Social Sciences room 217
Edna Einsiedel and Gwendolyn Blue will present the results from the first ever global consultation on climate change and their experience in orchestrating Canada's participation.
103 citizens provide Canada's official public input for upcoming COP 15 meeting in Copenhagen
Global warming is a very serious problem that requires a firm commitment to action from countries heading to the climate change summit in Copenhagen later this year. That is the opinion of a panel of Canadian citizens who took part in the first ever world wide public consultation on climate change this weekend.
"This is very exciting and important because it is the first time the voice of citizens will be heard at international climate change negotiations," said Edna Einsiedel, leader of Canada's involvement in World Wide Views on Global Warming (WWViews). "Bringing Canadians together from across the country to discuss this issue was an amazing success and resulted in some very engaging and animated dialog."
Canadians from cities and towns across the country gathered in Calgary to participate in the international public consultation effort that took place among 38 countries on Sept. 26 organized by the Danish Board of Technology. WWViews will provide citizen input to the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen (COP 15) December 7 - 19, a conference at which world leaders are expected to determine international greenhouse gas emission reduction targets 12 years after the adoption of the Kyoto Protocol.
The Canadian portion of the event, World Wide Views Canada, was co-ordinated by Einsiedel, a professor of communication studies in the U of C's Faculty of Communication & Culture and involved numerous U of C students, staff and faculty members.
Selected from a random sample of the Canadian population, 103 citizens from all provinces and territories traveled to Calgary for the consultation process at the Palliser Hotel. They learned about and deliberated on the same climate change policies COP 15 delegates will be considering. Key areas included: identifying targets for reducing CO2 emissions, recommending technology options, and financing climate change initiatives. The event was held simultaneously with 100-member citizen consultations in participating countries from Africa, Asia, Europe, Oceania and North and South America.
The Canadian group concluded that a long-term international agreement must come out of the COP 15 meeting and that Canada and other developed nations should work towards a 25 to 40 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas reduction emissions by 2020, as recommended by the UN's International Panel on Climate Change. This is a stricter target than the federal government's current goal of a 20 per cent reduction from 2006 levels by 2020. The Canadians also called for the establishment of an international fund to help developing countries work towards emissions reduction plans. The group was divided, however, on the issue of whether fossil fuel prices should be increased as a way of trying to meet climate change goals.
"I wasn't sure what it would be like doing this in Alberta where the economy is so dependent on oil and gas, but everybody was very open and I'm immensely glad I was able to take part," said Lindsey Meredith, a biology student from the University of Lethbridge. "Everybody was really engaged and excited to have a voice in an problem as important as climate change."
Gerard Roy, a wildlife conservation officer from Thetford Mines, Quebec, said he was impressed with the frank discussion between Canadians of all ages and walks of life.
"There were a lot of very different, diverse opinions. It was good to be part of a forum where everybody could express their views in a respectful way," Roy said.
Opinions and recommendations from the WWViews process will be presented to climate change negotiators in Copenhagen. The Canadian results will be distributed to Canadian climate change negotiators, government leaders and policy makers prior to the COP 15 meeting.
More information about WWViews Canada is available at http://www.ucalgary.ca/wwviewscanada/.
Results from all participating countries are available on the World Wide Views website at: http://www.wwviews.org/.