Jean-Jacques Cornish

Bold initiatives expected on fifth anniversary of Paris Climate Agreement

French Ambassador Aurélien Lechevallier is calling for a repeat of the international stamina that brought about the Paris Climate Change Agreement five years ago.

The envoy was speaking at a reception marking the event and calling for a renewed international commitment to save the planet.

“The next year is going to be very important,” he said, “because  we will have to determine the next steps we must take to end the climate disruption.

“Last month was the hottest November in Europe ever.

“We are experiencing dramatic climatic events like fires, floods and hurricanes.

“We require collective effort to save the planet.

“We achieved this in Paris five years ago with 195 countries in the same room.

South Africa played a decisive role coordinating the African position,” said Lechevallier.

“We saw a new way of negotiating multilaterally with all the stakeholders joining the government representatives.

“We are hoping this spirit will be carried to the climate summit in Glasgow next year so the expectations of the planet can be met.”

British High Commissioner Nigel Casey said the light at the end of the tunnel of the COVID pandemic was seen this week with the first vaccines being administered in Britain.

The Glasgow climate summit is being designed to bring similar relief on financing, mitigating and adaptation on global warming

A virtual summit on Saturday, the fifth anniversary of the Paris agreement, will see the leader of 81 countries improve on their pledges to fight climate change.

The leaders of Kenya, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo are due to participate from Africa.

“Britain’s original undertaking was to achieve zero greenhouse gas emissions by the year 2050,” he said.

“We are now undertaking to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 68% by the year 2030.

“We are hoping that similar bold initiatives will be made by other participants in next years Glasgow summit. 

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Jean-Jacques Cornish is a journalist and broadcaster who has been involved in the media all his adult life.

Starting as a reporter on his hometown newspaper, he moved briefly to then Rhodesia before returning to South Africa to become a parliamentary correspondent with the South African Press Association. He was sent to London as Sapa’s London editor and also served as special correspondent to the United Nations. He joined the then Argus group in London as political correspondent.

Returning to South Africa after 12 years abroad, he was assistant editor on the Pretoria News for a decade before becoming editor of the Star and SA Times for five years.

Since 1999 he’s been an independent journalist writing and broadcasting – mainly about Africa – for Talk Radio 702 and 567 Cape
Talk, Radio France International, PressTV, Radio Live New Zealand, Business Day, Mail & Guardian, the BBC, Agence France Press,
Business in Africa, Leadership, India Today, the South African Institute for International Affairs and the Institute for Security Studies.

He has hosted current affairs talk shows on Talk Radio 702 and 567 Cape Talk. He appears as an African affairs pundit on SABC Africa and CNBC Africa.
He lectured in contemporary studies to journalism students at the Tshwane University of Technology and the University of Pretoria.

He speaks on African affairs to corporate and other audiences.
He has been officially invited as a journalist to more than 30 countries. He was the winner of the 2007 SADC award for radio journalism.

He’s been a member of the EISA team observing elections in Somaliland, Democratic Republic of Congo, Madagascar, Zimbabwe, Egypt and Tunsiai.

In October 2009 he headed a group of 39 African journalists to the 60th anniversary celebrations of the Peoples’ Republic of China.

In January 2010 he joined a rescue and paramedical team to earthquake struck Haiti.

He is immediate past president of the Alliance Francaise of Pretoria.

Jean-Jacques is a director of Giant Media. The company was given access to Nelson Mandela in his retirement years until 2009.
He is co-producer of the hour-long documentary Mandela at 90 that was broadcast on BBC in January 2009.