In the depths of these formal proceedings there are sparks of refreshing sincerity. I was sitting at the back of the cavernous negotiation room, watching oversized screens showing delegates in business suits speaking on behalf of nations or collections of nations. A sea of heads with headsets tuned into translators’ voices separated myself and the stage with the chairman. A low buzz of activity filled the space as people came and went, spoke with one another in low voices, and typed away on laptops.

The topic on the table was climate change adaptation and GHG mitigation funding for developing countries. After a few minutes the official language started penetrating my brain and I began to hear the positions behind the words of the different delegates. Japan and the United States made statements supporting the World Bank and the Global Environment Facility (GEF) as channels for money, and emphasized the need for developing countries to attract private financial flow. The importance of these statements was reflected in the wave of statements that followed.

Algeria noted that not a single GEF director or CEO is from a developing country. China asked that developed countries not use private markets to evade their responsibility to contribute to the funds under the climate change convention. The Philippines on behalf of the G-77 (a group of 130 developing countries that often negotiate as a group) suggested the Least Developed Country Fund (LDCF) could be referred to as the least developed fund, given that all pledges to this fund add up to “less than half of the Christmas bonuses of CEO’s of bailed-out banks”. The Maldives on behalf of the Least Developed Countries (LDC’s) said that access to the funds must be reassessed as the complicated application process currently meant that the LDCF couldn’t fulfil its mandate of responding to urgent needs. These calls for funding and access to funding were echoed by the Solomon Islands, Mali, Malawi, Nigeria, Kiribati, Gambia, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, and Bhutan.

Behind each of the statements is a country caught in the onslaught of climate change wrought by developed countries, without access to technology or financing that will allow them to respond to the challenges that climate change presents. In the flood of official statements Nigeria’s stood out for its poignancy. The delegate referenced the “fan fare” that had opened the conference, with developed countries emphasizing their commitment to the UN process for combating climate change and their willingness to support the financial mechanisms for developing countries, while pledges for these funds stand at a shameful level of less than US$200 million. In a sentence that echoed those currently pouring out of Canada’s parliament, Nigeria said that the disparity between developed countries public statements and their financial commitment to the funds resulted in other nations having “no confidence, and no trust” in these developed nations. He said that his wish was that we would see climate change as being just as important as the financial meltdown, which we were able to mobilize a response to so quickly.