Climate change in the citizens perception
In December 2008 the city of Poznań in Poland will host a global climate conference COP 14. The event would serve as an important stage in the international negotiations scheduled to end in 2009 in Copenhagen, with the signing of an post-2012 agreement on mitigating climate change. Approximately 10.000 representatives of governments, NGOs, media, science and business are expected in Poznań.
The on-going climate change impacts politics, economy and everyday lives. It is a challenge not only for the politicians but also whole communities and individuals.
Given the complexity of the issues connected with climate change, the imminent conclusion of the debate on the EU climate and energy package, and the forthcoming COP 14, we are convinced of an urgent need of a debate that would engage a wide spectrum of stakeholders, including politicians, scientists, business circles, public administration and NGOs.
We believe that it is a strong imperative to raise Polish public awareness on climate change issues and their consequences for Poland. Civil society institutions have an important role in that respect.
We plan to communicate the issue of climate change to the Polish public, influence and increase understanding and support of political and economic establishments and opinion formers.
For these reasons we set up this project, which we are implementing in close cooperation with the Institute for Sustainable Development (ISD) and a number of other partners.
The main objectives of our project are following:
- Raise public awareness of the importance of climate change in the run-up to COP 14 and beyond.
- Engage in the debate on climate change-related issues crucial members of the political and administrational establishment, civil society and business community, emphasizing the benefits of engaging society to act immediately in its own long-term interest.
- Help to efficiently promote and publicize the most relevant messages from state institutions and NGOs/CSOs in order to make them heard by different recipients.
In order to achieve these goals, measures will be taken to:
- Weaken distrust, doubts, and other soft forms of objection resulting from prejudice and unfounded ‘common knowledge’
- Communicating the opportunities involved in the EU climate and energy package i.e. new technologies and investment in alternative energy sources
- Communicate the impending threats that result directly and indirectly from the process of climate change.
Target audience:
The project will target politicians, decision makers, opinion formers, academics, members of the business community, and the media
Activities:
During the three-month period preceding COP 14 (September-November 2008), ISD, CIR, and a host of allied partners will be carrying out activities that aim at stimulating public debate on climate-related issues.
The activities are built up around three following themes:
- Climate Change - a changing foreign and security environment
- Poland in a climate-conscious Europe
- COP 14 Poznań – last stop before Copenhagen
Project activities include:
- providing journalists with material on climate change
- organising debates with partners including media
- a series of media programmes on climate change and related issues
- organising a conference on American and EU energy policies and Polish energy choices
- publicizing analysis, reports and position and papers for different stakeholders, including the polish government, business
- preparation and dissemination of information materials on events on climate change and COP 14, prepared by project partners
- running a central knowledge Internet site enabling various stakeholders: project partners, NGOs, governmental institutions and NGOs, media and other users to access analyses, reports and other material gathered at the website. Creating an Internet platform would widen the debate range and help to build a record of the best practices of climate change mitigating action of various institutions and grassroots organisations.
Center for International Relations with our associates invite all possible collaborators to join forces in implementation of this project.
Please contact:
Ewa Stepan – Project Coordinator
e-mail: stepan@csm.org.pl
tel.: 22-646-52-67 int. 15
mobile: +48 606 905 533
Władysław Manteuffel – Assistant
e-mail: manteuffel@csm.org.pl
tel.: 22-646-52-67 int. 15
mobile.: +48 503 535 620
The project is financed by the European Climate Foundation.
We are looking for funds to continue the Project in 2009.
In implementation of the project we are supported by two companies: CEC Government Relations and Dynamics PR.
