UNFCCC COP/MOP - Nairobi ...

This is a post about my trip to Nairobi to attend the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change 12th Conference of the Parties and 2nd Meeting of the Parties

All the serious stuff is written up in an official report. This is a look at the trip from a less 'official' perspective

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Leaving Cape Town on the 6h00 flight bound for Johannesburg

Man! getting out of bed at 4h00 to get to the airport before 5h00 is ROUGH!









Five minutes out of Cape Town we pass over the Helderberg with shafts of early morning sunlight sihouetting the peaks


Great wake up therapy









And within a minute or two over Stellenbosch where Gigi was born and where we raised our kids - and climbed every peak in the photograph

I worked for 13 years at Jonkershoek Nature Conservation Research Station half way up that beautiful valley












Johannesburg airport is just one massive construction site - getting ready for the 2010 football world cup












New terminals under construction











And yet more


This is where many of the overseas visitors will arrive for the soccer

I hope that it is not as much of a shambles them as it was when I got back from this trip!









Crossing Kipling's 'great grey green greasy' Limpopo river into Mozambique airspace













We flew a long way just east of the Zimbabwe Mozambique border along the Cahora Bassa powerlines that run from the Cahora Bassa dam on the Zambezi all the way south to South Africa

You can see the two strips, cleared of vegetation, along which the two sets of powerlines run, crossing the meanders of the rivers below

The cleared strips for the lines are clearly visible on GoogleEarth

When I arrived home I had fun on GoogleEarth finding the spots I had taken photographs of. I easily followed our entire flight path from Johannesburg to Nairobi




We flew up the border passing between Mutari, previously Umtali (in Zimbabwe) and Chimoio, formally Vila Pery (in Mozambique)

Between the ages of two and about six I spent in the village of Rusape only about 100 miles (1 hours drive) from Umtali as it was then. Flying that close brought back many memories of my very early childhood - like learning to ride a bicycle, kindergarten and riding huge tractors on a friends tobacco farm and grandparents visiting from the then Salisbury

Well north now, this picture shows a river flowing northwards towards the Zambezi - clearly visible on GoogleEarth

I took lots of pics on the flight but won't bore you with them!



And there is the great Zambesi river.

Having left the gorges below the Cahora Bassa dam it passes into the flat lowlands of Mozambique's northern provinces

Really isolated African bush

I spent many school and university holidays in the Zambezi valley and at Lake Kariba and this area just talks to my soul

I am African to the core





And that is the 'coast line' or more accurately 'shore line' of Lake Malawi










We crossed the lake shore north-east of Lilongwe and flew northwards, right up the centre of the lake

One can clearly see the lakeshore pan in the photograph on the western shoreline using Google Earth








A lovely picture of the islands of Chizulumu (foreground) and Likoma in Lake Malawi

Little bits of Malawian territory in Mozambican waters









The north eastern shore of Lake Malawi














The highlands just north of Dodoma, the capital of Tanzania

Read about the Dodoma region














I'm pretty sure that this is Lake Manyara

See the Manyara National Park site









I successfully negotiated a seat in the right rear of the plane with the hope of getting a good view of Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa's highest peak at 5895m

'Ja well no fine' as we say in South Africa

There it hides under that 'lump' of cloud

Most disappointing! Better click on the link or Google Image 'Kilimanjaro'!
See also here




Decending towards Nairobi

Check out the geological rifts












Here is the escarpment of the Great Rift Valley












... and down we go

The low pressure over the wing condensing a vapour trail in the very moist tropical air










... and touchdown at Nairobi airport











The Jacaranda Hotel where I stayed

I'd definitely recommend it to the more budget concious traveller

An honest 3 star establishment


Unfortunately, due to late booking for the event, my room was the last one in the back wing of the hotel, overlooking the noisy kitchen extractor fan

That long exhaust on the roof of the outbuilding is that of the emergency generator

Yes - Nairobi had its fair share of power failures while I was in residence





One of Nairobi's premier shopping centres, the Sarit Centre, just across the road from the hotel has everything one may need

Internet cafe (cheaper than the hotel's but only open office hours), cell phone sim cards and good bookshops

Its not Cavendish or the Cape Town Waterfront but it's more than adequate







Right out back of the Hotel was a beautiful Spathodea, or African tulip tree

The climate and the vegetation of Nairobi reminded me very much of growing up in the then Salisbury, now Harare












A WoodCentral sighting at the UNFCCC COP/MOP

If you click on the link and can't see the cap sighting click 'add frames' in the menu bar on the top of the page

Strange things some of us 'woodies' get up to - yes!






And another one -at the entrance to the UN offices at Gigiri, Nairobi where the conference was held


OK and now eventually we get sort of serious








Here are the delegates gathering for The Climate Group's side event on Climate Change Mitigation

The lunch didn't arrive until the meeting starting time was well past, an hour or so late









The side event on Climate Change Mitigation








Another side event later that afternoon

This is one of the 'prefab' buildings supplied and erected by South Africa









One of the roads in Nairobi along which we commuted daily between the hotels and UNON

It's going to cost the citizens of Nairobi an absolute fortune when they eventually decide to do some road maintenance

Many of the roads will need to be re-engineered from scratch




There is a huge amount of street trading in Nairobi

What is extremely commendable is that there is virtually no litter anywhere in the city

Compare this with Main Road Wynberg for example

The residents of Nairobi are genuinly proud of their city






Everything happens in the road reserve

Even the manufacturing of the furniture














UNON

Once one is through the security one has quite a walk up the path lined by all the flags of the world

Thanks Gugu (Agha) for the advice to take an umbrella - a damn smart idea Gugu





The main entrance at UNON

That's the same guy on the left and right

He walked across as I took the sequence of three pictures which are stiched together here!



