Education, Training and Public Awareness on Climate Change

The United Nation Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and its Kyoto Protocol will only succeed if its objective is widely supported by the public and by important interest groups. Many governments and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are already working actively to raise awareness on climate change. The scale of the changes required, however, and the vast number of people and interests that must be influenced, call for outreach activities of a much greater magnitude.

Recognizing this reality, Eighth Confrence of the Parties (COP-8) UNFCCC adopted in 2002 a five-year New Delhi Work Programme that focuses on education, training, public awareness, public participation, public access to information and international cooperation in the field of climate change. Apart from specific requests to the Parties, the Programme invites intergovernmental organizations “to continue supporting efforts to implement activities under Article 6 (Education, Training and Public Awareness) through their regular programmes, and through specific programmes focused on climate change, including, as appropriate, through the provision and dissemination of information and resource materials… as well as through provision of financial and technical support”.

UNEP is actively engaged in cooperation with UNFCCC Secretariat and the Parties to contribute to successful implementation of the UNFCCC New Delhi Work Programme by (i) facilitating efforts by Governments to build a broader constituency for the UNFCCC through their own national outreach campaigns aimed at key target groups plus other stakeholders; (ii) integrating Intergovermental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) messages into existing or planned outreach campaigns on climate change and sustainable development; (iii) developing and publishing graphic materials on climate change based on Intergovermental Panel on Climate Change(IPCC) findings and other state-of-the-art data and information materials; (iv) organizing outreach campaigns for mass media, youth and business and (v) working with partners to disseminate valid climate change information among general public. The project will also pave the way for an early launch of outreach activities for the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report, due for publication in 2007.

List of activities

UNEP convened:

• National climate change outreach programmes in countries
• Kenya, Ghana, Namibia, Russia, Uzbekistan, Albania, Georgia, St.Lucia, Cambodia, the Gambia, Armenia
• Graphic and information materials
• Vital Climate Graphics update
• Vital Climate Graphics for Latin America
• Climate change outreach to mass media
• Climate awareness workshop for African journalists
• Climate awareness workshop for Georgian journalists
• Climate change outreach to mass media
• National climate outreach campaign for schoolchildren in India
• Programme of work on climate awareness in Africa with Scouts International
• Climate change outreach to businessmen
• Public awareness workshop in China
• Technical and financial support to UNFCCC regional workshops on climate education, training and public awareness
• Africa
• Latin America and the Caribbean
• Asia and Pacific
• CIS countries