Guarini Center for Environmental and Land Use Law fellows blog from Cancun

Starting November 29, fellows from the Frank J. Guarini Center for Environmental and Land Use Law blogged about the events and meetings of the Cancun Conference of the Parties (COP) of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Here's an excerpt from Bryce Rudyk (LL.M. '08)'s first post:

TreeOn the second day of the Cancun Conference of the Parties (COP) of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), things are still under construction at the convention center where all of the non-negotiation activity is taking place. Now in its 16th iteration, the COP has become a bit of a traveling climate roadshow with thousands of people annually flying around the world for two weeks of negotiation, meetings, side events, and this year: sun and sand.

After the crowding of last year’s Copenhagen conference, the organizers have decided to have separate venues for the negotiations and the civil society events. While everyone is allowed to move between the two venues, in the opening days it appears that there is a functional separation between the two. In the Cancunmesse where the civil society events are taking place, there is still construction happening on various countries’ exhibits.  Over at the Moon Palace (a couples retreat the rest of the year), the ambient sounds are all of delegates talking.

Yesterday, at the COP opening plenary, a group of new civil society organizations were admitted as official observers to the UNFCCC process. New York University was among that group. While faculty, staff and students from NYU have participated in UNFCCC negotiations before it has always been as delegates of other observers or member states. In our first outing as official observers, NYU Law has a number of fellows and students that will be participating in the COP. -Bryce Rudyk (LL.M. '08), Coordinator and Fellow, Global Climate Finance Project

Read more Dispatches from Cancun.

Posted December 1, 2010