Splendid Progress on Article 6

7 December 2010

There is one place this week where we can truly say that Parties have shown high ambition and flexibility.
A draft COP decision has been reached on Article 6, which focuses on public education and raising awareness of climate change.
ECO is delighted to see that all of the youth constituency’s asks were included in the text, particularly non-formal education, youth participation in decision-making and funding for education programmes.
Particular credit goes to the G77+China, and especially the Dominican Republic, for their leadership.  
After a slow start in the contact group, the Dominican Republic, reacting to the large youth presence in the room, intervened to urge more flexibility to give young people the decision they deserved.  As a result, drafting the COP decision was concluded in short order.
The SBI Chair remarked that this is the first contact group ever to achieve a COP decision in 90 minutes, and presented a gold star to the contact group chair.
However, all this hard work could still be lost if the COP does not approve the draft SBI decision.
But ECO senses that Parties have had sufficient education on Article 6 to see it is in their best interests.
When finally approved, the high level of ambition and willingness to compromise in the Article 6 contact group can set a strong marker for other parts of the negotiations over the remainder of this week.