Figueres tipped as favourite for top UN climate job

Costa Rican climate change diplomat Christiana Figueres has reportedly overtaken former South African environment minister Marthinus Van Schalkwyk as the frontrunner for the job of the UN's top climate change official, with her appointment expected to be confirmed within the coming days.

According to reports from news agency Reuters citing sources close to the selection process, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has chosen to back Figueres' nomination as the replacement for outgoing head of the UN climate change secretariat Yvo de Boer.

He is expected to confirm his decision at a meeting of key climate change negotiators in Bonn later today.

An unnamed official said Ban would then aim to formally announce Figueres' appointment later this week, assuming that there were no strong objections at the meeting of senior negotiators.

"The Secretary-General has basically made a decision and it's just a courtesy to inform the Bureau," the source said. "She's well liked and a competent negotiator… If they wanted a technical bureaucrat, she's probably as good as you'll get."

Figueres has been part of Costa Rica's negotiating team since 1995 and has been a central figure in the long-running negotiations for much of the past decade.

Costa Rica has also emerged as one of the dominant voices among developing countries at the negotiations, having made a high-profile pledge to become one of the world's first carbon neutral economies by 2021, and acted as a vocal campaigner for reforms to forestry protection.

If appointed, Figueres will face a daunting task rebuilding relationships between developed and developing countries ahead of this year's main UN climate summit in Cancun, Mexico.

Few commentators expect a binding agreement to be delivered in Mexico following the disappointment that marred the Copenhagen Summit last year. However, substantial progress will have to be made towards a deal that can be formally agreed at the 2011 summit in South Africa.

Figueres will have to guide the negotiations past numerous stumbling blocks, including whether to extend or replace the existing Kyoto Agreement, how to ensure adequate climate funding is made available to poorer nations, and how to break the deadlock over proposed emission targets for emerging economies.

The search for a replacement for De Boer boiled down to a two-horse race between Figueres and South African tourism minister Van Schalkwyk after most countries agreed that the next head of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) should come from a developing country.