UCC’s Centre for Global Development will host a public lecture titled “Climate Justice Post Durban” by Mary Robinson as part of the CGD’s Global Challenges Lecture Series on Wednesday, January 18th 2012, 6.00-7.30pm, Boole IV Lecture Theatre.
COP 17, the most recent climate summit took place in Durban in December 2011. Mary Robinson and her team from the Mary Robinson Foundation – Climate Justice (MRFCJ) attended the COP and in this public lecture Ms Robinson will explore the outcomes of the conference from a climate justice perspective and the extent to which it addressed the needs of those most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. She will also discuss the prospects for future action and the imperative for global leadership.
Speaking after the recent UNFCCC negotiations in Durban, South Africa, Mary Robinson said: “COP17 reached agreement on a roadmap towards a new legal instrument that encompasses all countries as opposed to a voluntary mechanism. The fact that the Durban Platform deal has a target of 2015 is, at last, recognition of the urgency of the issue facing us. Now, we must ensure that the necessary political will is mobilised to meet this deadline and to increase the ambition of emissions reductions targets in order to protect the most vulnerable people whose most basic rights to food, water and health are undermined by the impacts of climate change.”
Mary Robinson is President of the Mary Robinson Foundation – Climate Justice. She served as President of Ireland from 1990-1997 and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights from 1997-2002. She is a member of the Elders and the Club of Madrid and the recipient of numerous honours and awards including the Presidential Medal of Freedom from the President of the United States Barack Obama.
A former President of the International Commission of Jurists and former chair of the Council of Women World Leaders she was President and founder of Realizing Rights: The Ethical Globalization Initiative from 2002-2010.
Mary Robinson serves as Honorary President of Oxfam International and Chair of Board of the Institute of Human Rights and Business in addition to being a board member of several organisations including the Mo Ibrahim Foundation and the European Climate Foundation. Mary is the Chancellor of the University of Dublin since 1998.
The lecture will take place at 6pm in Boole IV Lecture Theatre, UCC. Members of the public are invited to attend and admission is free.
Picture: Ms Mary Robinson
