It's Getting Crowded @ The Bella Center

Just saw the below official UNFCCC communication:

Access To The Bella Centre At Copenhagen Climate Change Conference

The UN regrets the long delays today for people wishing to gain access or pick up accreditation at the Bella Centre, the venue for the UN climate change conference in Copenhagen and is doing all it can to alleviate further delays.

Over 45,000 people have applied to attend the conference, three times more than its capacity. An overwhelming number of those who applied arrived on Monday, causing congestion in the area outside the UN venue, which is under the control of the Danish police, and also long delays inside the UN area of control at accreditation counters. The UN accredited a total of around 3,500 new delegates.


video: recorded on Monday December 14, outside of the Bella Center

UN security is also in contact with the Danish police to help speed identification of those already accredited and wishing to enter through the gate into the UN venue.

The access to the venue for NGOs will continue to be controlled by the existing quota system to allow balanced access by NGO organisations. NGO representatives are given over half of the capacity of the Bella Centre, more than ever before at a climate conference. As of tomorrow, only NGO organisations that have the secondary badges issued will be able to enter the Bella Centre .

The UN retains full access to the centre for government delegations. It also retains full access for press who have already been accredited. The UN will work to ensure prompt access and accreditation within the venue, inside the limits of physical capacity.




This follows Pace Law School's Richard Ottinger's December 11th report from COP15:

The Conference participants are awaiting with some anxiety for the arrival of the now announced 190 heads of state, each with large retinues of supporters. I have met some of the people writing the speeches for their presidents and prime ministers. It is interesting how dependent most heads of state are dependent on staff writers, neither adequately familiar with the climate issues and the options available to address them. Some of the heads of state are coming with very large staffs, a few with more than 100, and it is anticipated that only the heads of state and their retinues will be allowed in he plenary sessions for much of next week. It also is reported that to allow for all the poobahs to speak, they are scheduled from dawn through the wee hours of the next morning. This huge convention hall already is packed to the gills, and it may be very difficult even getting access to the convention center next week. In addition I am told that the airport will be shut down during the arrival and departure of leading heads of state and that may cause travel problems. It turns out I may be lucky to be returning with the Grantmakers on the 20th instead of at the end of the conference on the 18th.

His report from December 14th included this observation:

The conference shut down and the plenary and scheduled events at the conference center were discontinued. The conference is reconfiguring the center to accommodate the 170 or so heads of state and their entourages that are descending here this week. There are so many people here now and coming with the poobahs that the conference is requiring supplementary passes, now starting tomorrow, cutting NGO and IGO (IUCN) admissions to 1/3 of delegation members. IUCN will limit these passes to staff members, so my participation will be more limited. There still are lots of side events off site, but my take on the main conference events will have to be from second hand exposure. The decision is obviously necessary. There were so many people trying to get into the Center today that the City had to close down the Metro stop for the Center all day. It is a zoo.

And his report from his first day at COP15, December 7th, included this note:

Thanks goodness we registered at 10:00, however. When we left around 3:00, there was a line to get in to register at least the length of two football fields. There was such a crowd in the convention center that it took half an hour for the cloakroom attendants to find our coats.