Brussels - She has one of the toughest jobs in the world -
and to add to the challenge, not everyone agrees that someone needs to do it.
Christiana Figueres, in charge of steering debate at the
Durban climate summit which began on Monday, is remarkable for her ability to
keep the faith without appearing over-optimistic.
Since taking over from flamboyant Dutch diplomat Yvo de
Boer, who stepped down after talks in Copenhagen in 2009 collapsed in chaos,
Figueres has quietly shifted the focus to the practical and achievable.
De Boer was outspoken and charismatic, charming the press
with regular media updates and jokes about his big ears.
Elegant yet steely, Figueres' difference in style has been
reflected in her choice of imagery.
She opened her first summit as executive secretary of the
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change last year in Cancun,
Mexico, by invoking the ancient Jaguar goddess Ixchel - goddess of the moon, of
reason, creativity and weaving.
"May she inspire you, because today, you are gathered
in Cancun to weave together the elements of a solid response to climate change,
using both reason and creativity as your tools," she told the assembled
delegates.
"I am convinced that 20 years from now, we will admire
the policy tapestry that you have woven together and think back fondly to
Cancun and the inspiration of Ixchel."
Figueres' patient weaving is a complement to the work of the
rest of her family.
Her father Jose Figueres Ferrer was president of Costa Rica
three times and is considered the founder of modern democracy in the country.
Her brother Jose Maria Figueres was also president of Costa
Rica and has been credited with getting the nation on the path to sustainable
development. But he had to resign as head of the Geneva-based World Economic
Forum after confirming he took consulting service fees from telecommunications
firm Alcatel, although he said they had been legal.
Politics in the blood
Having politics in the blood has helped to make Figueres a
leader, say analysts in her native Costa Rica.
"Christiana has that capacity for leadership inherited
from her father," said Jorge Mora, director of the Costa Rica chapter of
Latin American social science institute FLACSO.
She also has wisdom. In the face of climate change deniers
and the international focus on short-term economic strife, Figueres has
refrained from rash claims about how quickly progress can be made.
Shortly after her appointment, Figueres told reporters she
did not believe the problem of climate change would be solved in her lifetime.
After the devastating blow of failing to agree a new deal in
Copenhagen, virtually all involved in the process shifted the rhetoric to
incremental progress pending an elusive global, legally binding treaty.
Cancun talks did not deliver a new accord to enforce action
once the first Kyoto Protocol commitment period expires at the end of 2012 and
almost no one thinks that Durban can.
But Cancun achieved agreement on targets that were not
adopted by consensus in Copenhagen.
Figueres worked effectively with Mexican Foreign Minister
Patricia Espinosa to win a deal to set up a Green Climate Fund to channel aid
to developing nations. Cancun also fixed a target of limiting global warming to
below 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial times.
Some see Figueres as marking a return to bureaucracy. Others
welcome her aptitude for the smaller steps as appropriate to our times.
"Christiana Figueres is a strong character, a canny
operator and an unusual combination of expertise gained from all sides of
climate policy and the carbon market as well," said a prominent
representative of the carbon trading market, one of the instruments created to
combat climate change. He asked not to be named.
Figueres is also well placed to heal the rift between
developed and developing nations on the climate issue in contrast to De Boer,
who was accused of deepening divisions by denouncing developed countries for
doing too little.
As representative of Costa Rica, a developing nation that
has set the ambitious goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2021, Figueres quietly
wins hearts and minds as she works the backrooms and corridors of international
debates.
"Christiana has a warmth and an ability to understand
where different delegations are coming from and that has made her
beloved," said Annie Petsonk, who has been attending the climate treaty
talks since the start.
"She is warm and open and invites that in other
people," said Petsonk, who is international counsel for US environmental
advocacy group the Environmental Defence Fund.