IFAD’s President Lennart Båge in his capacity as Chairperson of the UN CEB High Level Committee on Programmes convened on 29 June 2007 at IFAD HQ, a meeting of Executive Heads and Senior Representatives of a number of United Nations Agencies on the theme of climate change.

This meeting was convened in response to the request by the Secretary General, Mr. Ban Ki-moon, to Mr. Båge to help prepare the CEB’s consideration of climate change at its session in October. This CEB process seeks to mobilize the very wide range of capacities in the UN system in order to help member states, especially developing countries, respond to the challenge posed by climate change.

The June 29 meeting will be followed up by further consultations among the member agencies to prepare a report for CEB on four critical aspects of climate change – mitigation, adaptation, technology and finance in order to reinforce the collective impact of the UN system in these areas.

The CEB initiative will also provide inputs to the Secretary-General for the inter-governmental discussions on climate change later this year, notably at the high-level event at the United Nations in September and at the Conference of Parties of the UNFCCC to be held in Indonesia in December.