Other than in the IT centre and the library the organisers set up tables and wifi hotspot facilities all over so that delegates didn't have to suffer e-mail deprivation











The secondary conference auditorium














I came across the World Charter for Nature on the wall of the primary venue















One of the most interesting discussions that I have ever attended was this one on Communicating Climate Change that I blogged on my enviro blog

See also this blog post on How to Talk to a Climate Sceptic







On Tuesday afternoon the heavens really opened for about two hours. We could hardly hear ourselves think in the 'prefab' that was home to the SA Delegation

In fact the South Africans were responsible for putting up all the 'prefabs' to expand the capacity of UNON to host the conference - this apparently arose from their experiences in hosting the 2002 World Summit for Sustainable Development (WSSD / Rio plus 10)











Wow it was wet outside!













Very wet

The 'paths' had to be covered with gravel and paving stones










A Nairobi traffic circle late in the evening after the big storm

The driving in Nairobi is horrendous - if your bumper is half a millimeter ahead of the next vehicle you have right of way!







No clean shiny cars here, especially this evening!

All covered with glorious African red mud that really reminds me of school cross-country runs in 'white' T-shirt and shorts and red muddy footprints in the shopping centres - wonderful









The road reserve is one long plant nursery.

With the great loamy soil, warmth and rain, I guess one can put just about any plant in a bag of soil and watch it grow







More plants on the roadside with the police barracks in the background

Our driver Peter was a mine of information

Both Peter and Simon, Minister Essop's driver, were very reliable and knowledgable about their city









Lovely big tropical trees - to make a woodturner salivate
















For the opening of the event I just strolled up into the media gallery as the main auditorium hardly even had standing room

I had cameras and monitors all around and even a speaker from which my camera picked up the sound of Kofi Annan's opening speach very well while I used the camera in movie mode to record his address

So you won't see pics of him addressing the delegates here







Standing on the extreme left is Dr RK Pachauri chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has been established by WMO and UNEP to assess scientific, technical and socio- economic information relevant for the understanding of climate change, its potential impacts and options for adaptation and mitigation. It is open to all Members of the UN and of WMO.



Just before the UN Secretary General entered the auditorum










The Secrtary General, Kofi Annan and President of Kenya, Mwai Kibaki, among others take their seats











The podium during the opening











The main auditorium at UNON during the opening

Translators occupy the booths on the left and the media the gallery opposite and where I was standing






Minister van Schalkwyk (South Africa) chats to two members of the SA negotiating team, Peter Lukey and Kelebogile (Shirley) Moroka shortly before delivering the address on behalf of the G77 and China










Dr. Ahmed Djoghlaf, Executive Secretary to the Convention on Biological Diversity addesses the gathering











Minister van Schalkwyk's address












There was a busy craft market very close to the Jacaranda Hotel

I bought each of the family a nice Masai blanket or shuka as a gift from the market









My hotel room

A chineese noodle soup, a very excellent room service burger, and a Tusker larger - what more does a guy need











Self explanitory


















Also self explanitory!

I guess the instructor has his own brake pedal

Nairobi is definitely not a city I'd like to do my 'learners' in






Minister Tasneem Essop, Theo Tolmay our Head of Department, Nomfundo Henge, the minister's assistant and yours truely


And no ... we didn't spend all our time in Nairobi drinking coffee - or Tusker!








Hub cap heaven

Back home our car was missing a hubcap for months - as luck would have it my son Chris and I each bought a replacement on the same day!

So now we have spare one hanging in the garage!







The local pavement furniture manaufacturer

Glorious African hardwoods to make a woodturner salivate










The showroom floor


and ...











The factory












A view from my hotel window









The hotel pool and bar area

Just before we left for the airport






The range of goods available at intersections is defnitely greater than in South Africa

I also saw hedge trimmers, battery jumper leads among other things














The Uhuru Monument

This was built in 1973 as a commemorative monument to independence










Leaving the hotbox that was the waiting room at Nairobi airport












Homeward bound ...

I managed to get a seat in the left rear of the plane in the hope of getting a view of Mount Kilimanjaro









Wellllll - not the greatest view

But there is the top of Kilimanjaro sticking out of the cloud

The Aussie girl sitting next to me told me that when she flew in they were much closer, the weather was clear and she could see right down into the caldera - lucky





Flying southwards over Lake Malawi













Sunset approaching

The top of this towering 'cunim' catching the sunlight


















One of my favourite pics of the trip

The 'cunim' casting a long shaddow at sunset













This is another very interesting picture

It is a huge granite dome in Mozambique reaching upwards into the sunlight just before sunset

You can see it on Google Earth at
18deg 01min 17.22sec S 33deg 33min 27.69sec E


It must be magnificent from ground level - but I haven't been able to find out anything about it on the web









And then the sun set and that was the end of photos

We changed flights at Johannesburg and after an hours delay boarding the flight to Cape Town arrived there just before midnight







All in all an interesting trip. Only my second out of country trip in 25 years with the Western Cape provincial administration. It was good to meet some of the representatives of other nrg4SD regions. One wonders if the politicians that meet and discuss issues at this level actually realise how unbelivably little information and understanding about their activities filters down to the people who draft their feedback reports and presentations.