Sports halls to be transformed Accommodation for summit participants needed
Bonn · Many of the participants of the world climate summit are still looking for accommodation. Lord Mayor Ashok Sridharan is asking schools and clubs for help in the search for space in sports halls.
When the world climate summit kicks off on November 6 in Bonn, up to 25,000 participants will need a place to stay. They could sleep in sports halls. Many of the NGO members are from the civil society and want to take part in climate protection talks, but as opposed to the official delegates they have problems finding accommodation.
The city of Bonn has now offered to help. Schools and sports clubs were approached by letter and asked if they can give up their halls as accommodation. But some teachers were alarmed when they received the request for help. They approached the General-Anzeiger and expressed their worry that the sports lessons will be affected in their schools. The background: Early 2016, the city of Bonn had to use some sports halls as refugee accommodation, this has caused a lot of annoyance back then.
When approached by this newspaper, Sridharan explained that this time providing sports halls as accommodation is entirely voluntary. „We will not force any school or sports club to do without their halls“, he affirmed. He referred to his official letter to schools and sports clubs in which he explained that the particularly the organisers of the International Youth Summit COY and the climate summit of the Civil Society, running November 1-7 - thus before the start of the official climate summit - are in need of beds for 2,000 people.
City wants to accommodate the hosts’ wishes
„The hosts of the summit approached us with a request for help in finding accommodation in large halls. We would like to oblige as much as possible“, it said in the letter. According to vice spokesperson Marc Hoffmann, 65 of the approached sports clubs and 33 schools gave a positive answer. „We are currently assessing the situation“, Hoffmann said.
The city council is consulting with the schools and clubs: „Overnight stays in sports halls are only to be considered if the schools and clubs offer their halls on a voluntary basis and if the potential halls fulfill the construction and fire safety regulations.“
Plenty of accommodation for delegates
Also, the main part of the requested time period is during the autumn holidays in North Rhine-Westphalia, which end on November 3. For the official delegates of the COP23, there is enough accommodation available by now - inhotels, bed and breakfasts and other places in Bonn and the region.
Neither the city nor the ministry for construction and environment (BMUB) see any reason to check for provisional accommodation of delegates in sports halls.
„The bookings are all according to plan and the organization of the COP23 in this regard is running completely smoothly, from the point of view of city council and BMUB“, Hoffmann said.
Citizens are offering beds to participants
To ensure the accommodation of all conference participants, the Tourism and Congress GmbH (T&C) supports the hotel room bookings for the conference guests and is in close contact with UN climate secretariat and the BMUB. Also, the T&C run platform „Private Host COP23“ is online since the summer, through which approximately 500 beds were already offered free of charge. These offers are additional and mainly intended for participants and institutions from countries with lesser financial budgets. (Original text: Lisa Inhoffen, Translation: Mareike Graepel)
