UN chief to attend Cancun conference on climate change

UNITED NATIONS, Dec. 6 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Ban Ki- moon will leave for Cancun, Mexico, on Tuesday to attend the UN climate change conference, UN spokesman Martin Nesirky said here Monday.

The secretary-general "will address the high-level segment of the climate change conference," Nesirky said.

This weekend two draft decisions for adoption in the final plenary of the conference on Dec. 10 were put forward, Nesirky said.

The draft decisions included decisions on continued strengthened support to developing countries' efforts in adaptation and mitigation, including concrete technology transfer projects, he noted.

Countries also agreed to strengthen education training and public awareness on climate change through increased funding and to engage civil society more strongly in decision making and the UN climate change process.

"This underlined the commitment of the negotiations to remain open, transparent and engaged," the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)'s executive secretary Christiana Figueres said, and noted that "faster and more effective action on climate change requires governments to welcome the fresh ideas and active participation of all sides of civil society."

The UN climate change conference, which entered its second week on Monday, is scheduled to end on Dec. 10.