Prof. Najam Writes in Triple Crisis Blog: “Mr. Secretary General, Be Bold!”

Prof. Adil Najam, Director of the Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future and a contributor to the Triple Crisis blog wrote a new post titled “Selecting the New U.N. Climate Chief: Mr. Secretary General, Be Bold.”

Prof. Najam whose work focusses on global climate change policy and who also serves on the UN Committee on Development Policy commented on the current search for a new Executive Secretary of the Secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change (UNFCCC) especially in light of the Copenhagen negotiations (COP15) from last December.

Prof. Najam, argues that the Secretary General’s decision should be based on three principles: “First, choose a development person… Second, find a thought-leader… Finally, be bold.” Prof. Najam argues “The stakes are just too high to settle for a lowest-common-denominator candidate… there is an opportunity here for the Secretary General to send a real signal about the centrality of sustainable development to climate change as well as on global environmental governance. It would be a pity if this opportunity is missed.”

Read full text here.