article 6 of the Convention - Education, Training and Public Awareness

rticle 6 of the Convention - Education, Training and Public Awareness

Review of the implementation of the amended New Delhi work programme on Article 6 of the Convention and the development of a successor work programme SBI 37, COP 18/CMP 8: 26 November - 7 December 2012, Doha, QatarThe SBI agreed on the Doha work programme on Article 6 of the Convention contained in document  FCCC/SBI/2012/L.47 and forwarded it to COP 18 for adoption. Informal intersessional consultations: 8 August - 25 November 2012At SBI 36 Parties agreed to undertake intersessional consultations on the draft work programme on Article 6 of the Convention contained in document  FCCC/SBI/2012/L.26 with the aim of building further consensus on the text prior to COP 18/CMP 8. The Dominican Republic kindly offered to coordinate these intersessional consultations and initiated the development of an online consultation platform with the technical support of UNITAR and in cooperation with the UNFCCC secretariat. Workshop on the implementation of Article 6 of the Convention in least developed countries: 19–21 June 2012, Bonn, GermanyThe workshop on the implementation of Article 6 of the Convention in least developed countries was organized in response to a request by the SBI 34 ( FCCC/SBI/2011/7). It contributed to the review of the implementation of the amended New Delhi work programme on Article 6 of the Convention and the identification of possible elements for a successor work programme. more>> SBI 36: 14–25 May 2012, Bonn, GermanyThe SBI launched the review of the implementation of the  amended New Delhi work programmeon Article 6 of the Convention and agreed to continue its consideration at SBI 37 on the basis of a draft text contained in document  FCCC/SBI/2012/L.26.

Work programme on Article 6 of the Convention

To address the challenges of communicating, teaching, and learning about climate change, Parties adopted in 2002 the  New Delhi work programme on Article 6 of the Convention (decision 11/CP.8), a five-year country-driven work programme engaging all stakeholders in the implementation of Article 6 commitments and recommending a list of Article 6 related activities that could be undertaken at the national level. The five-year mandate for the execution of the New Delhi work programme came to an end in 2007. Parties recognized that this work programme had proved to be a good framework for action (FCCC/SBI/2007/34) and decided to adopt the  amended New Delhi work programme on Article 6 of the Convention for a further five years (decision 9/CP.13), with a review of progress in the implementation of this work programme to be undertaken in 2012. The amended New Delhi work programme differs from its predecessor in the scope and implementation chapters. Within the scope of the new work programme, public awareness, public participation and public access to information are given more prominence than they had in the previous one. Within the list of Article 6 related activities that Parties could undertake, the amended New Delhi work programme features also the preparation of a national Article 6 plan of action.  Another new area is related to actions leading to strengthening regional and international efforts in support to the implementation of Article 6. CC:iNetThe climate change information network clearing house CC:iNet serves as an information platform in support of Article 6 of the Convention and its implementation. It is designed to help governments, organizations and individuals gain rapid and easy access to ideas, strategies, contacts, experts and materials that can be used to motivate and empower people to take effective action on climate change.  more>> WorkshopsInformation on previous workshops on the implementation of Article 6 of the Convention, including relevant documents for, and presentations held at, each workshop, is available here.

Background information: Communicating, teaching and learning about climate change

Improving awareness and understanding of climate change, and creating solutions to facilitate access to information on a changing climate are key to winning public support for climate related policies. The UNFCCC, through its Article 6, and the Kyoto Protocol, through its  Article 10 (e), call on governments to educate, empower and engage all stakeholders and major groups on policies relating to climate change. In particular, Article 6 of the Convention, which addresses the issue of climate change related education, training and public awareness, is the main vehicle by means of which the Convention fosters action to develop and implement educational and training programmes on climate change. Many governments and intergovernmental organizations are already working in partnership with civil society to fulfill the commitments in Article 6.  However, the scale of challenges posed by climate change requires an engagement on outreach activities of a greater magnitude. Last modified: 6 December 2012