The book updates the first edition, published in 2000, based on the authors’ follow-up research and observations of the negotiation process.
The authors suggest coping strategies and practical “tips and tricks” for climate change negotiators, including by focusing on the negotiating skills required for “the ideal negotiator” and for “the disadvantaged negotiator”.
The International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) has launched an updated “survival guide” for climate change negotiators. It pays tribute to and supports negotiators worldwide, especially those from the Global South, who have, under very complicated circumstances, negotiated the notoriously complex issue of climate change on behalf of their countries.
The book titled, ‘On Behalf of My Delegation: A Survival Guide for New and Lonely Climate Change Negotiators,’ is authored by Joyeeta Gupta and Jennifer Allan, both academics working to understand the complexities of climate change. It updates the first edition, published in 2000.
The publication outlines the negotiating context by analyzing the climate change problem, the evolution of the international climate regime, and the bodies in the regime. It discusses the rules of procedure, state and non-state actors involved in the climate process, and the coalitions in the climate change regime, including the Group of 77 (G-77) and China.
The authors suggest coping strategies and practical “tips and tricks” for climate change negotiators, including by focusing on the negotiating skills required for “the ideal negotiator” and for “the disadvantaged negotiator.” This advice is then collated and augmented with some additional recommendations for “the lonely diplomat,” in recognition of the fact that some developing countries are represented by “single-person” delegations, which, Argentina’s Ambassador Raúl A. Estrada Oyuela notes in a foreword, “is difficult and tiring.” Ambassador Estrada chaired the negotiations of the Kyoto Protocol to the UNFCCC, which was adopted in 1997 and entered into force in 2005.
In a foreword of her own, former UNFCCC Executive Secretary and Global Optimism Founding Partner Christiana Figueres welcomes the update’s contribution to “the onboarding of new climate change negotiators, especially from developing countries.” Acknowledging that over the years, “[t]he multilateral landscape has become exceedingly polarized and entrenched,” she hopes “the new entrants into the climate negotiations will bring a restorative spirit with them.
The second edition of the guide was undertaken with the financial support of Irish Aid.
The guide was released on 4 December 2023, during the first week of the UN Climate Change Conference (UNFCCC COP 28) in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE). [Publication: On Behalf of My Delegation: A Survival Guide for New and Lonely Climate Change Negotiators] [Publication Landing Page]