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Newsletter No 1, July 2009. First out of six.
Representing World Citizens at COP15
On September 26, 2009, World Wide Views on Global Warming (WWViews) will give citizens all over the world a possibility to define and communicate their positions on issues central to the negotiations at COP15 in Copenhagen December 7 - December 18.
With this first issue of our newsletter, we hope to engage you, because
you will play an important role at COP15: negotiators, politicians,
businesses, journalists - everyone, who will be able to forward, comment,
and use the results of our global citizen consultation on future climate
policy.
You can find a complete list of the partner organisations in the WWViews
Alliance here.
Should you not find this information relevant, please forward it to
the relevant persons in your organisation. If you wish to unsubscribe for this newsletter, please send a notice
to: manager@wwviews.org
Relevant links:
World Wide Views on Global
Warming
The
Danish Board of Technology
The next newsletter will be issued ultimo August.
Content:
 What
is World Wide Views on Global Warming?
Read more
Citizens will be recruited during the summer
Read more
Focus: India, South Africa, and Denmark - three different climate contexts
Read more
Funding is crucial for a lot of countries
Read more
Follow us on Facebook and World Climate Community
Read more
World Wide Views on Global Warming
"World Wide Views on Global Warming will be a historic example of citizen
consultation across the world. The theme of global warming deserves
such an activity, since global warming and climate policies will involve
any citizen on the globe."
- WWViews Ambassador Ms. Connie Hedegaard, host
of COP15 and Danish Minister of Climate and Energy.
When decisions are made at COP15, the world is facing one of the largest
challenges in modern history; climate change and the limitation of global
warming. But when political decision-makers and stakeholders meet at
the negotiations, they will most likely negotiate without knowing the
views of civil society.
Citizens must live with global warming and adapt a new way of living,
when a new global climate policy that aims to reduce CO2 emissions are
settled. Therefore, citizens of the world should be heard before the
negotiations take place.
"World Wide Views on Global Warming therefore provides a most welcome
opportunity for civil society (and business) to make their views known.
This will help policy makers make speedy and effective decisions on a
climate policy that will also make development more sustainable in the
future."
- WWViews Ambassador Professor Mohan Munasinghe,
Vice Chairman of the IPCC for the fourth Assessment Report.
WWViews takes place on September 26, 2009. 100 citizens will gather in
each of the 50 participating countries,
where they will deliberate and vote on some of the issues that will be
negotiated at COP15. They will do so on an informed basis through thematic
sessions that will guide the citizens through necessary information on
the topic in order to make their votes qualified.
The outcome of this global citizen consultation will give policy makers
a chance to find out how citizens of the world stand on future climate
policy.
"By supporting WWViews as an Ambassador, I express my hope that media,
foundations and politicians will support this initiative and help the
organisers elevate this into a truly global, high-profile and influential
part of the UN Climate Summit in Copenhagen."
- WWViews Ambassador Mr. Bill McKibben, Co-founder
and director of 350.org.
The success of WWViews is highly dependent on how far the results will
reach. Therefore we kindly ask you to help us promote the project and
its results through your networks.
Citizens will be recruited during the summer
The 100 Danish citizens, who will participate in the Danish citizen consultation on September 26, have already been chosen. It is a long a difficult process, but also a very important one. In the beginning of June we began sending out invitations to 3000 citizens, a random selection made by the Civil Registration System.
We had a very positive feedback with over 300 enrolments from all over the country. Out of these many interested citizens we have now selected 100 citizens with the aim of representing the demographic distribution in Denmark with regards to age, gender, education, and occupation.
In other countries, however, it is not that easy. In large countries such as Canada, Brazil, Australia, Russia, and China - just to mention a few - distance pose a lot of problems; the goal is to put together a selection of citizens that reflect the demographic composition of the country, but doing that demands long journeys, accommodations as well as the finances to cover these expenses.
Another challenge for many partners is to find valid information on the demographic composition. Civil registration systems does not necessarily exist or is not complete both regarding the number of people registered and also regarding the different parameters needed for this project: age, gender, education, and occupation.
All citizens will receive an information booklet one month before
September 26, translated into their native language. This booklet will
provide them with background information on the issues that will be
discussed and negotiated at COP15. The booklet is based on the
fourth
IPCC
report from 2007.
Focus: India, South Africa, and Denmark
- three different climate contexts
India
India posses an influential position in the climate debate. As one of the nations in the world with the biggest population, with a vast growing industrial sector, and as a developer of advanced high technology, India is on its way to bring balance between the size of its population and its global importance.
