Marshall Islands Foreign Minister Tony deBrum was recognized as one of the eight power players at the global Climate Summit as it got underway last week in Paris.
In an article titled, “Meet the eight power players to watch at COP21,” Good Magazine named deBrum one of the “eight negotiators and diplomats who can make or break a deal” at Paris. “The figures themselves always represent something greater than the individual, and these names were chosen not just for their personalities, but for the country or convention or group of nation states they speak for.”
“Though the Maldives formally hold the chair of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), Tony deBrum of the Marshall Islands will likely be their strongest voice,” the magazine wrote. “DeBrum effectively secured the 2013 Majuro Declaration on Climate Change, bringing almost all Pacific Island nations into alignment on a consensus position. DeBrum has used diplomacy and lawsuits to battle for nuclear disarmament and climate action. He is loud, vocal, and passionate, and rallies climate justice activists at the COPs to push rich nations for a more fair and ambitious deal. DeBrum has called COP21 a ‘battle for survival’ for the many small island nations that are, every year, losing ground to rising seas.”
Joining deBrum in this list of eight key players at this week’s Climate Summit were French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, Luxembourg Minister for Environment Carole Dieschbourg who represents all 28 member states in the European Union at the climate negotiations, US Special Envoy for Climate Change Todd Stern, China’s lead delegate to the climate negotiations since 2007 Xie Zhenhua, Environment Minister of India Prakash Javadekar, Chair of the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) group,Giza Gaspar Martins who represents 48 of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable nations, and Christiana Figueres, who heads the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
Read more about the Paris Climate Summit in the December 11, 2015 edition of the Marshall Islands Journal.