Counter Climate Change Vulnerability

The seminar gathered UN representatives from some of the poorest and most vulnerable countries in the world for a conversation on “obligations and opportunities in implementing a post-2012 agreement on climate.

The seminar gave the participants a forum to gain up-dated and relevant knowledge, to help them further develop well-informed positions in forthcoming climate change and development negotiations. About 75 people joined the afternoon conversation, which was organized by the Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation, together with the Office of the High Representative for Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Development Countries and Small Island Developing States (UN-OHRLLS) and the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS). Henning Melber, Executive Director of the Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation, introduced the afternoon. Speakers included Mr Cheick Sidi Diara, Under-Secretary General of the UN, Janos Pasztor, Director of the UN Secretary-General’s Climate Change Support Team, Ambassador Dessima Williams of the Grenada (and chair of AOSIS) and Dr. Saleemul Huq, Director of the Climate Change Program at the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED).

The afternoon was a reflective and thought-provoking conversation about the wider implications of the climate challenge. It included a sober assessment of the outlook for successful negotiations in Copenhagen at COP15. Also, it proved to be a very useful event in the preparations for the Summit on Climate Change on 22 September 2009 at the UN Headquarters.

In the photo
From left: Janos Pasztor, Bo Ekman, Henning Melber and Cheick Sidi Diara (Photo: Magnus Lennartsson)