27 October 2010: Erik Solheim, Norway’s Minister of the Environment and International Development, gave the UN University (UNU) 2010 Fridtjof Nansen Memorial Lecture on “Climate change and loss of nature’s diversity: new actions and alliances in response to global challenges,” on 27 October 2010, in Tokyo, Japan.

The lecture focused on climate change and possible elements of a future climate change regime, including the current status of negotiations in the lead-up to the 16th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 16) to the UNFCCC, which will held in Cancun, Mexico, at the end of 2010.

Solheim also highlighted the new and promising approaches to reducing carbon dioxide emissions, and underscored the linkages between nature diversity and climate change. He noted that the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference failed not due to a lack of scientific evidence of climate change, but to a lack of understanding on how to strike an agreement in a multipolar world. He indicated that the new economic powers, open and shifting patterns of trade relations, and the expanding global middle class are changing the dynamics on how global challenges are addressed. [UNU Lecture Webcast]