United Nations General Assembly 61st session
President

Informal Thematic Debate
Climate Change as a Global Challenge

United Nations General Assembly President Sheikha Haya Al Khalifa will convene on 31 July and 1 August 2007, at UN Headquarters in New York, an informal thematic debate "Climate Change as a Global Challenge".

Two interactive panel discussions will take place on 31 July in Trusteeship Council Chamber:
Climate Change: the Science, the Impact and the Adaptation Imperative
Mitigation Strategies in the context of Sustainable Development
Information about the Panelists as well as PowerPoint Presentations are available here.

On 1 August there will be a discussion open to all in which Member States will make statements about their national strategies and international commitments to address climate change.

Carbon Neutral
The thematic debate on climate change is carbon neutral. Over the two day period, the entire carbon dioxide emissions of the United Nations Headquarters and the emissions from air travel to bring experts to the debate, have been off-set. This was achieved by investing in a biomass fuel project in Kenya, also creating new economic opportunities for local farmers. Further detail on how this was achieved can be found on the information note.

PROGRAMME - PANELISTS, BIOS, AND PRESENTATIONS

• PROGRAMME
  This page contains information about the Panelists and Special Guests as well as links to PowerPoint Presentations.
  
  

STATEMENTS

• STATEMENTS BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY, UN ORGANIZATIONS, MEMBER STATES, OBSERVERS, AND NGOs
  
  

NATIONAL STRATEGIES

• NATIONAL STRATEGIES ON CLIMATE CHANGE
  
  

WEBCASTS

Webcasts are in RealPlayer format. If your machine does not have RealPlayer, you may download it for free here.

• 31 July 2007 - AM Session
  Opening Remarks by the President of the General Assembly and the Secretary-General and
  Panel 1: Climate Change: the Science, the Impact and the Adaptation Imperative.
  [English] 2 hours and 53 minutes
  [Original Language] 2 hours and 53 minutes
  
  
• 31 July 2007 - Noon Press Conference
  Sir Nicholas Stern, of the London School of Economics; Jim Rogers, Chairman and CEO of Duke Energy; and Sunita Narain, writer and environmental campaigner based in India brief on the way forward in addressing climate change.
  [English] 54 minutes
  
  
• 31 July 2007 - PM Session
  Panel 2: Mitigation Strategies in the context of Sustainable Development.
  [English] 3 hours and 16 minutes
  
  
• 1 August 2007 - AM Session
  Informal thematic debate of the General Assembly, entitled "Climate change as a global challenge".
  [English] 2 hours and 55 minutes
  [Original Language] 2 hours and 55 minutes
  
  
• 1 August 2007 - PM Session
  Informal thematic debate of the General Assembly, entitled "Climate change as a global challenge".
  [English] 3 hours and 6 minutes
  [Original Language] 3 hours and 6 minutes
  
  
• 2 August 2007 - AM Session
  Informal thematic debate of the General Assembly, entitled "Climate change as a global challenge".
  [English] 3 hours and 39 minutes
  [Original Language] 3 hours and 39 minutes
  
  

NEWS

• 'Carbon Neutral' General Assembly Debate to Link Growing Scientific Consensus on Climate Change with National Action
  
  
• Climate deal talks gain global support
  
  
• General Assembly needs extra day for first climate change meeting because worried nations wanted to speak
  
  
• Decisive global action needed to combat climate change, say top UN officials
  
  
• UN climate debate tries to kick-start new treaty
  
  
• In first plenary on climate change, General Assembly to seek speedy action
  
  
• U.N. climate change meeting aims at rich countries
  
  
• UN General Assembly to hold informal debate on climate change
  
  

DOCUMENTS

• BACKGROUND DOCUMENT [PDF]
  
  
• INFORMAL SUMMARY OF INFORMAL THEMATIC DEBATE: CLIMATE CHANGE AS A GLOBAL CHALLENGE [PDF]
  
  

LETTERS

• LETTER TO ALL PERMANENT MISSIONS AND PERMANENT OBSERVERS TO THE UNITED NATIONS NEW YORK [PDF] Regarding the informal thematic debate "Climate Change as a Global Challenge" and including the INFORMAL SUMMARY [PDF].
  27 AUGUST 2007
  
  
• LETTER TO ALL PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVES AND PERMANENT OBSERVERS TO THE UNITED NATIONS NEW YORK [PDF] Regarding the informal thematic debate "Climate Change as a Global Challenge" including a BACKGROUND DOCUMENT [PDF] and PROGRAMME [PDF].
  9 JULY 2007
  
  
• LETTER TO ALL PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVES AND PERMANENT OBSERVERS TO THE UNITED NATIONS NEW YORK [PDF] Regarding the thematic debate on Climate Change.
  9 JUNE 2007
  
  
• LETTER TO ALL PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVES AND PERMANENT OBSERVERS TO THE UNITED NATIONS NEW YORK [PDF] Regarding a thematic debate on "Climate Change as a global challenge" and LETTER REQUESTING A THEMATIC DEBATE FROM REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ASEAN NEW YORK COMMITTEE AND THE EUROPEAN UNION [PDF].
  24 MAY 2007