LRI co-facilitated a workshop in Duala, Cameroon, on 3 – 5 August 2015. The session was organized by COMIFAC, the Central African Forest Commission.

The session was attended by 20 lawyers from the Foreign Affairs and Environment ministries of the countries from the Congo basin region. Its objective was to unpack the latest version of the Geneva negotiating text and identify options most suited to the interests of countries in the region, thereby helping countries’ negotiators to prepare for the next round of negotiations in September.

Mr Gervais Itsoua Madzous (left), Pascale Bird from LRI (middle), Mr Edmilson das Neves Cravid and Ms Luvia Rossana de Cavalho d’Almeida (right).

Although the Geneva text has been recently streamlined and re-structured, the document is still 83-pages long. It contains a number of intricate textual options that pose considerable challenges for country negotiators. As observed by LRI during the workshop, an additional and significant one for the participants was to analyse the text in English (the only language in which the text is currently available), when many of them do not have a good command of English.

Despite this difficulty, the group got down to work and by the end of the workshop it was far advanced in putting together its own consolidated version. This included comments and inputs to ensure that for the upcoming negotiation session, country representatives are well equipped and the region’s views are represented.

The Legal Response Initiative (LRI) is committed to create a more level playing field between representatives in the climate change negotiations. To this end, it delivers specialised training and runs an advisory service for negotiators from the smallest nations. For inquiries about our services, get in touch at: enquiries@legalresponse.org