South Africa’s National Planning Commission Minister Trevor Manuel has been appointed to the transitional committee responsible for the design of the Green Climate Fund, which would be established under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) as agreed at the 16th Conference of the Parties in Cancun in 2010.

He was one of 40 international representatives on the committee, which would have its first meeting in Mexico City on Thursday and Friday April 28, and 29.

The transitional committee members would be responsible for designing the Green Climate Fund - a new institution, which would manage long-term finance mobilised to enable developing countries to address climate change.

They would prepare operational specifications for the fund in time for approval by the next UNFCCC Climate Conference in Durban, in December.

“The high level of interest among governments in contributing to the design process is a demonstration of the great interest among parties in the Green Climate Fund. Parties have put forward experienced and respected individuals from the fields of finance and climate change,” said UNFCCC executive secretary Christiana Figueres.

The meeting in Mexico City would be open to observers, and the proceedings would be webcast on the UNFCCC website.

The Green Fund was being launched in the broad context of long-term financial support agreed at Cancun, where industrialised countries committed to a goal of mobilising $100-billion a year by 2020. These funds would be raised from a mix of public and private sources and directly linked mitigation actions and transparency on implementation.

The Green Climate Fund was one of a number of new institutions, which Cancun agreed to launch to speed up international action. Others included a Technology Mechanism to spur deployment of clean technologies, and an Adaptation Framework to boost international cooperation assisting developing countries to protect themselves from the impacts of climate change.