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COP17

Conference of the Parties (COP)17 to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) took place between 28 November to 11 December in Durban, South Africa. This conference went into extra time by almost 2 days, following inability by parties to reach a consensus. Eventually parties agreed to the Durban Platform, that is summarized here.
Our visit to COP17 was mainly to follow local government side events. These were organized by SALGA, SA Cities Network and ICLEI. The big event for municipalities was the Local Government Convention held at the City Hall between 2 - 4 Dec. The highlight of this Convention was the signing of the Adaptation Charter by well over 100 Mayors present. It is heartening to note that most of the Mayors present were mostly from South Africa. Before going to COP17, I had only visited Durban once on a frivolous jaunt with a friend a few years ago. He had just bought a new car, and wanted a long drive to enjoy his new machine. The weather in Durban that weekend was terrible, we were mostly limited to roam around Gateway Mall in Umhlanga Rocks. The visit to Durban during COP17 was somewhat my first experience. I had very scanty recollection of anything of note about the city. This visit was mostly about work. The nice thing about it though is that, we were booked in a hotel that is situated right at the beachfront. The area was abuzz with COP17 excitement, they event built a permanent music stand for every day performances right at the beach. The place was simply a riot every night !
Of course COP17 was a huge international conference, so there was always that curiosity to spot a celebrity or an important leader. I was lucky to meet the former CEO of South Africa Weather Service and now Deputy General Secretary of World Meteorological Organization (WMO), Jerry Lengoasa. General Bantu Holomisa also visited our stand, and was easy to pose for pictures.

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