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05/15/2024 11:52:33 pm

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UN Appoints Mary Robinson As Climate Change Envoy

Special Envoy of the Secretary-General to the Great Lakes Region Mary Robinson briefs journalists (September 2013). UN Photo/JC McIlwaine

Former Irish President Mary Robinson has been appointed by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon as his Special Envoy for Climate Change.

Ban commended Robinson for her work as Special Envoy for the Great Lakes Region of Africa, where she brought unity and international awareness to the challenges in the region.

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The appointment came before the 2014 Climate Summit, which the Secretary-General will be hosting on September 23 this year in New York.

"The Summit will be an important milestone to mobilize political commitment for the conclusion of a global agreement by 2015, as well as to spur enhanced action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and build climate-resilient communities," a statement from Ban's office said.

Ban said Robinsons will be engaging government leaders worldwide to "mobilize political will and action" to address issues of climate change.

Among the issues Robinson will be tackling, is the campaign to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and build climate-resilient communities.

According to the latest study of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released this year, global emissions of greenhouse gases have risen to unprecedented levels in a decade despite a growing number of policies to reduce climate change.

Robinson, who is also serving as President of the Mary Robinson Foundation-Climate Justice, will work closely with Special Envoys John Kufuor and Michael Bloomberg in her new role.

Also, Robinson praised Ban and said the UN chief's focus on climate change is their similarity.

She is the fourth climate envoy appointed by Ban in the past seven months, with Kufuor and Jens Stoltenberg, former Prime Minister of Norway, as the latest part of the envoy.

Robinson had served UN as its High Commissioner for Human Rights from 1997 to 2002.

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