LAHORE: French ambassador to Pakistan Martine Dorance has said the French Embassy has been working in collaboration with the Pakistan government and the civil society to create COP21 momentum and raise awareness about climate change.

Ms Dorance was addressing the inaugural ceremony of the two-day conference titled ‘Pakistan to Paris’ (On the Road to 2015 Paris Climate Conference) organised by the World Wide Fund for Nature, The Embassy of France in Pakistan and civil society partners at the Alhamra Art Centre, The Mall, on Tuesday.

The ambassador said France would host and preside over the 21st session of the conference of the parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, also known as 2015 Paris Climate Conference. She said Pakistan was the most vulnerable country when it comes to climate change and had an important role to play and raise voice at the event, she added.

The conference would bring together 40,000 participants including country delegates, observers and civil society members to constitute the largest diplomatic event to be hosted by France and one of the largest climate conference ever organised.

The ambassador said one of the key features of the Paris conference would be the involvement of non-government actors, civil society and private sector of each member state of the UN. She urged that developed countries should also make financial commitment to the cause of climate change. France would listen to each country supporting the negotiating process.

Ambassador Designate of the EU Jean-Francois Cautain said 2015 is a crucial year for fighting climate change and “it’s binding on all of us to keep the globe temperature not more than two degrees Celsius”.

Published in Dawn, October 14th , 2015

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