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The discussion began with a question from the Federation of
Canadian Municipalities (FCM) as to whether Article 6 was designed or intended
to alter behaviour. FCM suggested that for the convention’s successful implementation
there is a need to address public awareness on the issue of climate change and
to enhance the impact of communication campaigns through the application of social
marketing techniques. Such techniques would facilitate the achievement of results
by increasing the awareness of climate change issues and would also to lead to
changes in behaviour to support solutions to deal with climate change.
FCM’s experience indicates that awareness raising efforts are
most successful when focused on adaptation and assessment but are more difficult
when addressing mitigation concerns. FCM found that working through professional
associations and identifying "heros" was a successful strategy. The
heros once identified, retained and supported, could educate the members of their
respective groups, i.e. engineer to engineer, lawyer to lawyer. Support from the
FCM facilitated opportunities to bring such groups together to discuss the issues
and their relevance to respective sectors.
Another lesson from FCM experience was educating the management
of public works’ projects about the concept of "risk management" given
that their decisions had implications for adaptation and mitigation.
FCM shared their interest to host a side event at Marrakech
to highlight their school programme which aims at the reduction of waste consumption
and energy use through means identified by students and subsequently monitored
and audited by them. The monetary savings thereby derived serve as an incentive
given they are returned to the school to make purchases deemed important by the
students. In future, this programme will be adapted for application to City Hall
and will call upon youth/students to monitor and audit results.
Belgium agreed with the comments made by the FCM and recommended
that efforts on education and climate change be co-ordinated. Regarding the reporting
of Article 6 activities within the national communications, Belgium suggested
a useful guideline for those drafting national communications would be to identify
where such activities are organized so that follow-up could take place. Parties
and in particular UN agencies producing information kits were urged to place an
"expiration date" on information. Reference was made to the UN Climate
Change Kit which continues to be published with information from the IPCC’s second
assessment report. Belgium also suggested that the discussions from current and
previous side events be included in the UNFCCC web site.
The co-chair from Malaysia, Mr. Kok Kee Chow, highlighted the
need to prepare public awareness campaigns distinguished by sector and by culture.
He mentioned that some cultures are not so much print oriented as they are music
or drama oriented. These considerations must be taken into account. He urged that
the IPCC assessment reports be popularized. While web sites are efficient and
effective he reminded that computers are not globally accessible, thus other media
suited to local circumstances must also be considered. The use of short advertisements
via cellular telephone was mentioned as an example of one non-conventional medium
through which public awareness messages could be delivered.
The UK Climate Impacts Programme, urged that public awareness
campaigns be action focused and be put into context so as not to lose impact.
The experience in the United Kingdom involved the establishment of a programme
to increase awareness among decision makers to deal with mitigation. At the national
level their experience suggests it is important to work through organizations
in order to disseminate information and to increase public awareness.
A representative from Eritrea suggested that current information
is technical and should be popularized and translated for use locally. In the
absence of completing this task it would be difficult to target the local public.
Another target audience is national policy makers who must be informed and convinced
that climate change become an issue for integration into national programmes.
The Argentine chapter of Friends of the Earth and the Climate
Action Network, reminded participants that a working group on climate awareness
has been active during the past three years lobbying for the Climate Awareness
Programme (CAP) developed by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP),
yet it remains unapproved. The need to report upon public participation within
the national communications was also raised.
The Ecologic Foundation of New Zealand urged that public awareness
activities be among the policy mix to deal with impacts and mitigation. The issue
of designing public awareness campaigns was also linked to capacity building priorities
and the scale of institution building. The Ecologic Foundation questioned whether
institutions were able to prepare such campaigns.
China urged on the need to target climate change public awareness
campaigns to specific sectors such as agriculture and water resources management.
An update on the status of the request made to SBSTA 12 to endorse a UN Climate
Change day was requested. UNFCCC responded that the document on Article 6 to be
presented at SBSTA 15 would propose a number of options.
Wrapping up the discussions Mr. Kok Kee Chow concluded what
is necessary is embodied in Article 6 on education training and public awareness.
The reaction to public awareness campaigns is among other things a function of
public participation. In developing adequate responses to the impact of climate
change an active public must play a role. Mechanisms to facilitate public participation
and changes in behaviour are needed. Through the exchange of experience, models
for public participation will be identified and can serve other countries who
may wish to adapt from existing experience. To sustain the interest and knowledge
of climate change calls for the integration of these issues into the educational
curricula, from the primary to tertiary levels. Education can also take place
through secondments of personnel between ministries so that capacity is developed
at various institutions. He concluded stating that Article 6 has not been discussed
comprehensively, however there is not a lack of information, rather what is lacking
are ways and means to share information and approaches. He urged for sharing experience
via the internet given the cost effectiveness of this means of communication in
comparison to other options. Finally, he reminded Parties that SBSTA 15 would
be the venue for a more intensive discussion on how best to implement Article
6.
Teresa Fogelberg concluded that in view of the news worthiness
of the recent climate change discussions in Bonn, the moment is here for maintaining
and sustaining a high profile for climate change on the global agenda.
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