The efforts to combat climate change requires close cooperation from all countries, and South-South Cooperation can play a crucial role in helping developing countries strengthen such efforts, a senior UN official told Xinhua.

Climate change is not simply an environmental issue, it is also a problem concerning global development, Zhou Yiping, the UN secretary-general's envoy on South-South Cooperation, said in a recent interview with Xinhua, Zhou's first interview with the press here since he was appointed in May by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon as his envoy.

"To effectively address climate change not only requires reduced greenhouse gas emissions, but also demands efforts to adapt to the consequences of climate change," Zhou said. "This calls for close cooperation from all countries, and huge support in terms of fund, technical know-how and talents."

Developing countries are more vulnerable than developed nations when faced with climate change and its impact, poor people in the developing countries are even more vulnerable when hit by flood or droughts, a result of climate change, Zhou said.

"No single country can deal with climate change all by itself. Therefore, cooperation for development becomes more and more important in the world efforts to solve the problem of climate change."

Zhou said there are three types of cooperation for international development -- South-North Cooperation which means cooperation between developed countries and developing nations, South-South Cooperation which is about cooperation between developing countries, and the third is what he called Triangular Cooperation, which means cooperation between developing countries and developed nations, or between developing countries and international organizations.

Since December 2004, Zhou has been director of the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC), leading the world body's system-wide promotion and coordination of South-South cooperation in the global South.

"It is known to all that the traditional South-North Cooperation has been greatly affected by global financial crisis, that means developing countries can not rely solely on developed nations for development assistance," he said. "In this context, South-South Cooperation and Triangular Cooperation have become all the more important."

"However, it should be made very clear here that South-South Cooperation will not replace South-North Cooperation as climate change requires the world's joint efforts, it is only the supplement to South-North Cooperation and other forms of cooperation," he said.

South-South Cooperation is mainly characterized by the support of fund, goods, technology and sharing of best experiences in fighting climate change among developing countries, he said.

Fund and goods support comes from major developing countries, such as China, India, Brazil and other emerging markets, he said.

For example, he said, the Chinese government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with 12 developing countries, including Uganda, Burundi and Dominica, to donate materials and help them cope with climate change. It also hosted 28 training sessions for some 800 officials and technicians from 114 countries. A series of coordination and cooperation meetings already started with developing countries like Fiji and Nepal.

"This shows China's determination and efforts in tackling climate change and China really honors its commitment to be a responsible developing power in the world."

Thanks to their great efforts, Zhou said, China and several other major developing countries have become important producers and providers of low-carbon technology and technical know-how in the field of new energy.

China is leading the world in the field of solar energy technology while Brazil is one of the best in the bio-fuel technology, he said.

"Environmental protection technology and low-carbon goods from China are affordable but of high quality, and they are well received in many developing countries," he said. "In sharp contrast, such technologies and goods from the developed world are very expensive."

"I believe that with the deepening of South-South Cooperation, more and more developing countries will benefit from direct import or transfer of these cheaper but advanced technologies," he said.

Sharing best experiences in fighting climate change is also important, he said, quoting a Chinese saying -- "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime."

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