Last day of the COP: A Bali Road Map tonight?

It's already the last day of the conference, and things will probably be getting exciting tonight (in fact, technically the last day of the conference may be tomorrow, if - as predicted - negotiations will last again till the early hours). I have a slightly positive feeling about the outcomes - which certainly doesn't mean that big problems will be resolved all of a sudden. It just means that I think we will get a so-called "Bali Road Map"tonight, something that everyone wants, but for the last week couldn't agree about what it should look like. What is meant with it? Well, it basically provides some sort of mandate for countries to continue talking and negotiating, but then with the aim to come to a new agreement in 2009 for climate policy beyond 2012 (when Kyoto's legally binding targets end). But the Road Map will probably be so broad and unspecific that it leaves open every single option of how such an agreement might look like, from the continuation of binding targets (what the EU and the developing countries support) to a more voluntary approach (as advocated by the US). But at least getting such an agreement here means that we are still moving forwards, and not backwards, like some countries seem to want. One optimistic sign I got yesterday, while talking to a Finnish delegate in a taxi, who mentioned that one of the issues that was the source of quite some anger and disappointment earlier this week, technology transfer to developing countries, was at least now partly resolved.

It is notable here that besides the usual US-bashing here, two new climate 'baddies' have come to the fore to take their place in the frontlines, Canada and Japan. One sign is the amount of "fossil of the day" awards countries get, and both have received quite a few. As for Canada, another sign was a government presentation, where no government representative was present. Japan did send government officials, but even though the country is a part of Kyoto, its future plans stay far away from binding targets, instead calling on stronger obligations for developing countries...

From the personal side, I had my presentation on Tuesday. Luckily I was able to have a chat with an expert on the topic on Tuesday afternoon, before the presentation, so I was sure that I didn't talk bullshit later that day. It actually went quite well, as did the other presentations in our panel. If only there were an audience to listen to it, though....I guess it was the timing (8pm), the title of the event (overly broad), and the "marketing" at the COP, but there were only 15 people, half of which being friends. A lesson learned, I guess. At least we did ok. The evening almost ended bad, though, when a French negotiator accused us in general, and my colleague in particular of being unprofessional without a proper argument. Luckily, there were some more "normal" questions and comments later, taking away the tension.

Other news is that I more or less finalised my plans to go to the US next year, with about two-and-a-half months staying in Georgia (where?), and a couple of weeks in Washington, D.C. It's still a while away, but I look forward to it!

Yesterday, I missed the Al Gore speech here - I prefered to sit by the pool instead ;) Unfortunately, I don't have the cable for my camera with me to upload pictures now, but I will try and do that later.