Unearthing insights for climate change response in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic

Global Sustainability ◽

10.1017/sus.2020.27 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 3 ◽

Author(s):

Gail Hochachka

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Human Dimensions ◽

Ecological Systems ◽

Transformative Change ◽

Global Issues ◽

World Community ◽

Climate Change Response ◽

The World ◽

Climate Action ◽

Change Response

Non-technical summary The COVID-19 pandemic can be considered an experiment forced upon the world community and, as such, responses to the pandemic can provide lessons about socio-ecological systems as well as processes of transformative change. What enabled responses to COVID-19 to be as effective as they were, right at a time when climate action is notably lagging behind what intergovernmental panels have called for? This paper examines key differences in the COVID-19 response compared to that of climate change, examining the ‘deeper’ human dimensions of these global issues. Unearthing insights into the responses to both issues provides important lessons for climate change engagement.

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Global Deliberative Democracy and Climate Change: Insights from World Wide Views on Global Warming in Australia

PORTAL Journal of Multidisciplinary International Studies ◽

10.5130/portal.v8i3.1734 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 8 (3) ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Chris Riedy ◽

Jade Herriman

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Global Warming ◽

World Wide ◽

Global Climate ◽

Climate Change Policy ◽

Global Scale ◽

Climate Change Response ◽

Deliberative System ◽

The World ◽

Change Response

On 26 September 2009, approximately 4,000 citizens in 38 countries participated in World Wide Views on Global Warming (WWViews). WWViews was an ambitious first attempt to convene a deliberative mini-public at a global scale, giving people from around the world an opportunity to deliberate on international climate policy and to make recommendations to the decision-makers meeting at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen (COP-15) in December 2009. In this paper, we examine the role that deliberative mini-publics can play in facilitating the emergence of a global deliberative system for climate change response. We pursue this intent through a reflective evaluation of the Australian component of the World Wide Views on Global Warming project (WWViews). Our evaluation of WWViews is mixed. The Australian event was delivered with integrity and feedback from Australian participants was almost universally positive. Globally, WWViews demonstrated that it is feasible to convene a global mini-public to deliberate on issues of global relevance, such as climate change. On the other hand, the contribution of WWViews towards the emergence of a global deliberative system for climate change response was limited and it achieved little influence on global climate change policy. We identify lessons for future global mini-publics, including the need to prioritise the quality of deliberation and provide flexibility to respond to cultural and political contexts in different parts of the world. Future global mini-publics may be more influential if they seek to represent discourse diversity in addition to demographic profiles, use designs that maximise the potential for transmission from public to empowered space, run over longer time periods to build momentum for change and experiment with ways of bringing global citizens together in a single process instead of discrete national events.

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