African Group

Luis del Solar, Argentina, outgoing Acting Council President, and Taaniela Kula, Tonga, Council President for the 26th session On Monday, the first part of the 26th session of the Council of the International Seabed Authority (ISA) opened in Kingston, Jamaica. After a halting start, Council members elected Taaniela Kula, Tonga, as President of ISA-26, before delving into discussions on key issues. The big discussion of the day centered around the composition and size of the Authority’s Legal and Technical Commission (LTC), an issue that has been controversial in the past. In plenary and in informal deliberations, views diverged on the role and importance of geographical representation vis-à-vis expertise, with many noting the need to balance the two. Others stressed that regional balance engenders trust and that the LTC should remain a body in which parties have confidence. Discussions on this issue will continue later in the week.Highlights of the day included: the election of the ISA-26 bureau, comprising Nigeria, for the African Group; the Russian Federation, for the Eastern European Group; Jamaica, for the Latin American and Caribbean Group (GRULAC); and Canada, for the Western Europe and Others Group; formal and informal discussions relating to two proposals on the composition and size of the ISA’s LTC; the election of Carsten Rühlemann (Germany) to fill a vacancy on the LTC; comments on the implementation of the Council decision on the reports of the LTC Chair; and a report on the recently concluded meeting of the Open-Ended Working Group addressing the financial model related to the sharing of benefits of the exploitation of the Area. At lunchtime, a side event was organized by Office of Environmental Management and Mineral Resources (OEMMR) of the ISA on the results of the Clarion-Clipperton Zone and Evora Workshops related to the review and development of Regional Environmental Management Plans in the Area.For more details on the day’s events and to learn what delegates said in the breezeways, see our daily Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB). IISD Reporting Services, through its ENB Meeting Coverage, provided daily web coverage and daily reports from the 1st Part of ISA-26. In addition, IISD Reporting Services has publish a summary and analysis report in HTML and PDF. Photos by IISD/ENB | Diego Noguera For photo reprint permissions, please follow instructions at our Attribution Regulations for Meeting Photo Usage Page Alfonso Ascencio-Herrera, ISA Legal Counsel and Deputy to the Secretary-General, and ISA Secretary-General Michael Lodge ISA Secretary-General Michael Lodge congratulates Luis del Solar, Argentina, for his work as Acting Council President for the 26th session Gavin Watson, UK Taaniela Kula, Tonga, Council President for the 26th session Janet Omoleegho Olisa, Nigeria Urs Daniel Engels, Germany Carlos Alberto Michaelsen den Hartog, Brazil Gina Guillén Grillo, Costa Rica Hugo Verbist, Belgium The Council during Monday’s proceedings Vijay Kumar, India Kathy-Ann Brown, Jamaica Esther Salamanca Aguado and Josep María Bosch Bessa, Spain Emilio Lasford Douglas, Panama Jiang Jun, China Diva Amon, Deep Ocean Stewardship Initiative (DOSI) Megan Jungwiwattanaporn, The Pew Charitable Trusts L-R: Taaniela Kula, Tonga, Council President for the 26th session; Alfonso Ascencio-Herrera, ISA Legal Counsel and Deputy to the Secretary-General; and Charlotte Salpin and Marie Bourrel-McKinnon, ISA Secretariat Representatives from the Holy See and Italy confer. Around the Venue L-R: Gavin Watson and Lowri Mai Griffiths, UK, and Rena Lee, Singapore Jim Gray, The Pew Charitable Trusts, and Kate Neville, ENB Philomène Verlaan, International Marine Minerals Society (IMMS), and Kenneth Wong, Canada Francisco Javier Bernales Errázuriz, Chile, and Carlos Alberto Michaelsen den Hartog, Brazil A view from the venue  

Greta Thunberg, Swedish youth activist, arrives at COP 25. The Chile/Madrid Climate Change Conference continued with a palpable sense of increased pressure and, perhaps, frustration. With only one further negotiation day left for the subsidiary bodies to finish their technical work before concluding on Monday, delegates worked overtime on a wide range of issues. In many rooms, discussions moved into “informal informals” intended for parties to have frank discussions and hopefully work through disagreements. These included agriculture, Article 6 (market and non-market mechanisms), gender, and the Adaptation Fund, among several others. Negotiators asked for more time on other issues, notably loss and damage and the review of the long-term global goal. Many expect Article 6 negotiations to run into the second week in order to allow ministers to make key political decisions that can guide the technical deliberations. A unique meeting was held to discuss the global goal on adaptation in response to calls from the African Group to put the global goal on the agenda. Many developing countries stressed the importance of adaptation and held firm that the global goal on adaptation was equally important to the global temperature goals. Developed countries noted the ongoing work on adaptation elsewhere on the agenda, and the potential of that work to make progress toward the global goal. The COP Presidency drew attention to the temperature goal, holding an informal meeting with ministers to discuss the ambition of nationally determined contributions (NDCs). Chile highlighted the Climate Ambition Alliance, a group of 70 countries, with businesses and cities, committing to work toward net zero emissions. The UK announced they would submit an enhanced NDC early next year, and the EU spoke about its Green Deal. Several developing countries spoke to their efforts to raise ambition, but also their need for support and imperative to adapt to the disproportionate effects they are experiencing. The Marrakech Partnership for Global Climate Action held four events, on water, industry, oceans and coastal zones, and land use. Throughout the events, speakers shared insights and provoked ideas on how partnerships among countries and other actors - businesses, cities, and other organizations - can help achieve a below 1.5°C world. Many stressed that “science is not negotiable” and should inform all climate action. For more details on the day’s negotiations and to hear what delegates said in the corridors, see our daily Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB).