Hyderabad

06.10.2012

The German delegates visit the CBD Alliance this morning. In the afternoon Alex, Christoph, Isabel, Juliane, Svana and I explore Hyderabad.
This saturday we meet early (7:30 a.m.) to go to the HICC for the CBD Alliance. The CBD Alliance consists of civil society groups from all over the world, which are discussing, debating and coming to agreement on what they believe to be the key issues for the COP 11 in Hyderabad. They meet every morning at 9:00 a.m. and today the Indian NGO Forum for CBD (INFC) hosts the daily meeting of NGOs and civil society. This meeting includes preparation for the CBD COP11 like logistic information and help. In the beginning everybody introduce themself stortly. Then there is an introduction to the CBD COP 11.

CBD Alliance

The CBD COP is constituted of the 193 parties, a secretariat, the SBSTTA and working groups. The COP mandate is the decision making body, but the SBSTTA mandate approaches technical and scientific issues and provides reviews for the COP. Also the SBSTTA offers an access for local communities to the COP and creates a blance between politicians and civil society.
Afterwards Neil Pratt, the Senior Environmental Affairs Officer (Outreach and Major Groups) and David Cooper, the Principal Officer of Scientific, Technical and Technological Matters from the CBD Secretariat complement details about the structure of the CBD. At the CBD COP 11 the agenda is extremely long. So some topics obtain more importance, like the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization to the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Strategic Plan for 2011-2020. Also marine and coastal biodiversity will be a big issue. To enable the COP 11 to work on this long agenda, the COP is divided into two working groups. The first one includes technical and scientific approaches by SBSTTA and the secound working group considers implementations and economics. Both working groups can even be divided into smaller groups to go into detail with some issues. Mostly the working groups include all parties, but sometimes issues are discussed with only a few parties.
In the end of this session the comment arises, that NGOs and observers are important voices in the CBD process, but they are the last spreakers in the negotiations. So mostly there are no countries to support them. Therefore the chair should support NGOs more and it should be possible for NGOs to get in dialog with the parties more. Others mention, that the CBD process is unique for observers in UN processes. NGOs are able to participate with statements, side events, handing out material and assistance of the chair with documents. Also "it is not important to say something, but it is good to know who said what!".

At noon time Alex, Christoph, Isabel, Juliane, Melina, Svana and I brainstorm for our youth intervention at the opening ceremony on Monday.

Isabel






Christoph

At 12:30 p.m., and 9:00 a.m. German time, we skype with the NAJU meeting of delegates in Bremen, Germany. We tell about our experiences in India and also what we did today and our plans for the next days. Moreover Svana and I introduce ourselves to the NAJU delegates, because we stand for the NAJU executive committee.

At the HICC we meet Swetha. She is also an youth NGO delegate at the COP 11.
Swetha lives in Hyderabad and offers us to guide us around in Hyderabad.



We are leaving the conference area.



The whole city of Hyderabad is pretty up for the CBD COP 11.



Also we find advertising for the conference everywhere.

Everybody is really hungry. So Swetha leads us to the Inorbit Mall for lunch to make us happy (:

The mall shows us the big contrasts of India. We feel like in another world after entering this mall, because it is total western style.

Alex, Isabel, Swetha, Christoph, I and Svana
from left to right
and Juliane are happy after having lunch.



The view out of the mall at the Durgam Cheruvu.



Garbage hill






At the playground

Alex, Christoph, Juliane, Svana and I take the bus 127 K from the station Hi-Tech in Cyberabad to Koti. We want to go to old Hyderabad for sightseeing.

Our bus driver

Then unexpectedly a bus wheel bursts. The bus stops and everybody has to get out. We try to stop a riksha, but the drivers don't want to take us the long way to Charminar. Simultaneously all other passengers from our bus catch the next one, although it is already full. We have to wait for 15 minutes for the next bus. But in the meantime Isabel manages to catch us a riksha for 300 rupees to the Charminar. But it is only one. So all six of us plus the driver have to squeeze in the small riksha.

It starts to rain.

After 45 minutes of an exciting riksha drive and numb hands and feet we ariive at Charminar gate.

The Charminar was built in 1591 and is a landmark monument in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India. The English name is a transliteration and combination of the Urdu words "Chār" and "Minar", translating to "Four Towers". In the northeast of Charminar lies the Laad Bazaar. In the west the Makkah Masjid is located.

Indian sugar cane









Jewellery









Pomgranate
Punica granatum



Dromedary camel
Camelus dromedarius



eats bananas.






Juliane, Isabel, Svana and I



at the Charminar

About 7:00 p.m. we have a break at the Café Coffee Day to get distance from the noises and the rush on the streets. We have a nice view at Charminar from the Café.

"Wanna buy some shoes?"

Namastee Charminar! Now we are going back by riksha to Koti and then we take the bus again. We arrive at Hi-Tech safely, grab something to eat and then finally return to the Hotel.
Tomorrow we will have our first official GYBN meeting at the conference.

On the NAJU-Blog you find a german version!

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