Media release: 30 January
2008
New Zealand climate
change expert Helen Plume has been elected
to chair an important scientific group under
the United Nation’s Framework Convention
on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
Helen, a senior member
of the Climate Change Policy team at the
Ministry for the Environment, will chair
the UNFCCC Subsidiary Body for Scientific
and Technological Advice (SBSTA) for the
next two years. This is the first time New
Zealand has held such a role.
“I’ve already worked
for several years as co-chair for various
SBSTA agenda items and earned a reputation
for getting things done. I’m delighted my
colleagues in Australia, Europe, Japan,
the US and others think I’m worthy to chair
this group,” said Helen.
Climate Change Minister
David Parker congratulated Helen on her
appointment, saying it was an honour that
recognised Ms Plume’s competence and dedication
to climate change issues.
“The hard work of officials
like Helen Plume has been instrumental in
building the reputation for leadership on
climate change that New Zealand holds in
the world today. Her appointment to this
senior role reflects her exceptional ability.”
SBSTA’s role is to provide
advice to the Conference of Parties under
the UNFCCC. Its agenda is broad, covering
areas such as adaptation to the impacts
of climate change, technology transfer,
deforestation, research, and methodologies
for greenhouse gas inventories.
Its work will include
issues referred from the work programme
coming out of the recent climate change
conference in Bali where delegates agreed
to launch a two-year process of formal negotiations
to strengthen international efforts to fight,
mitigate and adapt to the problem of climate
change.
Helen was one of a number
of government officials who attended the
Bali conference, and colleague Len Brown
chaired a session about improving access
to greenhouse gas data.
The Ministry for the
Environment’s Howard Larsen is New Zealand’s
representative on the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change, which won 2007’s
Nobel Peace Prize jointly with Al Gore.
