This is an incomplete post salvaged from the internet archive.

-by John

This morning at the Subsidiary Body for Implementation’s (SBI) contact group meeting on the adaptation fund, the draft text was accepted by the room! This document sets forward the principles and modalities of the fund, and suggests the future track for approving a final fund so that developing countries can begin accessing the resources they need to adapt to the impacts of climate change. Yesterday’s hectic schedule of cancellations and impromptu informal consultations culminated in a small group of stakeholders drafting the final language for the document. Observers are not allowed to enter these discussion, so I had to wait pensively for the verdict this morning in the contact group.

The co-chairs were joined by the Chair of SBI and the three of them implored the group to accept the text so that the fund might move forward. After a lengthy explanation of the previous evening’s process, the co-chair introduced two new paragraphs that cover the ability of institutions to submit their recommendations on how they would operationalize the fund. These two paragraphs would be removed if any party disagreed, as they were added after the rest of the text had been agreed to by the drafting group. The Chairman of SBI, Thomas Becker from Denmark, opened the floor for either a “yes” or “no” answer to the paragraphs. Gambia buzzed in and said, “Mr. Chair,” and then there was a pause, “we believe that it should be 2007….”