Article 6(a) (iii) of the Convention suggests the promotion at the national level and in  accordance with the respective national capacities of  "public participation in addressing climate change and its effects and developing adequate responses."

Public participation refers to the process by which the public, decision makers and affected or stakeholder groups share their knowledge, experience and opinions in order to develop decisions, plans and policies.  It is a two-way communication process by which the public or stakeholder groups become involved in order to deal with conditions that affect them directly and in order to make a difference in the  implementation of the Convention at the community and national levels.

The following selections have been brought together in the interest of facilitating an  understanding of why public participation is critical in addressing climate change and its effects and how it may be done. The linkages  in the "training resources" option were selected as they give an overall understanding of the public participation frameworks related to environmental issues and in particular suggest tools to put together  public participation mechanisms. The "case studies and approaches" option directs users to actual experiences applying public participation to environmental  problems and specifically to climate change as noted in the selections from Canada and the United Kingdom.  The selections under the "links" option are multi-purpose but relate to public participation and environmental themes. The selections provided are not exhaustive and your inputs are welcome.

Should you wish to share your experience as a case study or to highlight a public participation mechanism or your approach  in addressing climate change issues, again we welcome your input. Please contact: Lisa Moreau (lmoreau@unfccc.int).

Training Resources (Modules/Guides/Manuals)

International

• United Nations Economic Commission For Europe, The Aarhus Convention: An Implementation Guide (Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters)
• Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe (REC) Public Participation Training Project, Awakening Participation: Building Capacity for Public Participation in Environmental Decisionmaking
• The IAP2 Public Participation Spectrum if you have trouble going to this site, access home page and select "Practitioner's Tools" and then select IAP2 Public Participation Spectrum

  
  Private/NGO

• World Resources Institute, Visioning a Sustainable Community - How to conduct a visionary exercise
•  Integrated Resource Planning Committee, Government of British Columbia (Canada), Public Participation in Land and Resource Management Planning (LRMP) -- Instructors Guide (purchase basis)
• Conner Development Services Ltd. (Canada), Public Participation Around the World (some free, some purchase basis, including internet tutorial, publications, consulting)

  
  United Kingdom

• UK Department of Environment, Transport and the Regions, Guidance on Enhancing Public Participation in Local Government

  
  United States

• Environmental Protection Agency, RCRA Public Participation Manual (see especially, Chapter 5: Public Participation Activities: How To Do Them)
• Pensylvania Department of the Environmental Protection, Guides on Public Participation/Notice
• State of Oregon, Putting People in Planning, (manual about public participation in land-use planning)
• Northwest Regional Facilitators (prepared under a cooperative agreement with the Washington State Office of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development), Public Participation Resource Guide
• U.S. Department of Transportation, Public Involvement Techniques for Transportation Decision-Making
  
  

• GreenCom (The Environmental Education & Communication Project of USAID), Public Participation examples from Project Experience (in El Salvador, The Gambia, Lebanon, Mali, Middle East Peace Process, Morocco, Nepal, Panama, Tanzania, Zambia)
• The Search for Sustainable Livelihoods:  Stakeholders/Context/Strategies
• The International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives, (go to their site and do a keyword search of public participation to obtain case studies)
• Constructive Citizen Participation Newsletter

  
  Canada

• What can we do about climate change
• Que pouvons-nous faire?
  United Kingdom
• UK Climate Impacts Program
• Community Leadership and Climate Change in Scotland, Guidance for Chief Executives of Scottish Local Authorities

Links

• UNEP Search Engine (if you enter "public participation" as keyword, a range of selections are offered)
• SD Gateway (Hosted by the International Institute for Sustainable Development for the Sustainable Development Communications Network-SDCN) you can complete a keyword search of "public participation" to obtain resources/articles/case studies and other information from member organizations of the SDCN
• Participatory Management Clearinghouse
• IAP2, International Association of Public Participation