UN Selects New Climate Chief

On May 17, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon appointed Christiana Figueres as the UN’s new climate chief. She will replace Yvo de Boer as the Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in July, five months before 193 nations convene in Cancun, Mexico, to discuss a new global treaty to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. "(Ms.) Figueres is an international leader on strategies to address global climate change and brings to this position a passion for the issue, deep knowledge of the stakeholders, and valuable hands-on experience with the public sector, non-profit sector and private sector," said UN spokesman Martin Nesirky. Figueres has been a member of Costa Rica's negotiating team on climate change since 1995 and is the daughter the nation’s former president.

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