Eritrea

Asmara, November 30 2011: A high-level delegation led by H.E. Mr. Tesfai Gebresellasie, Minister of Land, Water and Environment attended the Durban Conference on Climate Change. The other team members were, Mr. Mogos Woldeyohannes, Director General of the Department of Land, Mr. Tewelde Woldemichael, Director General of Marine Resources Development Department, Mr. Fikreyesus Ghilay, UNCCD Projects Coordinator and staff of the Ministry of Agriculture; Mr. Yoseph Admekom, Programme Specialist and ARR for UNDP’s Environment and Sustainable Development Unit (ESDU) UNDP, Mr. Isaac Habte, Programme Analyst in ESDU. These were joined by H.E. Excellency, Ambassador Salih Omer and his staff aid Mr. Tewolde from the Pretoria Eritrean Embassy office. UNDP-Eritrea Country Office thanks the Government of Eritrea for inviting to join the Eritrea delegation for the second time after Copenhagen.

The seventeenth session of the Conference of the Parties (COP) was opened at the International Convention Center (ICC) AND Exhibition Center in Durban, South Africa, on 28 November 2011. It was officially attended by the President of RSA, Mr. Jacob Zuma, who formally opened the 17th session of COP and the 7th session of the parties to Kyoto Protocol. The global conference was also attended by other leaders, high level dignitaries and more than 20,000 delegates from all over the World.

The United Nations Climate Change Conference, Durban 2011, delivered a breakthrough on the international community's response to climate change. In the second largest meeting of its kind, the negotiations advanced, in a balanced fashion, the implementation of the Convention and the Kyoto Protocol, the Bali Action Plan, and the Cancun Agreements. The outcomes included a decision by Parties to adopt a universal legal agreement on climate change as soon as possible, and no later than 2015. The President of COP17/CMP7 Maite Nkoana-Mashabane said: "What we have achieved in Durban will play a central role in saving tomorrow, today”.

The Government of Qatar has been unanimously selected to host the eighteenth session of the Conference of the Parties and the eighth session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol in Doha, Qatar, from 26 November to 7 December 2012.