Thaindian News

New York, Feb 19 (DPA) UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon Thursday regretfully accepted the resignation of the top official for the UN programme on fighting climate change and has begun the search for a replacement, a UN spokesperson said.
Yvo de Boer, the executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), announced his resignation from his headquarters in Bonn after informing Ban only Tuesday.

De Boer led UN negotiations for a new Kyoto Protocol in the past three years. But the climate change summit in Copenhagen in December failed to reach an agreement.

UN spokesperson Marie Okabe said Ban had taken note of de Boer’s decision to resign from his post effective July 1 and respected it “with regrets”.

“The secretary general would like to thank Mr de Boer for his strong commitment and professional support to the UNFCCC negotiations and for guiding the secretariat since 2006,” Okabe said.

She said Ban has embarked on the process of selecting a replacement, which will involve discussion with governments which are members of the UNFCCC.

De Boer’s resignation came three months after governments failed to adopt a new agreement to succeed the Kyoto Protocol, which will expire in 2012. The protocol dealt mostly with reduction of greenhouse gas emissions responsible for global warming.

Media reports recently denounced some UN findings about climate change that were not scientifically proven, including a prediction that glaciers on the Himalaya would melt in a few decades.

Janos Pasztor, the director of a climate change support team working under Ban’s direction, said de Boer’s departure is “not easy” on the UN. But he said there would be enough time to find a replacement to pick up the schedule for climate change talks this year.

One major meeting will take place in Mexico in November to continue negotiations for a Kyoto Protocol successor.

Pasztor said it would take “a few months” to find a replacement.