Improving awareness and understanding of climate change, and creating solutions to facilitate access to information on a changing climate are key to winning public support for climate related policies.

The UNFCCC, through its Article 6, and the Kyoto Protocol, through its Article 10 (e), call on governments to educate, empower and engage all stakeholders and major groups on policies relating to climate change.

In particular, Article 6 of the Convention, which addresses the issue of climate change related education, training and public awareness, is the main vehicle by means of which the Convention fosters action to develop and implement educational and training programmes on climate change.

Many governments and intergovernmental organizations are already working in partnership with civil society to fulfill the commitments in Article 6.  However, the scale of challenges posed by climate change requires an engagement on outreach activities of a greater magnitude.

To address the challenges of communicating, teaching, and learning about climate change, Parties adopted in November 2002 the New Delhi work programme on Article 6 of the Convention (decision 11/CP.8), a five-year country-driven work programme engaging all stakeholders in the implementation of Article 6 commitments and recommending a list of Article 6 related activities that could be undertaken at the national level.

The five-year mandate for the execution of the New Delhi work programme came to an end in 2007.  However, in December 2007 Parties recognized that this work programme had proved to be a good framework for action (FCCC/SBI/2007/34) and decided to adopt the amended New Delhi work programme (ANDWP) for a further five years (decision 9/CP.13), with a review of progress in the implementation for this work programme to be undertaken by 2012.
The ANDWP differs from its predecessor in the scope and implementation chapters. Within the scope of the new work programme, public awareness, public participation and public access to information are given more prominence than they had in the previous one. Within the list of Article 6 related activities that Parties could undertake, the ANDWP features also the preparation of a national Article 6 plan of action.  Another new area is related to actions leading to strengthening regional and international efforts in support to the implementation of Article 6.  

CC:iNet

COP 13 also assessed the usefulness and relevance of a Climate Change Information Network, a web portal known as CC:iNet which serves as a clearinghouse for information sources in support of Article 6 of the Convention and its implementation.  more>>

The full-scale version of CC:iNet was launched in October 2010 to enable visitors and registered users to make use of enhanced features, while concurrent testing and improvement is undertaken.

Among the provisions contained in decision 9/CP.13, a review of the implementation of the amended New Delhi work programme is to be undertaken in 2012.

As requested by the COP by its decision 7/CP.16, the SBI developed at its thirty-fourth session the terms of reference for the review, with a view to launching it at its thirty-sixth session.  Here (91 kB) are the conclusions adopted by the SBI.

A call for submissions is contained in the conclusions: the SBI invited Parties, relevant intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations, as well as relevant stakeholders, to submit to the secretariat, by 14 February 2012, information and views that may be relevant to the completion of the review of the amended New Delhi work programme.  The same entities are invited to submit to the secretariat, by the same date, their views on possible elements of a successor work programme on Article 6 of the Convention.

Amended New Delhi Work Programme: intermediate review

In 2010 an intermediate review of the amended New Delhi work programme was conducted to evaluate its effectiveness and identify emerging gaps. The following activities were undertaken in support of the intermediate review: 

• the organization of regional and subregional workshops on the implementation of Article 6 of the Convention to share lessons learned and best practices. More detailed information on regional workshops, including relevant documents and presentations is available here.
• the publication of a series of documents reporting and/or synthesizing available information on the extent of the implementation of the amended New Delhi work programme. You can view these documents, including the terms of reference for the intermediate review, in the table below. 
   

FCCC/SBI/2010/23	Report on essential needs for, potential gaps in, barriers to, and progress in the implementation of the amended New Delhi work programme. Note by the secretariat.
FCCC/SBI/2010/Misc.7	Activities to implement the amended New Delhi work programme under decision 9/CP.13. Submissions from Parties and relevant organizations
FCCC/SBI/2010/24	Report on the full-scale implementation of CC:iNet. Note by the secretariat.
FCCC/SBI/2010/22	Report on the regional workshop on the implementation of Article 6 of the Convention in small island developing States. Note by the secretariat.
FCCC/SBI/2010/19	Report on the regional workshop on the implementation of Article 6 of the Convention in Africa. Note by the secretariat.
FCCC/SBI/2010/9	Report on the regional workshop on the implementation of Article 6 in Latin America and the Caribbean.  Note by the secretariat
FCCC/SBI/2010/3	Report on the regional workshop on the implementation of Article 6 in Asia and the Pacific.  Note by the secretariat
FCCC/SBI/2010/2	Report on the regional workshop on the implementation of Article 6 in Europe.  Note by the secretariat
FCCC/SBI/2010/10, Annex III (82 kB)	Terms of reference for the intermediate review of progress in the implementation of the amended New Delhi work programme on Article 6 of the Convention

Completion of the intermediate review:  COP 16, Cancun, Mexico

On the basis of the documentation supporting the intermediate review, and the progress made by Parties, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations in implementing Article 6 of the Convention,  Parties identified further steps to enhance the implementation of the amended New Delhi work programme, which are contained in decision 7/CP.16 (111 kB) . 

last modified: 12 January 2012