Delegates too busy for the beach

Delegates too busy for the beach

A series of preparatory committee meetings for the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Bali has kept many people so busy that they have forgotten they have a beach behind their conference rooms.

The organizers are probably the busiest people at this event, and Hening Parlan from the Indonesian Forum for Environment (Walhi) is no exception.

She was so busy that it took two days before she realized that she lived very close to the beach. The forum's secretariat is at the amphitheater, Nusa Dua.

The beach is only a few meters behind the amphitheater. But still, Hening was not sure what to do on the beach.

`Water crisis' at UN conference

It sounds ironic. Delegates are discussing the world water crisis at the Prep Comm, but are mired in a fresh water crisis.

The price of fresh bottled water at the venue of the conference, the Bali International Convention Center, is so high that few have chosen to buy on site, and kiosks selling cheaper bottled water are located far away from the scene -- ridiculous. A bottle of Aqua costs US$ 1.50," a journalist said on Monday.

Another journalist suggested that people should bring water from outside to prevent wallet leakage.

Delegations cannot evade NGOs

NGOs are grateful for the relatively isolated location on Bali for the preparatory committee (PrepCom) IV meeting on sustainable development.

Cochairperson of the NGO energy and climate caucus Deling Wang commented on Sunday that the Nusa Dua area made it easier for NGOs to lobby government delegations. The location of the prepcom in Bali is very advantageous to us, because in a sense we are all stuck in one place, the Nusa Dua area, and delegates cannot escape us," she said while laughing.

Deling said that in the previous prepcoms in New York, delegates were difficult to approach because they could easily escape the NGOs.

'Frostbite' a danger in Kuta

Never mind the scorching sun of Bali, international non- governmental organization (NGO) representatives suffered bouts of frostbite and dehydration at the strategic meetings organized by the Indonesian People's Forum (IPF) in Sahid Hotel, Kuta on Sunday.

The cold was so intense that the representatives opted for the hotel's excellent air conditioning (AC) facilities to be turned off rather than risk frostbite.

Unfortunately the controls of the AC were nowhere to be found, so the doors of the meeting room had to be flung open during the whole session to let in warm air.