Pretoria - President Jacob Zuma has been requested to serve as co-chair of the United Nations Second Panel on Climate Change Sustainability.
United Nations Secretary General Ban ki Moon made the request to Zuma to co-chair the panel which will have a special focus on climate change as a sustainable development challenge.
The three pillars of climate change - namely economic, social and environmental, will be addressed during the first meeting, which will be held between 19 and 25 September in New York, said the Presidency in a statement.
Zuma will chair the panel, together with Tarja Kaarina Halonen, the President of Finland.
The panel is also expected to focus on related issues of food security, energy and poverty eradication.
"We are honoured to serve, and view this assignment by the United Nations as recognition of the key role that the African continent should play in key international interventions and processes," said Zuma.
He added that South Africa's hosting of the Conference of the Parties 17 (COP17 Summit) in 2011, and the presence of Minister in the Presidency, Trevor Manuel in the High Level Advisory Group on Climate Finance, among others, showed South Africa's commitment to the goal of achieving sustainable development in the world.
