Climate Change focus of International politics

Climate Change focus of International politics



May 2007 -   Climate change is no longer a 
matter for scientific debate, but has become a question to be solved at 
the international political level, the UN secretary-general's three new 
special envoys on the issue said today. The envoys pledged to use their 
experience and contacts with national leaders to stimulate a greater level 
of action to combat global warming. 
The three envoys – former Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland, 
former South Korean Foreign Minister and General Assembly President Han 
Seung-soo, and former Chilean President Ricardo Lagos Escobar – held a 
working lunch today with Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, who announced 
earlier this year that tackling climate change is one of his priorities as 
head of the United Nations. 
In their first news conference since taking up the assignment, the three 
envoys said Secretary-General Ban had asked them to discuss the issue with 
the world’s major political figures, especially national leaders, and to 
formulate proposals ahead of the next high-level international meeting, 
scheduled for September, and a follow-up conference in Bali in December. 
"The scientific basis is now clear. Nobody needs to question the 
diagnosis," Dr. Brundtland said. "We know that the world is warming up, 
and we know that the issue is to be able to act quickly enough so that we 
can avoid the types of dramatic consequences that are also irreversible 
without sufficient action." 
Dr. Brundtland is best known for developing the concept of sustainable 
development when she was chair of the World Commission of Environment and 
Development. In 1987 the commission published the landmark report, "Our 
Common Future" that defined sustainable development as "development that 
meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future 
generations to meet their own needs." 
A physician, Dr. Brundtland has also served as director-general of the 
World Health Organization. 

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon meets with Special Envoys on Climate 
Change and the principals of the Climate Change team at UN Headquarters in 
New York. From left: Ricardo Lagos Escobar, Gro Harlem Brundtland, Ban 
Ki-Moon, and Han Seung-soo. 
Former President Lagos said, "The time for diagnosis is over. The time for 
action is now." He said the UN would come to play a vital role as most 
countries begin to realize that climate change cannot be resolved with a 
single policy in a single country. 
Lagos founded the Foundation for Democracy and Development, which works 
for sustainable development. Since April 2006, he has been serving as 
president of the Club de Madrid, made up of former heads of state and 
government in democratic nations. He has led the organization to increase 
its involvement in environmental issues. 
"This is the first time where we’ve had a global problem that has to be 
faced at the global level," Lagos said. "And therefore it’s here in this 
institution where we’re going to be able to solve that or we’re going to 
fail." 
Reports issued by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change earlier 
this year and a new report issued Friday show that the warming of the 
Earth’s climate system is unequivocal and attributable to human 
activities, and will have severe economic effects, particularly in 
developing countries, unless quick action is taken to avert it. 
Lagos said that the envoys would concentrate on convincing national 
leaders, in both developed and developing countries, of the environmental 
and economic value of seeking alternative fuels to meet their energy needs 
instead of coal, oil and gas. Burning these fuels emits heat-trapping 
greenhouse gases that raise the planetary temperature. 
He noted that many of the initiatives and proposals for dealing with 
climate change are emerging from civil society, and the envoys would try 
to build on them. 
A former President of the UN General Assembly, Han said he was "awed by 
the responsibility" granted to him and his fellow envoys by the 
secretary-general. 
Han currently heads the Korea Water Forum, which works towards sustainable 
water management in Asia. He served previously in numerous high-level 
government posts, including Minister of Foreign Affairs, Deputy Prime 
Minister and Minister of Finance, Minister of Trade and Industry, Chief of 
Staff to the President and Korean Ambassador to the United States. 
Brundtland stressed that the envoys would make sure they would not cut 
across existing UN efforts to deal with climate change, but would use 
their influence and reach among national leaders to generate political 
momentum on the issue. 
Meanwhile, new ways of dealing with the problems created by climate change 
are expected to emerge from the meetings of two technical groups under the 
UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, UNFCCC, that opened parallel 12 
day sessions Monday at the Hotel Maritim in Bonn. 
In Bonn, UNFCCC Executive Secretary Yvo de Boer reflected on his first 
eight months in the job and urged a long-term global response to climate 
change. 
During the next 10 days, the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and 
Technological Advice will take up issues such as impacts, vulnerability 
and adaptation to climate change, the development and transfer of 
technologies, reducing emissions from deforestation in developing 
countries, and climate change mitigation. 
The Subsidiary Body for Implementation will consider national 
communications, the adverse effects of climate change, capacity building, 
compliance with the Kyoto Protocol, arrangements for intergovernmental 
meetings, the financial mechanism, including two funds - the Least 
Developed Countries Fund and Adaptation Fund. 
A Working Group to map the way forward after the Kyoto Protocol expires in 
2012 will meet from May 14 to 18 in Bonn. 
And a workshop on long-term cooperative action to address climate change 
by enhancing implementation of the UNFCCC will take place from May 16 and 
17, also in Bonn. 
The meeting participants will issue draft decisions that will be forwarded 
to the conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate 
Change and the conference of Parties to the Kyoto Protocol set for 
December in Bali, Indonesia.    

       
      

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