Monday 28 February 2011, 15:00 – 16:30, Room XVI of the Palais des Nations, Geneva, Switzerland.
Climate change is one of the greatest challenges of the 21st Century. These challenges pose both risks and opportunities for global societies. In order to mitigate these risks and maximise the respective opportunities, the UN climate change negotiations have become a crucial fora for international Parties to devise creative and viable solutions which are effective on a global scale. Essentially all governments must ensure that their greenhouse gas emissions are reduced, but how to do this whilst upholding and securing other government priorities like the economy, trade, development and human rights is the challenge that is in the hands of international diplomats and negotiators.
For some time, multilateral environmental negotiations have been held up by governments' complex and competing agendas, and multilateral consensus has been hard to find, such as at the UN Conference on Climate Change COP15 in Copenhagen, Denmark which took place in December 2009. However the climate change negotiations in Cancun, Mexico last December marked a turning point in the international climate change negotiation process.
In Cancun, Parties were able to agree upon a balanced outcome which made some important progress on areas such as climate finance, adaptation and mitigation commitments. We hence look forward to the continuation of this positive momentum throughout 2011, as we head towards COP17 which will take place in Durban, South Africa in December 2011.
The President of COP16, Her Excellency Ambassador Patricia Espinosa Cantellano, the Secretary of Foreign Relations of Mexico led delegates of the Parties to the UNFCCC to a successful outcome in Cancun, marking a dramatic step forward in the momentum of multilateral climate change negotiations post-COP15. President Espinosa will continue to work with Parties to achieve further progress on the Cancun agreements during her Presidency throughout 2011.
In this Open Dialogue event, President Espinosa will share her experiences and her views on what actions must be taken in the forthcoming months to ensure the continued success of the UN climate change negotiation process. Her Excellency Ambassador Espinosa will engage in an interactive discussion with the diplomatic community, after which she will respond to questions from the media.
This Open Dialogue event is organized by the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) in cooperation with Permanent Mission of Mexico to the United Nations in Geneva.
In order to attend this event, please register online at http://www.unitar.org/event/ccd.
For more information, please contact:
Ms. Akiko Perona, Communication and IT Support Section
United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR)
akiko.perona< at >unitar.org (please replace < at > with @)
You can also download a press release (PDF, 64 kb) on the event and a flyer.