ECO has been hearing very positive reviews from Sunday`s Talanoa Dialogues, even from some erstwhile Talanoa skeptics. The good feelings, positive dynamics and constructive engagement can’t all have been the effect of the kava. Concerns that issues of equity, finance and pre-2020 responsibilities would be pushed aside have not born out. There was indeed space for all stories, including in reports back from the session yesterday.
Now the question is how to turn the stories and positive spirit into effective ongoing dialogues, both in the preparatory and political phases, that generate the concrete outcomes and greater ambition needed to close the emissions gap and put us on a path to hold warming to 1.5°C.
We expect to get some clarity on this at the closing session today, but ECO knows that the Parties and the Presidencies are still digesting the events over the past week, and so may need time to develop ideas and plans in the coming months. Those ideas can be tested and refined during the Petersberg Dialogue and MoCA ministerial meetings.
The Bangkok meeting will be an ideal opportunity for the COP presidencies to update parties on their evolving plans for the Talanoa Dialogue during COP24, and get feedback from parties and observers alike. We cannot have a Bangkok session where this discussion is not advanced. This would send a signal that the Rulebook takes precedence over raising ambition, but both are intrinsically linked and fundamental to a successful COP24 and the credibility of the Paris Agreement.
Looking ahead, the Talanoa Dialogue must facilitate an assessment of our collective progress towards the 1.5°C goal and the current gaps in mitigation, adaptation and finance.
Parties have identified the IPCC special report on 1.5°C as a key input to the assessment, so the Presidencies must also indicate how they expect to use the science and the report meeting in Korea, to feed into that ongoing process.
The Katowice outcomes must include a strong signal calling for raising ambition of NDCs and support by 2020, building on the outcomes of the Talanoa Dialogue, but also responding directly to the Paris decisions that indicate that much greater ambition is required than that in current NDCs, and calling on Parties to communicate or update their NDCs by 2020.
We have a winding and potentially rocky road from here to a successful outcome in Katowice. The Talanoa Dialogue process can smooth out some of the bumps, if the Talanoa spirit can be maintained and a clear, carefully thought-out process emerges for how to move from stories to solutions and continue at COP24 in a way that engages Ministers and builds on the other high-level dialogues on Finance and pre-2020 ambition.
In the meantime, parties and non-state and subnational actors can continue to build momentum and awareness through National and regional Talanoa dialogues, and who knows, even Talanoa events at Petersberg and MoCA and IPCC gatherings?
