The Centre for Policy Research is delighted to invite you to a panel discussion on the Cancun Climate Agreements led by Ambassadors Shyam Saran and Chandrashekar Dasgupta, and Lavanya Rajamani, on the 21st of January 2011. This seminar is part of CPR’s Climate Initiative as well as its International Law Seminar Series.The Cancun Climate Agreements reached by states at COP-16, Cancun, 11 December 2010 launch, in the words of the Mexican hosts, “a new era of climate change cooperation.” This panel discussion will focus on:
- the advances, real and perceived, in the Cancun Agreements
- the extent to which the Cancun Agreements address the “deal breakers” on the table i.e. issues relating to legal form and architecture of the emerging climate regime; differentiation between developed and developing countries; and the future of the Kyoto Protocol, and
- the challenges that line the road to COP-17, Durban, 2011
Speakers’ BiographiesAmbassador Shyam Saran is a Senior Fellow at the Centre for Policy Research. He was, until recently, the Prime Minister’s Special Envoy on Climate Change and on the India-US Nuclear Deal. He is a former Foreign Secretary to the Government of India. A seasoned diplomat, Ambassador Saran has headed Indian missions in Mauritius, Myanmar, Indonesia, and Nepal. He is one of the principal architects of India’s National Action Plan on Climate Change, as well as India’s foreign policy on climate change in the lead-up to Copenhagen.Ambassador Chandrashekhar Dasgupta was an Indian Foreign Service officer from 1962 to till his retirement in 2000. Among other posts, he served as Ambassador to the European Union (1996–2000) and as Ambassador to China (1993–1996). Ambassador Dasgupta is presently a Member of PM’s Council on Climate Change; Distinguished Fellow at TERI; Member of the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; and Co-Chair of the India – EU Round Table. Recently he served as Chairperson of the China Task Force. He is the author of War and Diplomacy in Kashmir, 1947–48, and numerous essays and articles on international affairs and global environmental issues. Dasgupta is recipient of Padma Bhushan. Ambassador Dasgupta is one of the principal architects of India’s position on climate change. Lavanya Rajamani is a Professor at the Centre for Policy Research. She was previously a University Lecturer in Environmental Law, and Fellow & Director of Studies in Law at Queens’ College, Cambridge. She writes, teaches and advises on international environmental law, in particular international climate change law and policy. She is the Rapporteur for the International Law Association’s Committee on Legal Principles Relating to Climate Change. She has worked on and followed the climate negotiations since 1997, in different capacities, including as a negotiator for the Alliance of Small Island States, and as legal advisor to the Chair of the Ad Hoc Working Group on Long term Cooperative Action under the FCCC in the lead up to the Copenhagen Climate Conference, to the UNFCCC Secretariat, and various governments. She attended the Cancun climate negotiations as an advisor to the UNFCCC. Her full biographical details are available at<:http://www.cprindia.org/users/lavanya-rajamani>. We do hope you will be able to join us for what promises to be a stimulating discussion. We look forward to welcoming you to CPR.
