”Eighteen years ago, on this day, November 18th, 2006,
COP 12/CMP 2 took place between November 6 and 17, 2006 in Nairobi, Kenya. At the meeting, BBC reporter Richard Black November 18 coined the phrase “climate tourists” to describe some delegates who attended “to see Africa, take snaps of the wildlife, the poor, dying African children and women”. Black also noted that due to delegates’ concerns over economic costs and possible losses of competitiveness, the majority of the discussions avoided any mention of reducing emissions. Black concluded that was a disconnect between the political process and the scientific imperative.[16]
And, to quote Pulp’s Common People “everybody hates a tourist”.
The amount of carbon dioxide in the air was 382ppm. As of 2025, when this post was published, it is 430ppm. This matters because the more carbon dioxide in the air, the more heat gets trapped. The more heat, the more extreme weather events. You can make it more complicated than that if you want, but really, it’s not. Fwiw, I have a tattoo of the Keeling Curve on my left forearm.
The broader context was that the COP process had always attracted protests (see this piece I wrote ten years ago) and “tourists”.
The specific context was that it had seemed dead in the water, with Kyoto ratification stalled between 2001 (when Cheney-Bush pulled out) and 2005 (when the Russians saved the day, in exchange for WTO membership), but now the show was back on the road.
What I think we can learn from this is that the whole thing is a jamboree, and of late has been taken over by the fossil fuel gang.
What happened next – at the following COP, in Bali, a “roadmap to Copenhagen” was agreed. Yeah, that went well…
What do you think? Does this pass the ‘so what?’ threshold? Have I got facts wrong? Interpretation wrong? Please do comment on this post, unless you are a denialist, obvs.
Also on this day:
November 18, 1953 – Macmillan tells the truth about committees
November 18, 1998 – coal guy becomes Australian environment ambassador