Chris Littlecott

Chris Littlecott is Project Coordinator for E3G’s ‘Europe in the World’ work and is also E3G’s website and blog editor. He is the managing editor for the openDemocracy section 'Global Deal: the politics of climate change'.

Recent articles

The agreement reached in Bali on Saturday wasn't an end point , but the start of a process. There now follows at least another two years of intense negotiations to pull together an effective global climate deal.

Inevitably this means that there will now be a period of soothsaying commentary and interpretation before the true importance of the Bali agreement begins to be understood and acted on.

And already this coming week will see the start of attempts to tease out a more accurate understanding of what went on in Bali and where it is leading.

Following below are details of two events that Global Deal has interest in - unfortunately both on Tuesday 18th December.

Europe's Bali Leadership The success of a subtle strategy. AWGmented unilateral commitments. The Deal itself.
 

BBC News 24 has just announced on air that a short draft agreement has been issued in Bali. Ban Ki Moon is flying back in to Bali to participate in the final push.

They hope to speak to Roger Harrabin in Bali shortly... And here he is, before I can even hit publish:

'Urgent language but no numbers' is the headline.

It seems that the confusion in Bali is still not yet over, not even for the BBC's news gathering resources.

Just over an hour ago, the Bali negotiations were the first item on the Radio 5 Live news bulletin, for what seems like the first time this week. They quoted UK Environment Minister Hilary Benn as saying that a deal had still not been reached.

Yet over on the BBC website, the latest news on their Bali section is that

[quote]Negotiators at the UN climate summit in Bali have adjourned talks, with the UN senior climate official saying they were "on the brink" of a deal.[/quote]

What should we call NGO blogs? Given how they are increasingly appearing in a new space beyond the traditional media, I wonder whether we need a new term for activist-reporter-bloggers. How about blongos? Or blongeurs?

Whatever we call them, one thing is for sure - blogging is providing an effective means of communicating the hopes and frustrations of frontline lobbyists back to memberships and activists. It's still a minority pursuit at present - look through the long list of accredited NGOs and you'll find just a handful trying to connect beyond the boundaries of the conference compound. But that will surely change over the next 2 years of climate activism.