Thank you kindly for the comments. Please accept my apologies for being tardy in responding over the holiday.

@Ian
I think your comment hits squarely on the importance of having large emitters on the same page going into full-scale negotiations. There has long been a push for engagement at this level in a variety of fora outside of the UNFCCC, with mixed results. The value of such meetings, however, must be balanced to ensure that smaller and developing nations are not systemically excluded (or even perceive that they are being marginalized).

I would suggest that both issues underscore the difficulty of managing collective action with so much at stake, from the parochial politics of sharing mitigation costs to the ethical concerns of climate impacts.

@Hector
Indeed I think everyone was surprised at the sheer scale of civil society’s involvement in Copenhagen (the UNFCCC secretariat and Danish government included!). Your cynicism with respect to the legitimate need for so many NGOs to participate in the COP is well founded, particularly amidst the larger trend amongst NGOs to tack on climate change programming to “stay relevant,” in effect leveraging the notoriety of the COP for what could be viewed as self-promotion. Playing devil’s advocate, I think we’d all welcome increased *substantive* engagement on climate change from all parties (including the diverse interests represented by civil society). As your comment suggests we’re perhaps not quite there yet, but the UNFCCC process and its spirit of openness has fostered increased activity …though, as you say, there may have to be some retooling of the technical logistics if we’re to continue to welcome so many under the COP tent.