Accra Update: What's Happening Behind Closed Doors

The UN climate negotiations in Accra, Ghana continued over the weekend, with reports of general progress on the forest and industry negotiations. Much of the negotiations have been taking place behind closed doors, away from civil society, so not all is known about what is being discussed. Members of CAN International are on the scene in Accra and are working hard to bring updates from the NGO camp of the closed-door negotiations. For CAN's daily ECO publications, check out http://www.climatenetwork.org/eco/accra-ecos.

Chris Henschel from the Canadian Parks & Wilderness Society is also there, contributing updates on his blog at climateforests.blogspost.com. His sense on the forestry issue is that:

"So far, the most vocal countries have focused on changing the system so that it provides greater 'incentives' for forest management practices that will mitigate climate change. Translation: they want it to be easier to generate credits as incentive and reward for action. The main problem I see with this focus is that it leads Parties away from a mandatory requirement to reduce emissions in this sector and towards a system where they can only be rewarded for incremental improvements and not punished for status quo emissions."

For more analysis of the ongoing talks and how the NGO community is working to influence the policy changes being discussed, check out his blog at climateforests.blogspot.com.