United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced the appointments of Mary Robinson of Ireland and Macharia Kamau of Kenya as his Special Envoys on El Niño and Climate. This year’s El Niño is taking place in a world already dramatically affected by climate change.  More extreme weather events are expected in the future, and these hit the poorest communities — those least responsible for climate change — first and hardest.  Aid is not enough; a longer term approach is required in order to build the resilience of the most vulnerable.

Ms. Robinson is currently President of the Mary Robinson Foundation — Climate Justice.  She was the President of Ireland and previously served as the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.  She has also served as Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for the Great Lakes Region and as Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Climate Change with John Kuofor and Michael Bloomberg.

Mr. Kamau is the Permanent Representative of Kenya to the United Nations.  He is a former President of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Board; former Co-Chair of the General Assembly Working Group on the Sustainable Development Goals; and has had a long and distinguished career in the service of the United Nations, including with United Nations Children’s Fund and the United Nations Development Programme.