ECO is getting worked up by these workshops. On Monday, we heard several distinguished delegates mention the importance of participation. Well, ECO would like to raise your participation and call for interaction!
OK, so we’re being deliberately obtuse about what the distinguished delegate was referring to. Our “friends” from the brollies were actually setting up a dangerous dichotomy between participation and ambition, which is totally unacceptable. But for the moment ECO will let that pass (although you know we’ll come back to it!).
What surprised ECO was the re-articulation of well established positions in the initial workshop on scope and design. This is deeply disappointing. ECO urges parties to be brave; put creative ideas forward. Some will get flattened (like that frog!) but some will permeate. If you don’t ask you don’t get. ECO understands that years of disharmony make Parties nervous about revealing some of their thinking, but this is your time to shine. This is the year of conceptual ideas: we’re facing an unprecedented challenge, one that requires an unprecedented response. And in this new (to us), bright and transparent building, what better surroundings could there be for a more frank and visionary discussion?
We only have a few days here in Bonn, and ECO hopes that Parties have just been warming up before heading to the gym (i.e. Maritim). We hope to see you properly working out with each other over the course of this week’s workshops; we want to see blood, sweat and tears!
