The Daily Tck: 28 November 2011

As the Durban climate talks got underway this morning news came that last nights violent storm killed six people in Durban and Pietermaritzburg and destroyed several homes. The extreme weather, struck hours before the opening of the climate change conference here, caused flooding and widespread damage and has brought the number of people killed by floods in KwaZulul-Natal to 13 in less than two weeks. Meanwhile, we received an overnight media report that the Canadian government plans to announce their withdrawal from the Kyoto Protocol after the Durban meetings. It is no secret that the Canadian Government didnt even try to meet their Kyoto commitments but if this report is true this would be a cynical ploy to sit in the Kyoto negotiating sessions presumably trying to influence the outcome, all the while knowing they would withdraw from the KP within a couple of weeks. As Alden Meyer of the Union of Concerned Scientists said Canada needs to either disavow these rumors or it should man up and acknowledge they are true and pull out of the KP negotiations in other words, come clean or go home. We know that the battle to save Kyoto is key to unlocking the talks as we move to a second commitment period. Another battle will be timing for a global agreement involving all the largest emitters. Some governments are pushing to delay any deal until 2020. Even the conservative International Energy Agency sounded the alarm earlier this month when it warned that without an enforceable global deal in place by 2017 the world would close the door on holding temperatures to 2 degrees C above pre-industrial levels; a level scientists have warned would put the world at risk to runaway climate change. www.iea.org/weo/

What is happening?
The Mercury, the local paper here in Durban, had a front page picture of the wind turbine being raised on the beach under a banner headline saying Only a Revolution will do. http://themercury.newspaperdirect.com/epaper/viewer.aspx In Europe, Greenpeace activists took direct action to blockade both major entrances to the UKs Department of Transport (DfT) in London whilst other campaigners demonstrated with banners outside British embassies in Paris, Berlin and Stockholm. Campaigners are targeting the British government after documents released showed how officials from its transport department are working to sabotage a key European proposal that would block tar sands oil, the dirtiest oil in the world, from ending up in petrol pumps across Europe. The environmentalists say the UK is doing Big Oils dirty work following lobbying by oil majors including BP and Shell. Just in time for the news that Canada plans to officially withdraw from the Kyoto Protocol, the Canadian Youth Climate Coalition has released a new line of fashionable suits for the Canadian negotiators and Environment Minister Peter Kent.Check out BituMensWear here and download hi-res photos here. The ITUC is holding a World of Work pavilion. Sharan Burrow General Secretary said Workers are not sitting on the sidelines waiting for an international agreement; we are actively creating policies to enable a transition that will help people and the planet. The World of Work showcases how workers can be drivers for change. Alden Meyer of the Union of Concerned Scientists talks about expectations:

http://oneworldgroup.org/2011/11/28/alden-meyer-expetations-from-the-cop17-united-nations-climate-talks-in-durban/ The Adopt a Negotiator team is back in full force at COP17. All of their posts are freely available for sharing and reposting (with attribution): Meet the core team of trackers here in

Durban:http://adoptanegotiator.org/2011/11/23/meet-our-negotiatortrackers-in-durban/ EU tracker Sbastien Duyck explains why the UN climate talks still matter: http://adoptanegotiator.org/2011/11/25/why-should-we-stillspend-our-energy-following-the-un-climate-negotiations-motivations-fordurban/ A beautiful and powerful video of singing at the close of COY from Juliana Russar, the Brazilian tracker: http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=XkdA0EePEsQ&feature=youtu.be Read her post about the video here (it is in Portuguese, click the translation button top right to read in English): http://adoptanegotiator.org/2011/11/27/podemos-esperaralguma-coisa-da-cop-17/ Follow AaN on twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/list/adoptnegotiator/trackers-in-durban

Message of the Day

These talks need to adopt a strong second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol; a mandate to conclude negotiations on a more comprehensive legally binding instrument for all by 2015 at the latest; and we need to get money into the Green Climate Fund to support vulnerable countries. We have no time to waste; the world cannot wait until 2020 for a global climate deal. As Fatih Birol the IEAs Chief Economist said If we do not have an international agreement in place by 2017, then the door to [holding temperatures to 2C of warming] will be closed forever. The Alliance of Small Island States (Aosis) warned that if Durban puts off a legally binding agreement and closes the door on raising mitigation ambition before 2020 many of small island states will be severely threatened.

What can you do today?

Today may only be the first day of negotiations, but there are already plenty of ways to share resources, ideas and amplify each others efforts. Here are a few: Tweet your support for the Kyoto Protocol and show solidarity

with the Alliance of Small Island States: We stand with the small islands! The world needs a binding climate deal before 2020. #COP17 #Durban Why do we love the #KyotoProtocol? Because we love our planet. Help keep emission targets on the agenda at #COP17 #COP17 negotiators: there is no time to waste! We need a #climate deal this year, not in 2020 Are you in Durban for COP17? Attend the Daily Tck meeting at 10:15am tomorrow in Bhira River. If youre tweeting about COP17, we want you on our official Twitter list!Please send a message to @tcktcktck on Twitter or an email toheather.libby@tcktcktck.org to be added.

Resources & Tools Looking for a quick overview of the UN climate talks in Durban for your social media fans?Share the One Climate/TckTckTck 3 minute primer video. Visit the freshly-redesigned TckTckTck.org & our COP17 Hub for

an up-to-date calendar, fresh news & stories and media resources all available for reposting and sharing through Creative Commons. Download the new Polaris Institute report outlining how multinational corporations and their lobbyists have infiltrated the United Nations and are influencing the outcomes of climate negotiations. Watch the UN talks live with OneClimate: Starting on Wednesday, OneClimate will be broadcasting live from the Durban climate talks from 3pm 5pm daily local time. Follow their livestream, embed the code, or for those who prefer their live content in text form, follow the live blog. Check out this moving image billboard from Greenpeace: Photo 1 | Photo 2