Sharm El-Sheikh Climate Conference… behind the scenes of the final hours
Sharm El-Sheikh Climate Conference… behind the scenes of the final hours
The most prominent event atSharm El-Sheikh Climate Conference – last November – was the success of Egyptian policy in including the loss and damage item in the decisions, and accordingly the item will be present in the upcoming summits, in a clear expression of the ambition of developing countries seeking development, and the necessity of securing financial resources that enable them to confront the consequences of climate change.
The negotiations were never easy. The members of the Egyptian negotiating team struggled with a pressing desire to make a difference in the course of the Conferences of the Parties. Developing countries are tired of the cascades of decisions that are unable to turn wishes into reality, and the evaluation of the position of including the loss and damage clause was divided between a resounding success – if it is passed – and a terrible failure if it is rejected.
The course of negotiations during the last three days of the Sharm El-Sheikh conference made clear the difficulty of reaching an agreement by the end of the conference – Friday, November 18. There were murmurs about the possibility of postponing the closing session, and the situation was re-evaluated, and the current question was: Should we put the loss and damage item on the table now?
Let us review together several imaginary scenes of the decisive hours before the announcement of the final statement.
On the evening of November 18, the Egyptian delegation invited representatives of industrialized countries to a meeting the next morning. In parallel, the decision-making group worked on preparing the wording of the draft, including – after lengthy discussions – the loss and damage clause. The group finished their work amidst an atmosphere of great anticipation and anxiety around four in the morning. By time calculations, they are unable to go to the hotel to get some rest, and then return again to start the expected meeting at eight in the morning.
The leader of the group looked at his watch, scanned the tired faces around him, then asked them to go to sleep. He took off his tie and shoes, and stood on the balcony with his socks on, drinking a cup of French coffee, puffing out his cigarette smoke slowly, and looking up at the sky pleadingly! The moon was in its full circle, and he looked from behind the glass door to his work team. He smiled, remembering their funny situations and comments laced with jokes, despite their fatigue and stress. Now they had calmed down, their fatigue gone. They distributed themselves around the hall after loosening their ties and opening the top buttons of their shirts. Some of them lay on the floor, making small bags as pillows, as shoes scattered around them.
They only have three hours to rest before preparing for the upcoming meeting. They quickly scattered in the hall, three of them threw their exhausted bodies on the floors, the rest folded their arms on the meeting tables and buried their heads, despite spending more than 24 hours working under pressure and tension. Sleep seemed difficult to achieve.
When the body crosses the threshold of extreme stress and insomnia, sleep becomes questionable. Your mind utters the idea, and goes away to recall the details of the day, replaying the tape of events, and you wonder how those details escaped at the time, and how your memory recorded them?! Your subconscious mind entertains itself with it until sleep takes it away. Gradually, some of them’s voices rose to confirm that they were deep in sleep.
At forty-seven minutes, they left the private hall for the meeting room. Their eyes did not hide their insomnia, sleeplessness, and fatigue, and yet they seemed coherent. Representatives of industrialized countries arrived, greeted each other with light caresses, sat in their seats, and draft resolutions were distributed, with a half-hour deadline for review and expression of opinions. The members of the delegation talked to each other with their eyes, watching the features of the faces that began to change, forgetting the first lessons of diplomacy. Keep your face neutral.
«These are draft decisions. You can delete the loss and damage clause if you reject it, but you must explain the reasons for this to the world. “You must explain the contradiction between the cries of defending the environment – in front of satellite television screens and conferences – and abandoning them when making a decision.” The tall man sitting at the head of the table said, and everyone froze, then he added: “We have half an hour to catch up with the general session. Either you help announce these decisions or you justify your position to the world.”
It seemed clear that he had thrown his last arrow, and kept searching for reactions on the faces of the people, while the hearts of the Egyptian negotiating team grew louder, until they thought everyone could hear its noise. Representatives of the industrialized countries exchanged side conversations and shook their heads in despair. It was the last possibility they had imagined before holding the summit, but they had never imagined achieving it.
When one of them hinted to his counterparts from the industrialized countries in one of the preliminary meetings before holding the summit, saying: “I imagine that Egypt wants to make a difference from the summit… Will you take the risk and do it?” One of them said: “This will not be an adventure, but rather it will be political suicide, my dear!” Then the first one said, looking into their eyes: “And what will we do if Egypt does it?” A man with thick hair and eyebrows answered, as he pressed the letters: “We simply will not accept it. We will turn it into a worthless local conference. They will regret it!”
“We ask to postpone the announcement of the final statement,” the bushy-haired man said. The distinguished man sitting at the head of the table received the news calmly. Long years of experience had taught him that the weaker party resorted to extending the negotiation deadline, and also with his experience, he should get an additional point in his favor if he agreed to the request: “I cannot announce this from my side. We are ready for the final announcement.” The thick-haired man was aware of the trick, as one of the representatives of the major powers came out and announced the postponement of holding the plenary session, and then postponing the conclusion of the Sharm El-Sheikh conference meant that they acknowledged responsibility. He requested permission for a side consultation session between representatives of industrialized countries, which lasted for about forty minutes.
As soon as the head of the negotiation session saw the man returning towards him, he was certain that he had won the round. The body language told him before the tongue that they had accepted the inclusion of the item. The thick-haired man walked towards him with slumped shoulders, eyes fleeing from confrontation, and his head tilted slightly to the left. He approached him and shook his head, and said: “We request that the Sharm El-Sheikh conference be postponed for two days, with the inclusion of the loss and damage item.” The other replied decisively: “I cannot, no more, one day and the inclusion of the item.” The man shook his head in surrender and headed to his seat, surrounded by representatives of the rest of the countries.
Everyone knew that the coming hours would not be easy, and that language and negotiation skills would play the largest role in staging the scene. Indeed, the extension of the Sharm El-Sheikh conference was announced, and the exhausting hours passed, sometimes long and sometimes fast, in which each party exerted the maximum of its skills that had been accumulated for years. Back and forth, back and forth without stopping or resting. They ate their meals on the same chairs until midnight on Saturday and approaching dawn on Sunday, when the Minister of Foreign Affairs stood and delivered the final statement, announcing the conclusion of the Sharm El-Sheikh Conferenceand wishing the next round in the UAE all the best and success. Applause resounded and everyone exchanged congratulations.
In one of the rows, a tall man stood clapping and smiling. His assistants rushed to him and joined in hugs, tears, and congratulations. While the man patted them with fatherly tenderness and the confidence of a leader who knew they would not let him down, each of them performed their role meticulously, and each of them made a tremendous effort, and it was time for them to rest and prepare for new rounds in new files. The challenges have no end in a work entitled “There are no endings… but they are Successive beginnings.”
