Daily update COP6

Update: 23rd July

0600 hrs: As dawn broke over the conference center in Bonn, our emotional roller coaster hit another trough, as word came through that the rumors of a deal that we had heard of a few hours earlier, had run onto the rocks again.

Most of us had been up all night, as well as most of the night before, and the strain was just enormous. As I left the conference center to run back to the office, the banner the students had hung in the trees stood out against the dawn, a forlorn plea for sanity and a stark reminder of the simplicity of the fundamental issue - to either move forward, or move backward in our fight to protect the climate.

Most of the Greenpeace delegation took 10 minute catnaps on the floor of the convention center, in between chasing rumors, rapidly preparing suggested texts, and rewriting the press release for the 41st time in anticipation of either a positive outcome, or another disaster like the Hague.

Finally, at twenty minutes to eleven, we got word that a deal had been done, and that it was a pretty good deal. It was a compromise, and we would haved liked all of the provisions to have been stronger, but we were going to have a legally binding framework for protecting the climate which would guide the world through the difficult task of agreeing on emissions reductions over the coming decades.

When Jan Pronk's gavel came down at just before 11, their was long and loud applause, a tear in many eyes... it's been a very long four years since Kyoto, and we now finally have some rules.

Now the real work begins, and we'll still have to fight long and hard to see the Treaty's intentions realized, but at least those who tried to kill the Kyoto Treaty have lost. We've won an enormous political victory.

In the coming week all the technical working groups will be meeting. It is very detailed and not very exciting work. This will be the last update from Bonn.