The Limits of Civil Society's Participation and Influence at COP-15: A Comment on 'Disenfranchisement of Countries and Civil Society at COP-15 in Copenhagen' by Ian McGregor

摘要

In McGregor's well-written piece, he builds on my work on disenfranchisement1 to discuss developing country and civil society participation and influence at the COP-15 negotiations in Copenhagen. Within his piece, the author challenges the claims in my recent article on civil society at COP-15 in Copenhagen.2 McGregor's argument is driven by two main points. First, he notes that countries were also disenfranchised at COP-15. Second, in contrast to the three forces that I identify as the drivers of the disenfranchisement of civil society at COP-15— "increased registration, poor planning by the Danish organizers, and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Secretariat (UNFCCC), and the merging of movements"3—McGregor asserts that the forces of increased registration and the merging of movements "contributed to more effective participation and influence by civil society, particularly environmental and climate justice groups."4 Regarding the first point, I agree with McGregor that many countries were disenfranchised by the policy-making process at COP-15. The