Climate talks turn to South African indaba process to unblock the deal

Climate negotiators in Paris have turned to a traditional South African consultation process in search of common ground among the nearly 200 nations seeking a global deal to curb rising temperatures.

South Africa’s Zulu and Xhosa communities have long used indaba, a gathering of community leaders convened by the chief, to resolve important issues, said Brian Mantlana, an official from the South African delegation in Paris.

Although only the elders and main leaders are at the table in an indaba, the meeting is open to all. This provides a forum for hearing all views, while empowering a limited group of leaders to make decisions.

“This is an unrestricted public gathering,” Mantlana said. “It is not a festive event, but a participatory one in which everyone has a say and the community is consulted to have their own point of view on the decisions”.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, who chairs the UN negotiations, opted for the South African model for the first time last weekend as a way to streamline the discussion on more controversial issues.

As with an indaba, there were only ministers with decision-making power and a single aide at the table.

Fabio added other groups over the course of the week, each led by ministers from countries in the northern and southern hemisphere.

On Wednesday evening, with an agreement on many still elusive issues, Fabio squeezed the indaba into two groups. Both worked until the early hours of Thursday morning.

As the negotiations entered a crucial phase late on Thursday evening, Fabio called a final meeting, which he called “an indaba of solutions”, to resolve three key issues.

“I will chair another Indaba meeting, but this time it will be exclusively oriented towards finding compromises,” he said.

The indaba made minimal differences, reducing the 900 points of contention in parentheses in the draft text to around 300 before the last session.

But the policy of climate agreements is proving stubborn, even for the South African model of consensus building.

“It’s a transparent and credible process,” Mantlana said. But he only offered a tired smile when asked if he can get the negotiators to the finish line.

“It can waste your time,” he said. “But we’re not there yet.”