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Article 6 of the Convention seeks to promote action at the national
level to provide the education, training and public awareness needed to understand
and deal with climate change. As a key element in the implementation of the Convention,
the Article is relevant not only to government officials engaged in negotiations,
but also to all sectors of civil society. The intent of this Article is also reflected
in Article 4.1(i) of the Convention, as well as in Article 10(e) of the Kyoto
Protocol.
Article 6 was placed on the agenda of SBSTA 8 (June 1998) following
a workshop on the subject organized by UNEP. The SBSTA recognized the importance
of education, training and public awareness activities under Article 6 and encouraged
the secretariat to continue work in the area of information outreach. Specifically,
the SBSTA requested the secretariat to put forward proposals on how to integrate
Article 6 into its work programme, based on submissions by Parties. Given that
not many submissions were received for SBSTA 9 (November 1998), a further request
was made at SBSTA 10 (June 1999).
At SBSTA 12 (June 2000), the secretariat organized a side event
on Article 6 activities and made an oral report on this issue to the SBSTA. The
SBSTA noted the secretariat’s report and requested that Article 6 be put on the
agenda of SBSTA 14. The secretariat organized additional side events at SBSTA
13 part I (September 2000) and at COP 6 (The Hague, November 2000), in order to
take stock of experience in implementing Article 6 at the national, regional and
international levels.
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At SBSTA 14 (meeting together with COP 6 part II in Bonn, July
2001), the secretariat announced that a document on how to integrate Article 6
into the work programme of the SBSTA would be available at SBSTA 15 (meeting together
with COP 7 in Marrakesh, October/November 2001), based on submissions by Parties
and information gathered at side events. The SBSTA requested the secretariat to
include information on options for a new UN Climate Change Day in this document.
In addition, the SBSTA suggested that, resources permitting, the
secretariat might consider organizing a workshop after SBSTA 15 to provide an
opportunity for Parties to share their experiences and discuss a possible SBSTA
work programme on this issue. The SBSTA invited UN bodies and other organizations
to provide information on their activities related to education, training and
public awareness on climate change to be considered at the workshop. The SBSTA
also requested the secretariat to liaise with the IPCC on how to disseminate IPCC
reports more widely.
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