increasing ideological shift towards nuclear power as the answer to carbon-free energy technology. The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) one of the rules under discussion in COP6 was considering whether nuclear power was eligible for inclusion as clean development. The trend of encouraging developing countries to invest in nuclear plants (generally
manufactured in the west) is also another way for us to buy spare energy. Highlighting this issue was therefore a lot more controversial and troublesome to the Dutch government, hence the heavy handed police approach.
The COP6 conference was ultimately a complete failure. After 6 conferences consisting of the same issues under discussion, America still refuses to ratify the Kyoto Climate Change agreement insisting that part of the emissions cuts agreed in 1997 can be met through forest and agricultural land that are assumed to absorb problematic carbon. This allows big polluters to attempt to meet reduction targets only by planting trees. Unfortunately analysis shows that old growth forests readily absorb air-born carbon, locking it into tree trunks and branches and also deep down in the soil. Here carbon can stay for hundreds
of years, which if a forest is cut down, then re-releases these toxins into the air.
The same old faces met again in Bonn, Germany from 16-27 July for the COP6.5 conference
If all they keep blowing out is hot air, then we just have to make a racket until they can't hear themselves think. Maybe they'll have to listen to us then.
MAKE SOME F#$*!king NOISE!
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