President Danilo Medina is in Paris to attend the 2015 Paris Climate Change Conference (COP21) organized by the United Nations. He left on a commercial flight on Saturday afternoon, 28 November 2015. The COP21 starts today, Monday, 30 November 2015 and discussions are scheduled to last through 11 December.
Medina will be taking part in the high-level side events as part of the climate change conference. He was scheduled to make a speech at 7am Dominican time today, Monday 30 November 2015. Speaking to journalists in France, Medina said that his speech in support of reducing the impact of global climate change would be symbolic, because the Dominican position had already been communicated.
Foreign Minister Andres Navarro, Minister of Environment Bautista Rojas Gomez, national climate change council executive vice president Omar Ramirez, administrative minister Jose Ramon Peralta, head of security Major General Adan Caceres and assistant Carlos Pared Perez are accompanying the President, along with the coordinator of the Social and Economic Council, Monsignor Agripino Collado, Nueva Barquita commission director Jose Miguel Gonzalez Cuadra, Sur Futuro Foundation president Melba Segura de Grullon and businessman Manuel Estrella.
The Presidency reports that the Dominican Republic is one of the countries that least contributes to climate change and has reduced its carbon dioxide emission from 3.13 to 2.9 tons per inhabitant. El Dia reports that despite the Dominican Republic’s carbon footprint being one of the lowest in the world, as an island nation, the DR is one of the countries most affected by and vulnerable to global climate change.
At the same time, however, the Medina government is funding the installation of two major coal-fired power plants in the southwestern province of Azua; the main measure the government has taken to reduce the current power deficit and high cost of electricity. The installation of the two power plants is being carried out alongside the reduction of tax incentives for renewable energy in 2012. More recently, the Medina government vetoed a consensus during Electricity Pact talks to reinstate these incentives. The renewable energy association says the decision represents a major setback towards achieving the targets for increasing renewable energy share in the energy matrix.
Nevertheless, during the conference, the Dominican Republic will pledge to reduce its carbon emissions by 25% by 2030.
The 21st session of the Conference of the Parties (COP) and the 11th session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP) is taking place in Paris from 30 November to 11 December 2015.
Also known as the 2015 Paris Climate Conference or COP21, the summit’s objective is to achieve a legally binding and universal agreement on climate for first time in over 20 years of UN negotiations, with the aim of keeping global warming below 2?C.
The Paris meeting follows on from the Rio, Kyoto and Copenhagen summits.
The conference is expected to attract close to 50,000 participants including 25,000 official delegates from governments, inter-governmental organizations, UN agencies, NGOs and civil society.
Read more:
Danilo sale hacia París; se consolidan aportes a medio ambiente
http://newsroom.unfccc.int/cop21parisinformationhub/
http://newsroom.unfccc.int/cop21parisinformationhub/cop-21cmp-11-information-hub-leaders-and-high-level-segment/#HighLevelEvents