DURBAN, Dec. 5, 2011 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- Ms. Renata Dessallien, UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative, joined Mr. Xie Zhenhua, Vice Chairman of National Development Reform Commission and Head of China Delegation to Durban, and Mr. Sun Lin, Director General, Department of Personnel for the NDRC, in discussing the creation of the National Climate Change Strategy Research and International Cooperation Center (NCSC) at an official side event of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Durban, South Africa. UNDP China views the recently established NCSC as a key avenue for joint collaborations in support of China’s climate change efforts.
Ms. Dessallien said that the creation of the centre is significant because it is the country’s first national level think tank on climate change; it has the ability to bring together the country’s best climate change scientists, researchers and analysts; it will provide important inputs into strategies for low-carbon development and on carbon markets and emissions trading schemes and it will contribute to thinking on how to develop a new international climate change regime.
"With the need to combat climate change becoming ever more urgent, these are tremendously important roles," she said.
The panel provided an opportunity for international and Chinese thought leaders to engage in an in-depth discussion on climate change efforts in China as well as highlight possible collaborations. UNDP has contributed considerably to energy and climate change efforts in the 11th Five-Year Plan (FYP) and will continue to play an important role in the current FYP through programmes and policy work.
The panel was moderated by Li Junfeng, Deputy Director General, ERI, NDRC and included Rajendra K. Pachauri, Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change; Martin Khor, Executive Director of the South Centre; Monique Barbut, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Global Environment Facility (GEF); Nicholas Stern, Professor of the London School of Economics and Political Science and He Jiankun, Professor of Tsinghua University.
"We know that China has achieved major successes in reducing energy intensity and introducing clean technologies, through systematic policy and regulatory reform and major investments in research and development during the 11th Five Year Plan," Ms. Dessallien said. "Yet, as recognised in China's 12th Five Year Plan and recent White Paper on Climate Change, there is much more to be done. The Centre will play a crucial role in this work."
The United Nations Climate Change Conference, Durban 2011, includes representatives of the world's governments, international organizations and civil society in an effort to advance the implementation of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, and its Kyoto Protocol, before the Kyoto Protocol expires on Dec 31, 2012.
