Leaving Copenhagen: Reflections on COP15
January 7, 2010
VLS student Anna Ellis shakes hands with Kenyan environmental and political activist Dr. Wangari Muta Maathai.
As one of six Vermont Law School students who traveled to Copenhagen last month to witness the international climate change negotiations, Ashley Santner brings back a slightly different perspective on the talks.
Santner is a dual degree student now studying at the University of Cergy-Pontoise, so she returned not to Vermont but to France, where she is explaining to her classmates there how things played out at the U.N.'s 15th Conference of the Parties (COP15).
"It is very useful to have the first-hand experience to share with French students," Santner, a 3L, said as she prepared to depart Copenhagen following the VLS group's two-week stay. "France and the E.U. have been waiting to see what the U.S. would do. All eyes have been on us, in a way."
Santner said her coursework prepared her well for understanding the negotiations. At Cergy, her class in environmental law has explored details of the Kyoto Protocol. (Her work at Cergy will result in a master's degree in French business and ethics law, with a specialization in energy and environment.)
Before she left VLS for her year in France, she studied climate change with Professor Patrick Parenteau, and last summer she worked in the Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Congressional Affairs in Washington, D.C.
Highlights of her Copenhagen experience included sitting in the front row for Senator John Kerry's presentation. She also met EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson and engaged in conversation with Jonathan Pershing, the U.S. deputy special envoy for climate change.
So what lesson did she bring back from her trip to Copenhagen?
"It's really a question of survival for the small island nations," said Santner. The VLS delegation witnessed first-hand the protests by members of the small island nation of Tuvalu, who were hoping to raise awareness of the nation's vulnerability to the affects of global warming and a rise in sea level. Tuvalu and other nations most vulnerable to climate change argued for a binding agreement throughout the summit.
While many of the media reports focused on the protests and pitfalls of the Copenhagen meeting, the VLS group—which included three faculty members—agreed that despite the logistical challenges that marred the event, the experience provided a better understanding of complex negotiations and the role of diplomacy and law in the process.
"I don't think there is any better learning experience than seeing things first-hand, in the context of international law," said Lillian Kortlandt, a 3L. In the end, Kortlandt wrote on the VLS blog that she was leaving Copenhagen "disappointed and exhausted," yet still feeling privileged to have witnessed the proceedings.
For Michael Coté, a MELP candidate, the highlight of Copenhagen came on December 8, when he attended a side event featuring Rajendra Pachauri, the chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) who shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore.
"I am a city planner and I study adaptation. For me, he was my rock star," Coté said. Pachauri offered an IPCC working group progress report while, according to Coté, "being pummeled" by the press with questions over a stolen email scandal that threatened to overshadow the Copenhagen talks.
Coté also found opportunities to connect with many international organizations that are focused on helping cities work towards sustainable development, which could prove valuable for his future plans.
"I am excited by the prospects of jobs. I made a lot of contacts," said Coté, who as an urban planner also left Copenhagen with a better understanding of the importance of crowd control.
By the second week of the talks, it became apparent that the Bella Center was simply not large enough (capacity: 15,000) to handle the more than 30,000 people who had reportedly been credentialed as observers for the COP15 talks. The result: Coté and others found themselves looking for other events in the crowded capital city as they joined the masses of people who were turned away from the Bella Center during Week 2.
"I can't imagine what it is like to organize something of this scale," he said. "This was a highly organized event that was just overshadowed by overbooking people."
Professor Teresa Clemmer, who began planning for the Copenhagen trip last spring, said she knew there would be a strong turnout given the growing interest in climate change, yet she was still surprised by the reality of the scene.
"We were expecting crowds in the streets and congestion, but I wasn't really expecting the conference itself to be so chaotic," she said. "The first week ran smoothly; the second week it all broke down."
Yet despite the difficulties, she said the early plenary sessions and side events provided students with a unique perspective on the international efforts.
VLS Copenhagen delegation with Stephen Porter of the Center for International Environmental Law.
"It was really interesting to have a front row seat to all these dramatic negotiations and activities," said Clemmer, who credited the students for working through many logistical details of the trip, including negotiating a contract with the homeowner from whom they rented for the two-week stay. The house was just a short bus ride and then a five-minute walk to the Bella Center.
In the end, Jessica Scott, a 3L, will remember Copenhagen for both the promise and the dashed hopes that the COP15 talks presented.
"A wonderful part of the experience for me was a sense of camaraderie and inspiration," she said, noting the efforts of the many nongovernmental organizations that remain committed to curbing the effects of climate change. "At the same time, it can be discouraging, the feeling that certain parties don't understand what a crisis it is."
One distinct memory will be witnessing the representatives of the tiny islands of Tuvalu make their legal arguments for demanding discussion of a binding agreement, only to have larger and stronger nations fight vehemently against such action.
"Being in school to be attorneys, it's good to see the role that legal arguments play in the process," she said.
See Also
VLS in Copenhagen blog
VLS Professor Addresses European Youth Forum in Copenhagen
Vermont Law Students, Faculty Heading to Copenhagen As Observers to U.N. Climate Negotiations
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