Canada

Lead Tracker – Rosa Kouri

Rosa Kouri is a well known advocate on environmental issues, and was recognized by the World Conservation Union in 2007 as one of 25 women across the globe leading the fight against climate change. Rosa’s experience in youth leadership in climate change ranges from national campaigns to tracking policy on parliament hill to local projects with youth of all ages. Specific activities including being a founding member of the Canadian Youth Climate Coalition, serving as the National Director from 2005-2007 of Canada’s largest national youth environmental organization, the Sierra Youth Coalition; founding the Sustainable McGill Project at McGill University in 2004; and attending and coordinating youth delegations at the UN climate conferences in Montreal (2005), Bali (2007), and Poznan (2008). Her work will be profiled in the upcoming book Green Warriors by Lobster Press.

Rosa recently completed an MSc in Environmental Policy at the Oxford University Centre for the Environment. Rosa is originally from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, and has a Joint Honours BA in Economics and Political Science from McGill University. Her research at Oxford focused on unpacking Green Jobs and understanding the multiple perspectives on job creation in the transition to a low-carbon economy.

Meet the Delegation

Canada is lucky. We can send a large delegation to the meetings, while many countries can send only one or two government representatives – those lonely folks will end up completely overwhelmed by the negotiating circus. Canada’s delegation regularly compromises over 25 government representatives, ranging from the Chief of Staff at Environment Canada, the Director General and senior policy advisors on Climate Change, lawyers from the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, senior policy analysts from the Negotiations Division, and communications staff. The list of those officially attending is made public and accessible through the UNFCCC secretariat.

Leading them all, H.E. Mr. Michael Martin holds the title of Ambassador for Climate Change and Chief Negotiator at Environment Canada. A long-term diplomat, originally from Edmonton, Mr. Martin has been posted in Ottawa, Islamabad, Beijing and Tokyo, and is fluent in Mandarin and Japanese. He led the policy team when Canada previously hosted the G8.

Michael Martin is a political appointee, allowing him to speak more freely than many civil servants, and the title of Ambassador for climate change allows him to replace the Environment Minister and the Deputy Minister at the talks.

Like this feature in the Toronto Star attests, Mr. Martin’s job probably defines the word ‘diplomacy’, keeping up a good reputation for a country that continues to disappoint when it comes to climate change action. We know he is undoubtedly excellent at being accessible and meeting with various constituencies, and those of us at adoptanegotiator.org will continue to speak to him regularly, find out how the talks are going, and ask important questions.