Hey there!
Emily here reporting on our last day of class here on the Colorado College campus! Today during class we discussed and went over the history of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change’s (UNFCCC) annual Conference of the Parties (COP), certain Agreements, Accords and Implementation Mechanism and Funds. Some of these include the Kyoto Protocol, which was developed during the COP in 1997, the Bali Road Map developed at COP-13, and the Paris Agreement which had its final negotiations during the COP in 2012.
Each student came to class having researched a specific topic relating the this history of the UNFCCC’s COPs and an adaptation and/or mitigation mechanism that had been put into place during these COPS. While I have listed someone these events above, other COPs are important as well since they involve the negotiating and implementation of these Agreements, legally-binding or not. Each student was also meant to come prepared with certain side-events at this upcoming COP. These events were related by region such as Asia, Africa and Latin America, however, topics ranged from renewable energy to capacity building to climate vulnerabilities in rural communities. I am so incredibly excited to travel to Bonn, Germany after doing so much research about different delegations, side events, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), negotiating blocks, et cetera!
Since we are in Germany, our class will no longer be having daily quizzes on UNFCCC terms, abbreviations and definitions. I am amazed at how much we have learned in these past two weeks, and I am so jazzed to take my newfound knowledge and apply it to the real world! This is such an amazing opportunity, and I feel as if the past two weeks have really prepared us to have a successful time at the COP!
Emily ‘19
