Last week, the United Nations chose Patricia Espinosa, a former Mexican foreign minister, as its climate chief from July. She has the highest-ranking diplomatic experience of anyone starting the job.
"There has been a shift to understand that climate change is not only an environmental challenge, it’s an economic, a social challenge and does require active engagement of almost every member of the cabinet," outgoing U.N. climate chief Christiana Figueres of Costa Rica told reporters.
Climate change has become a higher global priority and foreign ministers, usually among the most senior cabinet ministers, are well placed to coordinate action, said Figueres, previously a national negotiator and environmental expert.
Before Fabius chaired the Paris meeting, where almost 200 nations agreed a sweeping plan to end global dependence on fossil fuels to limit rising temperatures, environment ministers had been in charge of most of the U.N.'s annual climate talks since they started in the 1990s.
"Climate change has become a core issue for diplomacy," said Elliot Diringer of the U.S. Center for Environment and Energy Solutions, saying the long-term success of the Paris Agreement would hinge on diplomatic skills to persuade ever tougher action to restrict emissions.
Reflecting this trend, Moroccan Foreign Minister Salaheddine Mezouar attended the start of the Bonn talks, which are preparing a high-level conference in November in Marrakech on implementing the Paris Agreement.
Global warming "cannot be analyzed only from the silo of the environment ministry," said Tosi Mpanu-Mpanu of the Democratic Republic of Congo, who chairs a group of the 48 poorest nations at the Bonn meeting.
Mpanu-Mpanu said some environment ministers feel displaced from their area of expertise by foreign ministers. Some cope well with the new split but "in some countries it can create a lot of tensions," he said.
Espinosa, who was also in the vanguard by hosting U.N. climate talks in Mexico in 2010 as foreign minister, said "we need both" environmental experts to solve technical issues and diplomats to understand the politics.
In coming years, she will have to juggle issues ranging from developed nations' promises to provide $100 billion a year by 2020 to help developing nations cope with climate change, to some nations' worries that more extreme weather might trigger unrest or migration.
(Additional reporting by Susanna Twidale in Cologne; Editing by Tom Heneghan)
This post originally appeared on Reuters.
2nd Climate Diplomacy Week 2018 - Highlights
Climate Diplomacy Week is a perfect opportunity to highlight positive climate action, set new goals and engage more and new actors in the fight against the devastating impacts of climate change. Each year, the week has its own character. Climate Diplomacy Week 2018, from 24-30 September, was marked by action – throughout the world, civil society participated in inspiring educational activities and engaged the wider public in the climate cause.
Canada and EU add climate clause to trade pact
In a move that underscored Donald Trump’s isolation on trade and climate change, the two major economies inserted a reference to the Paris Agreement into Ceta.
Fourteen Latin American and Caribbean countries made history at the UN General Assembly on September 27 by signing the Escazú Agreement, a regional accord on public participation and access to information and justice in environmental affairs. It is the first region-wide agreement of its kind and has been touted a big step forward in recognising the rights of environmental defenders. Signatories now need to ratify the Agreement internally before it can enter into force.
Is SAARC prepared to combat climate change and its security risks?
Though India is now pushing for BIMSTEC, geography dictates that it cannot ignore SAARC. South Asia is extremely vulnerable to a range of climate impacts, ranging from shrinking glaciers and water scarcity to floods and rising sea levels. Responding to these risks is a complex task, also because often impacts affect more than one country and their severity exceeds the capacity of national governments. Climate change creates new challenges for regional organisations, and simultaneously increases their relevance.