28 February 2011. Geneva, Switzerland. Ambassador Patricia Espinosa, Secretary of Foreign Affairs of Mexico and the Chair of the conferences on climate change, COP16/CMP6, shared her vision of the future of the climate change response in an open dialogue with the Geneva-based diplomatic community, NGOs, and representatives of international organizations at the Palais des Nations. The event was jointly organized bythe Mexican Permanent Mission in Geneva and UNITAR, and co-chaired by Carlos Lopes, UNITAR Executive Director. While reflecting on the importance of pragmatic approach to the negotiations process, Ambassador Espinosa noted that “it was important that we managed the expectations” given “there was no single way out to solve the climate change problem once and for all”. Rather the international community should work towards common understanding to keep the climate change negotiating process going and complement it with far-reaching green growth measures.
Cancun was largely celebrated as the moment of the “revival of multilateralism” in environmental negotiations.Flexibility, political will, pragmatism, and ambition, were, in Ambassador Espinosa’s words, key to the success of the Mexican presidency. “Managing the expectations” is crucial as there is no single solution to the complex global challenges of our times, be it climate change or poverty. Openness and inclusivity with which the Cancun negotiations were conducted have been two other ingredients of success that are considered to be instrumental in bringing about a positive outcome.
The agreements that commanded a broad consensus at COP16, marked significant progress in a number of areas including climate finance, technology transfer, the reduction of emissions through reduced land degradation and forestry, adaptation and global mitigation commitments. The Mexican presidency has reaffirmed their commitment to work hard to promote the implementation of what has been agreed in Cancun including making operational the agreed mechanisms by the Durban conference as crucial to ensuring the credibility of multilateral negotiations, and sustaining the momentum. The planned informal consultations include a dialogue with civil society, private sector, academia and parliamentarians.
In addition to efforts aimed at reaching global consensus through the negotiating process, Ambassador Espinosa noted that “the solution to the climate change challenge is strongly linked to the development policies” and that “a real revolution” was needed in our modes of production and consumption to promote a green economy and sustainable development.
UNITAR is currently working to strengthen capacities of countries in the area of climate change diplomacy, most notably through supporting South African preparations for their prospective Presidency of the Conferences on climate change, COP17/CMP7. UNITAR was also invited by the Executive Secretary of the Secretariat for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Ms. Christiana Figueres, to work in Cancun to assist and support presiding officers in their common task of finding consensus amongst the often highly polarized Party positions.
Through its various programmes such as Climate Change Programme, Environmental Governance Programme, Multilateral Diplomacy Programme, UNITAR supports capacity building efforts of the UN member states in the climate change response area.
As a contribution to the collective efforts of the UN system to provide support for capacity development, UNITAR is also hosting UN CC:Learn, a partnership of 23 UN agencies, to deliver effective climate change learning through a One UN approach. One of the objectives of the initiative is to support countries in taking a strategic approach to human resource and skills development.
Related documents:
Remarks by Ambassador Espinosa (PDF, 41KB)
Presentation by Ambassador Espinosa (PDF, 564KB)
Speech by Mr. Carlos Lopes, UN Assistant Secretary-General, UNITAR Executive Director (PDF, 40KB)
Background information (PDF, 50KB)
Related links: Interview with Ambassador Espinosa