United Nations: UN chief Ban Ki-moon has appointed a veteran Mexican diplomat as the head of the global body’s newly upgraded climate change office which last year oversaw the international negotiations, leading to a historic climate pact. Patricia Espinosa Cantellano, 57, was appointed the Executive Secretary of UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) by UN Secretary-General Ban.
Cantellano, who will succeed Christiana Figueres of Costa Rica, was chosen after consultation with the Conference of Parties to the Convention through its Bureau, Ban said in a statement released by his spokesperson.
Since 2013, Cantellano has been serving as Ambassador of Mexico to Germany. She has served as minister of foreign affairs of Mexico from 2006 to 2012 and has more than 30 years of experience at highest levels in international relations, specialising in climate change, global governance, sustainable development, gender equality and protection of human rights.
As Mexico’s representative on multilateral bodies and international organisations in Vienna, Geneva and New York, Cantellano has been engaged as a leader in the global challenge to address climate change and its consequences, notably as Chair of the 16th Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC leading to the adoption of the Cancun Agreements.
“Named by the UN Secretary-General to the High-Level Panel of Eminent Persons on the Post 2015 Development Agenda, she is a tireless supporter of multilateralism as a way to improve conditions for development in all regions of the world, understanding the inextricable link between the aims of the Paris Climate Agreementand the Sustainable Development Goals,” the statement added.
At the Paris climate conference (COP21) in December last year, 195 countries adopted the first-ever universal, legally binding global climate deal.
