Waiting for Gloria and Barack in Copenhagen

Rare is the global conference where one can say without hyperbole that the fate of the earth hangs in the balance. But that can be said about the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP15) in Copenhagen, Denmark which is currently taking place until December 18. The world hopes that the 192 governments meeting there will actually produce a binding agreement and not just inject more hot air into the atmosphere. The Philippines is one of the noisier nations participating, fearing more extreme weather and the loss of prime Boracay real estate. President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is arriving on December 16. US president Barack Obama, whom the world is looking to for leadership on climate change, is flying in on December 18, fresh from defending his country's two wars while accepting the Nobel Peace Prize. Tens of thousands of more ordinary folks have been jetting in from all corners of the globe, emitting stupendous amounts of carbon while yelling at their leaders or other people's leaders to cut down on their emissions. GMANews.TV's intrepid solo journalist Pia Faustino has already been in Copenhagen for more than a week sizing up the growing Philippine delegation and the Filipino experts who are helping out other countries. She shoots, writes, edits, and voices her own video stories before uploading them on to the web herself. For the video below, she asked a fellow journalist at the conference to follow her around the cavernous Bella Center, the main venue for meetings but also for quirky protest actions, to educate us on the conference and the discussions taking place at COP15. What is Annex-1? What does it mean? Just how many "rapid response meetings" are taking place at the same time? She also introduces us to the Filipinos at the conference including Dinah Fuentestina of the Global Campaign for Climate Action and Jasper Inventor of Greenpeace International, who are both campaigning for drastic carbon reductions on the part of rich countries. Then there is Tony Oposa, a prominent Filipino environmental lawyer and a recent winner of the Ramon Magsaysay Award, who is in Copenhagen but not on the Philippines' behalf. He serves as the legal adviser of the Federated States of Micronesia, a tiny archipelago east of the Philippines whose entire future may rest on the outcome of these talks. - Mavie Ungco/RSJ, GMANews.TV Watch video below.