South African Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Ms. Nkoana-Mashabane, has announced the appointment of Mr. Zaheer Fakir (South Africa) and Mr. Georg Børsting (Norway) as co-Chairs of a work programme on long-term climate finance.

"Technology is vital for developing countries to both curb their emissions and to build more climate-resilient societies," said Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC. "This meeting is an important next step towards ensuring that the Mechanism becomes fully operational this year and begins delivering concrete results”.

The Durban Platform for Enhanced Action, the key outcome of the 17th Conference of Parties (COP17) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in December 2011, has been dubbed by many as the platform for inaction, with the decision to find agreement by 2015 being seen as the agreement to disagree at a later date.

All eyes are on South Africa this year. COP17 is upon us and the world is hoping for global agreement and participation in order to stop the undeniable effects of global warming.