President Zuma co-chairs the Panel with President Tarja Kaarina Halonen, the President of Finland.
The Panel has been tasked with focusing on climate change as a sustainable development challenge, addressing its three pillars, namely economic, social and environmental, as well related issues of food security, energy and poverty eradication.
The first meeting took place on 19 to 25 September in New York. The second meeting will take place on 24 to 25 February. The Panel is expected to conclude its work by the end of 2011.
The panel has been requested to address amongst other issues, mechanisms for putting a new development paradigm into practice, including any necessary adjustments to the institutional architecture and financing at the global and national levels.
Issues include the following amongst others:
- How to get to a low-carbon / green economy
- How to build resilient economies, especially for the most vulnerable
- How to eradicate poverty
- How to achieve sustainable modes of consumption and production
- How to manage carbon space in the atmosphere.
The Panel consists of 21 eminent persons, including former Heads of State/Government and Ministers, acting in their personal capacities.
They are:
- H.H. Sheikh Abdallah Bin Zayid Al Nahayan
Minister of Foreign Affairs of the United Arab Emirates - Hajiya Amina Az-Zubair,
Senior Special Assistant/Advisor to the President of Nigeria on MDGs - Ali Babacan,
Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey - James Lawrence Balsillie,
Co-CEO, Research in Motion, and Chair of the Board, Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI), Canada - Alexander Bedritsky,
Special Representative of the President of the Russian Federation on Climate, Aide to the President of the Russian Federation on Climate Change, President of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and former Head of the Russian Federal Service for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring - Gro Harlem Brundtland,
Former Prime Minister of Norway and former Chair of the World Commission on Environment and Development - Micheline Calmy-Rey,
Minister for Foreign Affairs of Switzerland - Julia Carabias,
Environmentalist and former Secretary of the Environment of Mexico, - Gunilla Carlsson,
Minister for International Development Cooperation of Sweden - Luisa Dias Diogo,
Member of Parliament and former Prime Minister of Mozambique - Han, Seung-soo,
Director of the Global Green Growth Institute and former Prime Minister of the Republic of Korea - Yukio Hatoyama,
Member of the House of Representatives and former Prime Minister of Japan - Connie Hedegaard,
EU Commissioner for Climate Action - Cristina Narbona Ruiz,
Spanish Ambassador to the OECD and former Minister of Environment of Spain - Jairam Ramesh,
Minister of Environment of India - Susan E. Rice,
United States Permanent Representative to the UN and member of the Cabinet of the President of theUnited States - Kevin Rudd,
Minister for Foreign Affairs of Australia - Izabella Teixeira
Minister for Environment, Brazil - Zheng, Guoguang,
Director of the China Meteorological Administration
Background information
The work of the Panel is closely related to work currently underway in three multilateral negotiation processes.
These include:
- International negotiations under the Commission for Sustainable Development (UNCSD), flowing from the 2002 Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), and in particular the preparatory meetings for the forthcoming UN Conference on Sustainable Development, also referred to "Rio plus 20”, scheduled for 2012 in Brazil.
- International negotiations under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and its Kyoto Protocol, with the 16th Conference of Parties (COP 16) having taken place in Cancun in December 2010 and the 17th Conference of Parties (COP 17) taking place in South Africa in 2011.
- International discussion and negotiation on International Environmental Governance, taking place under the auspices of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
In addition to the above processes, there are three established international panels, whose work is of direct relevance to the High Level Panel on Global Sustainability.
These are:
- The International Panel for Sustainable Resource Management, under the auspices of the United Nations Environment Programme, which was formed to provide independent scientific assessment on the environmental impacts of resource use.
- The UN Secretary General's Advisory Group on Finance for Climate Change, which was formed to study the objective of mobilising $100 billion a year by 2020 to support the financing needs of developing countries in the context of the package of measures on adaptation and mitigation described in the Copenhagen Accord.
- The UN Secretary Generals High-Level Millennium Development Goals (MDG) Advocacy Group, comprising 17 current and former political leaders, business people and thinkers from around the world
- The Rio plus 20 Conference will aim to secure renewed political commitment to sustainable development.
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Enquiries:
Zizi Kodwa
Cell: 082 330 4910
Issued by: The Presidency
