When the people lead The leaders they will have to follow And all their lies and their alibis They will have to swallow
And it’s you that has the authority For the one who is right Is the majority
– ‘People Lead’ by Ben Harper
Twenty one years since climate negotiations started in 1994, the
world is geared towards signing a binding climate agreement by December
2015 at the 21st session of the Conference of the Parties to the United
Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Paris. The
new agreement, which will come into force by 2020, is expected to
influence national capacities to adapt to climate changes and to set
forth new mitigation commitments.
Current negotiations have numerous agenda items on the list. These
range from the impact of climate change on national economies with a
focus on multiple sectors – particularly adaptation, to mitigation,
energy, disaster management and climate-resilient development. All will
heavily influence the national interests of participating countries.
Inclusive global process needed
Consequently, the complexity of the negotiations calls for a
democratic, transparent process that is not only open to the general
public but is also one that includes global citizens’ voices as a
central feature of the agenda at Paris in December. Under Article 6
of the UNFCCC, the Lima Ministerial Declaration on Education and
Awareness Raising, it is the duty of signatory states to educate, train,
raise public awareness, foster public participation, and enable public
access to information on climate science, policy making and
international cooperation. Doing so allows countries to meet the
objectives of the convention and promotes climate-resilient sustainable
development as a cornerstone of the convention’s democratic function.
Ordinary people given a voice on climate deals
To make the process of climate negotiations transparent and
accountable as Article 6 states, the UNFCCC endorses a World Wide Views
global citizens’ consultation. The World Wide Views
methodology promotes participatory democracy in the simplest sense, in
that it gives ordinary citizens the opportunity to voice their opinions
on climate agreements, and allows for these views to be included in the
policy making process. In this way, the initiative helps to bridge the
widening democratic gap between citizens and policy makers in an
increasingly global policy making landscape.
The Sustainable Development Policy Institute
(SDPI) in Islamabad, partnering with the UNFCCC, Mission Publiques, the
Danish Board of Technology and the French National Commission for
Public Debate, is organising Pakistan’s first World Wide
Views consultation on June 6 this year. Parallel deliberations will also
be taking place in other PRISE countries including Burkina Faso, Kenya
and Tanzania. Globally, the World Wide Views initiative aims to include
the views of 10,000 people in 100 nations.
In April, SDPI representatives met with national organisations from
more than 30 countries at the European Space Agency in Paris to discuss
country strategies and procedures for the event to ensure that
all citizens’ consultations are organised in an identical and
transparent manner so that results across countries are comparable.
Global debate on the climate-energy nexus
This year’s consultation will focus on the climate-energy nexus. One
hundred randomly selected ordinary citizens will participate in
Pakistan’s consultation, and will have the opportunity to express their
views on thirty questions about climate change and energy, after having
received unbiased information and material and having debated with
fellow citizens.
The results of this consultation will be ready in June and will be
published immediately on a web platform. They will also be presented at
the UNFCCC in December, and will be disseminated widely among Pakistani
and global policy and decision makers, businesses, civic leadership
officials, investors and other important stakeholders to inform them of
the citizens’ concerns before the conference. For communities and
economies in semi-arid lands across PRISE countries, the event is a
unique opportunity to raise their voices on climate resilience building
and to make their mark on the upcoming global climate agreement.
To get updates on the debate, follow World Wide Views on Twitter and Facebook:
@wwvPak
World Wide Views, Pakistan
@WWViewsKen
By Elishma Noel Khokhar, PRISE Project Associate
Follow Elishma on Twitter @elishmanoelk
Source: http://prise.odi.org/comment-toward-an-inclusive-global-climate-agreement/
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