The judging panel of the International Association for Public Participation's 2010 Core Value Awards has selected ‘World Wide Views on Global Warming’ as a project worthy of a Highly Commended award in the Robust Public Participation Process category.
World Wide Views (WWViews) on Global Warming was a global public consultation project initiated by the Danish government to empower regular citizens to give their preferences for policy and action on climate change.
The University of Technology, Sydney was the Australian partner of the international WWViews alliance and Institute researchers found sponsors, recruited the participants and facilitators, coordinated the event's logistics and compiled the results for the Australian event.
A group of 105 ordinary Australians came together in Sydney on 25 & 26 September 2009 to deliberate on international climate change action and develop policy recommendations. Participants in WWViews Australia were chosen to reflect the national demographics of age, ethnicity, income, family type, education and gender. They discussed the same questions put to citizens in 38 other countries over the same period. Recommendations were given to climate change negotiators prior to the Copenhagen United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 15). Sponsors for the Australian event included UTS, Pricewaterhousecoopers, DSE Victoria, National Australia Bank and WWF Australia. This world-first global citizen engagement process used deliberative methods, producing more meaningful results than opinion polls. Participants were given the opportunity to learn about climate change issues and to then develop proposals through open dialogue. At the Australian event, 98% of the participants were found to be concerned about climate change and believed a binding global climate deal at COP 15 was urgent. The event also showed decision-making forums like this can feasibly be used to inform future policy on complex issues.
The Institute would like to thank all the sponsors and volunteers who helped make WWViews such a success. For more information about WWViews you can watch a short documentary or visit the website at http://wwviews.org.au/ .
A book entitled “Global Deliberation: A World of Opportunity” (forthcoming). Eds. Rask, M., Worthington, R. and Lammi, M.” with a chapter by ISF researchers Jade Herriman, Alison Atherton and Stuart White will soon be released analysing the WWViews experience and global citizen engagement. More information about the book and ongoing citizen engagement on climate issues can be found at: http://blogit.kuluttajatutkimus.fi/ilmastoareena/.
