Ministers Flanagan and McHugh congratulate Mary Robinson on appointment as UN Special Envoy

The Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Charlie Flanagan T.D., and Minister of State for the Diaspora and Overseas Development Aid Joe McHugh T.D. have today congratulated Mary Robinson on her appointment by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to serve as the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on El Niño and Climate.

Minister Flanagan commented:

“I warmly welcome the appointment this week of Mary Robinson as the Special Envoy on El Niño and Climate. Former President Robinson is recognised as a world leader in advocating for climate justice and has played an important role in responding to the needs of the poorest and most vulnerable people in the world. Ireland looks forward to working closely with her in this important new capacity.

“The El Niño effect, caused by increased temperatures in the Pacific Ocean and made worse by changes in climate, has contributed to devastating droughts in East and Southern Africa and extreme weather events in other parts of the world. Millions of people are now dangerously food insecure due to changing weather patterns and we will continue to work closely with our UN and other international partners on addressing global hunger and climate adaptation.”

Minister of State McHugh added:

“I welcome this important appointment, and it was warmly welcomed at the World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul, where I represented the Government over the past two days. Irish Aid is committed to supporting the most vulnerable communities and the poorest people who are suffering from food shortages due to the worst effects of climate change. The appointment of Mary Robinson as the UN Special Envoy on El Niño and Climate highlights the need for an urgent global response.”

ENDS

Notes to Editor

• Further details on Mary Robinson’s appointment are available at http://www.un.org/press/en/2016/sga1660.doc.htm
• Irish Aid, the Irish Government's programme for overseas development at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, incorporates climate change priorities and supports partner governments and communities to become more resilient to and better prepared for the adverse effects of climate change. Irish Aid provides funding support to governments and particularly to communities in Irish Aid Key Partner Countries to become more prepared for the adverse effects of climate change. Priorities for assistance include: agricultural climate adaptation, natural resource management, agro forestry, social protection and water management. Further information on the work of Irish Aid and Environment and Climate Change can be found at: https://www.irishaid.ie/what-we-do/our-priority-areas/environment-and-climate-change/
• The Irish Aid Climate Change and Development Learning Platform is an online one-stop shop for information and tools on climate change. The Climate Learning Platform supports countries in designing sustainable learning to address climate change, with a particular focus on integrating climate change into development programming, adopting climate-smart technologies, and incorporating sustainable smallholder household energy systems. The Climate Learning Platform can be accessed at via https://www.irishaid.ie/news-publications/news/newsarchive/2015/december/irish-aid-climate-learning-plaform/