Notes: The Director General of Green Earth Volunteers attended UN Climate Change Conference 2010 in Cancún. We have two reports from her.
Nov. 30, 2010
In the morning, on our way to the Moon Palace from Cancúnmess, a Cancún Convention Center, I interviewed Mr. Dean Cooper, a UN Environmental Program Officer from Paris who was sitting beside me.
Edith: What do you think will be achieved at this convention here in Cancún?
Cooper: Our meeting in Cancún is only a process that connects the Copenhagen conference to the South African conference. People representing different interests gather here after the Copenhagen conference in order to restore the dwindled sense of trust among the nations by using a common language to communicate. Hopefully this will redirect the climate change negotiation back on track. The ultimate aim is to lay a solid foundation for the South African conference.
Edith: What do you think of China and America’s differing opinions?
Cooper: Although China and the United States hold different positions on the subject, if they reach a common understanding on the assessment of emission reduction issues, it would lead the climate change negotiations toward a more pragmatic direction. Essentially, this is an issue of trust.
Edith: What do you think of the double-track system?
Cooper: I don’t think it is necessary to establish a framework for the Kyoto Protocol and the COP all over again. Compared to their situations 10 years ago, countries like China and Brazil have now gained more power and should therefore be more actively engaged and play a more important role.
Edith: What do you think of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM)?
Cooper: Most criticism regarding the CDM is related to China. In fact, currently 40% of CDM projects are in China while other developing countries that are in more urgent need of the money cannot make effective use of the platform because of building-capasity issues. At the UN level, we are designing a better financing mechanism.
Translator: Bao Lan
Proofreader: Ryan Yu