UN Assistant Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction, Margareta Wahlström, arrived in Mexico City yesterday on an official three-day visit, expressing high expectations for the UN Climate Change Conference to take place in December in Cancun. Ms. Wahlström said that failures in previous negotiations can be overcome at the Mexico summit and urged Mexico to take a leading role in bridging the gap between developing countries and the developed world: “In Cancun, we will need to focus on the positive steps that have been taken, more than on the divide between rich and poor countries.”
Wahlström, who also encouraged the inclusion of natural disasters in the climate change discussions, noted that 75 percent of climate and seismic-related disasters affect developing countries and that changes in attitudes and norms worldwide, by both governments and individuals, will be necessary to overcome such disasters in the future.
The visit will include meetings with Secretary of Foreign Affairs Patricia Espinosa and numerous officials from the government of Mexico City, and representatives from civil society organizations.
