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2009-09-23 13:33:05 | Weblog
[Environment] from [scientificamerican.com]

[Greenwire > Society & Policy > Climatology]
September 22, 2009
Profile: Who Is Leading International Climate Change Talks?
Yvo de Boer went from parole officer in the Netherlands to international negotiator

By Darren Samuelsohn

CONTINUED FROM newssa2

Mohamed El-Ashry, former chairman of the Global Environment Fund, said de Boer has had to make some adjustments in going from being a Dutch negotiator to being someone who is responsible to many more bosses.

"Yvo learned quite a bit on the job, because he came representing one government," El-Ashry said. "He can provide proposals, but he cannot corral them to go with one proposal."

That job, El-Ashry noted, belongs to the president of the annual climate conference -- a rotating gig that this December falls to Denmark's Hedegaard.

De Boer acknowledged that he has brought a little bit of his previous job into the current role.

"I've been a player, and now I'm the servant," de Boer said. "It takes some practice to be a good servant -- to shut up. But at the same time, I think a good servant doesn't always shut up. A good servant can say, 'Do you really want to eat this again? Shouldn't you be having more vitamins in your diet?'"

De Boer's future atop the U.N. climate office is uncertain. He recently got a one-year extension on his term that allows him to serve into 2010. For that reason and many others, he hopes to get most of the work done in December.

"I see my role as sort of pushing this soft-buttocked elephant toward a result," de Boer said. "And I'd really like to see the elephant cross the finish line in Copenhagen."

Eventually, de Boer hopes to move away from the international climate scene to start a bed-and-breakfast with his wife in Eijsden, a small farming town near Belgium and Germany. "As an additional source of income," he said, "beyond Copenhagen."

Watch de Boer discuss U.S. action on climate change, Copenhagen meeting on E&ETV's OnPoint

With President Obama slated to address a special U.N. summit on climate change this week, will he successfully add momentum to the international climate negotiations? During today's OnPoint, Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, discusses his expectations for Obama's speech. He addresses concerns over the momentum of the international negotiations and explains how the Senate's actions on climate this year will affect the Copenhagen negotiations. Click here to watch the episode.

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