Tourism minister in finals for top UN climate change position

Shortlist for UN climate chief down to two: diplomat



It isn't necessarily good news when an individual who lists "Minister of Tourism" on his resume becomes one of the two final candidates for the UN's climate change office, replacing Yvo de Boer. Now, this individual, Marthinus van Schalkwyk, was also South Africa's environment minister from 2004 to 2009. So he isn't unqualified; in fact, he pretty much is qualified. But given the penchant for the IPCC to jet off to farflung pretty places around the world (Bali, Copenhagen, Venice, Geneva, Bangkok, Valencia), putting a tourism minister in that position invites sarcasm and derision, especially from the deniers. That doesn't mean I favor van Schalkwyk under the other candidate, Christiana Figueres of Costa Rica. I'm just sayin', if van Schalkwyk gets it, watch out for the brickbats.

Backgrounds:

Marthinus van Schalkwyk

Christiana Figueres has her own Web site.

Christiana Figueres

She's also a Hero of the Planet. There aren't many people who can list THAT on
their resume. And there's an interesting thing here: she's even got kids. Since the climate change issue is about the next (and next after that) generation, that gives her some gravitas.

Christina Figueres Interview