Can Africa Lead the UN's Climate Change Fight?
The next head of the UN process to tackle climate change should come from one of the world's poorest countries, which led an ambitious drive to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius in the new Paris deal, a leading expert has proposed.
With Christiana Figueres stepping down as executive secretary of the UN climate change convention in July, “it's time for the least developed countries to have a chance at that particular slot”, said Saleemul Huq, director of the Dhaka-based International Centre for Climate Change and Development.
He suggested Pa Ousman Jarju, Gambia's environment minister, or Youba Sokono, a Malian scientist and former coordinator of the African Climate Policy Centre, as possible candidates.
Turning the new agreement to curb climate change, negotiated at a December summit in France, into genuine action will be a tough and risky process, experts told a discussion in London on Monday.
http://www.iol.co.za/news/africa/can-africa-lead-climate-change-fight-1988415
Oxfam International