As to the size of the growing population, India is bound to make sincere efforts to increase the GNP to be able to support its citizens in the future. This scenario may contribute to the global CO2-emission, but as a nation, India is already part of both the problem and the solution.
Many government organisations as well as private enterprises are already working intensely to create climate awareness, more climate friendly technologies, and the Indian government is taking part in the international negotiations about the global CO2-emissions. And it is necessary.
India's
climate situation
India already faces several consequences of global warming: sea level rise, a growing number of cyclones, and changes in temperature are measurable and expected to increase even more. Recurrent sea level rises are causing displacement of major sections of the population from low-lying islands and areas as a result. The effects of melting glaciers in the Himalaya are parallel to the same phenomenon in other continents and regions: sparse water supply with severe impacts on food production, affecting both humans and animals.
Recession of food production and economy
IPCC, UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, has predicted that
the effects of global warming, if unimpeded, could result in a decline
of India's GDP by up to 9 percent. The consequences can perhaps cause
a serious smaller yield for rice production, which could fall by 40 percent.
IPCC also estimates that as many as seven million people are projected
to be displaced due to submersion of parts of Mumbai, if global temperature
rises more than 2° C (3.6° F) in the future.
South Africa
South Africa is both facing climate changes and taking action towards
adapting to global warming and implementing means to avoid it. South
Africa also posses the role as the mediator of the continent in developing
green economies and supporting citizens' actions to fight climate change.
South Africa has already learned the strain of limited water resources,
and the country's scientists are concerned about changes in rainfall
or changed distribution of rain in the future. The predictions are uncertain,
but climate change may severely affect the living conditions of citizens
and animals in the country. Both the industry and the agricultural sector
are highly dependent on stable water resources.
Health and Livestock
South Africa is already struggling with the consequences of malaria, but with a scenario predicting rising temperatures, the country may expect the disease to spread to areas now without malaria and an increasing number of citizens infected in the areas, where malaria already occurs.
Climate change might also affect the livestock of South African farmers.
South Africa's drier parts are used for grazing by cattle and sheep;
a continued rise in the CO2-emissions may lead to less animal production.
The Sea
Though South Africa is already suffering from rising sea level, caused
by the melting polar icecaps and storms in the coastal area, the consequences
of these phenomena are expected to influence the country in a minor degree
due to South Africa's steep coastline.
However other climate changes may affect the sea. In recent years, variations in ocean currents have caused major changes in several fish resources important to the country.
Denmark
The Danes have many reasons to fight the climate changes. As a small, low-lying country with a long coastline, highly affected by the ever-changing Atlantic weather, Denmark can expect serious changes caused by global warming in the future. The country has a rather small population of 5.5 million inhabitants and therefore also limited resources to fight the climate changes. Nevertheless as a wealthy European high-tech nation, Denmark has early on been able to initiate important adaptations to climate changes. The country has developed different climate friendly technologies as well as means to produce a considerable amount of renewable energy. So far the efforts have been successful, yet far from enough.
Roads and railways
Climate changes are expected to cause more dangerous traffic situations in Denmark in the future. Rising global temperatures can be the reason for winter temperatures around the freezing point twice in 24 hour. The risk for aqua planning is also estimated to increase, and low-lying roads might be closed more often, because of heavy rainfall.
Traffic planners and engineers expect power cuts as a result of future weather situations, and they foresee that railroad constructions will have to be inspected and maintained more frequently.
Sea and coast
As a low-lying country with many dikes and an extremely long coastline, Denmark is vulnerable to the rising sea level. The inhabitants may expect the coastline to withdraw in some areas and will have to strengthen dikes and groynes in others. Changes in wind directions and storm intensity can cause severe flooding and erosion of the coastlines, as well as problems for harbours, ships, and ferries. Areas that today are used for farming may suffer from flooding and become unsuitable for this purpose in the future.
Funding is crucial
We have received funding from among others the Danish and the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, given specifically to help developing countries to carry out their WWViews meeting.
However, only partner organisations in 30 countries out of the enrolled 50 countries are now fully funded. We would therefore be grateful for receiving funds and sponsorships in order to give these countries the opportunity to fully participate in WWViews.
Follow us on Facebook and World Climate Community
On our Facebook
page and in our World
Climate Community group you can follow the different steps
of the project, get information on how to contribute to the success
of our citizen consultations, and
not least you can take part in debates on democracy, citizen consultations,
and climate change. We look forward to seeing you online!
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