I haven't been keeping very close tabs on this, but apparently new(ish) UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon -- who is determined to make climate change a priority -- has named three Special Envoys for Climate Change. What's a Special Envoy, you ask? Good question. I searched in vain for answers, and all I found is this:

The Special Envoys will solicit the views of national leaders, including those who are key actors in the climate change negotiations. "The work of the Special Envoys will assist the Secretary-General in his consultations with Governments and other key stakeholders on how he might facilitate progress in the multilateral climate change negotiations within the UN," the spokesperson said.

OK then! I think the idea is that the envoys will suss out how to get a post-Kyoto agreement in 2012. The worry is that countries are all over the place on this, and there's a real danger that there will be nothing ready when Kyoto lapses.

Speaking of UN climate stuff, Amy Goodman's Democracy Now! has an interview with one of the aforementioned UN Climate Envoys (and Norway's first female Prime Minister) Gro Harlem Brundtland. Good stuff.

If you are interested in this and other UN-related matters, check out UN Dispatch, an extremely informative new(ish) blog edited by Peter Daou.