Cancun, final hours

It is the beginning of the endgame (if you can call it that.) Only a few hours to go. Some members of the Canadian contingent are running a pool on when the conference will end. Any time from 6 pm tonight (the official closing time, I think) to 6 am tomorrow (or even later.)

If that happens, Adriana and I will miss it since our flight back leaves at 7 am and we need to leave our hotel around 5 am.

As far as I can tell there is a little bit of hope left for some sort of compromise about the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol. Japan and Russia have opposed it, and Canada is hiding behind them, refusing to take a position. If Japan and Russia get there way, Kyoto is dead. That would be a serious blow.

There are separate negotiations around the Copenhagen Accord. I am not following that very much. To be honest, I have difficulties understanding the intricacies of these negotiations and have spent most of my time at the Cancunmesse side events. The side events have been excellent, although I walked out of one event yesterday because it was so cold that I could not concentrate. The chair had asked for the air conditioning to be reduced but if they reduced it I would hate to think what it was like before that.

This morning, the COP president, Patricia Espinosa, called an informal meeting. It was originally scheduled for 8:30 am but was postponed several times and the last time it was postponed indefinitely. That does not bode well.

I have spent some time explaining what the tar sands are like and why they are so controversial. Obviously the international community is becoming aware of their impact. Today, in the bus from Cancunmesse, we were accompanied by a member of the Swedish parliament, who was very interested in the fact that the tar sands cover an area the size of France.