On 30 November, Visiting Professor of the UN University Institute of Advanced Studies delivered a lecture. First, he said that unlike traditional diplomacy, multilateral diplomacy on global issues is a sophisticated pursuit of common interests of the entire humanity centering around the UN. Second, he reviewed the evolution of environmental governance since the 1992 Earth Summit by citing important regimes for international cooperation, such as those on climate change, biodiversity, desertification and marshlands. Third, he explained that global warming is one of the most serious issues of this century, which needs to be stabilized before too late. Noting that all countries, whether developed or developing, “share common but differentiated responsibility and respective capabilities,” he said that unless this basic principle is agreed at the current negotiations in Durban on climate change, an extension of the Kyoto Protocol would be ineffective and meaningless, as Japan, Russia and Canada rightly assert. (Yuna Kitamura)