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“Climate change on the eve of COP 21”: policies, actions and
perceptions into discussion
perceptions into discussion
Published on October 16th, 2015
This year, the theme of “Ciclo Conversas Sobre Ambiente” (Series of Conversations about the Environment), organised by the “Liga para a Proteção da Natureza” (League for the Protection of Nature) in partnership with the Serralves Foundation, is climate change. The first eight discussions, which took place on Thursday, had the topic “Climate change on the eve of COP21”, and included Clima@EduMedia.
The Serralves Library received, in this first event, Anabela Carvalho, from the Institute of Social Sciences of theUniversity of Minho, José Castanheira of the University of Aveiro, and Margarida Marques and Susana Neves from the the project Clima@EduMedia.
The researcher from the University of Minho started by exposing the perceptions and representations of society in relation to climate change. She cited a study by the Pew Research Center, released in May 2015, to explain that climate change is one of the world’s main concerns, especially in developing countries in Latin America and Africa.
“In Europe, it is considered the third most serious global issue, only after hunger/lack of water and the economic situation, and Portugal is among the most concerned countries”, she says. However, “in Portugal and in Europe, there is the idea that governments and the industry should act upon the issue of climate change, and personal responsibility is undervalued”.
According to Eurobarometer data, when asked about their action in this field, 50% of Europeans claimed to have an active role. This intervention focuses, however, on small gestures (like recycling) that alone do not significantly reduce the emission of greenhouse gases. Among the reasons for this inertia, we highlight the lack of accountability, the lack of information on adaptation and mitigation measures and the fact that individual action is generally considered to have no impact.
Anabela Carvalho concluded her speech by focusing on examples of civil initiatives that can motivate others to action. She highlighted the organisation of the “Conferencia Mundial de los Pueblos sobre el Cambio Climático y los Derechos de la Madre Tierra” (World People’s Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth), in which the citizen took the lead role in the debate, and the Transition Movement, “a movement with over a thousand initiatives around the world, looking for answers at the community level and promoting sustainability”.
Teaching and research to empower society
Susana Neves, executive producer of the Clima@EduMedia project, brought to the conversation the subject of teaching climate change through the media. “The media are a major source of information and influence to the general public on issues related to climate change. They can influence the level of concern of the public, their participation in the debate about political decisions on this area and the adoption of adaptation and mitigation behaviours”, she affirmed.
Nevertheless, “the information conveyed is sometimes partial, diffuse and contradictory, and media and scientific literacy skills are thus necessary to be able to critically interpret the information.” According to Susana Neves it is this need that justifies the relevance of a project like Clima@EduMedia.
Margarida Marques, project research fellow, complemented the intervention by presenting some of the activities that contribute to the objective mentioned.
José Castanheiro, researcher at the Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies (CESAM) of the University of Aveiro, also stressed the importance of society being informed about the meaning of basic concepts such as climate, climate change and climate variability. He also emphasises the importance climate projections have for policy decisions.
The physicist advocates, therefore, that we should address “the need to act safely, before we address the need to take action”, in other words, “to encourage research so that climate projections are increasingly accurate and correct”.” As an example, the expert mentioned the project CLICURB. The main objective of this project developed at the University of Aveiro is to analyse in an integrated manner climate change and urban development, considering the inclusion of adaptation strategies in urban planning and in the decision-making process. The project uses as a case study the urban area of Porto and aims to create an urban atlas for the current situation and for the mid-21st century.
The debate then extended from the invited panel to the audience. Alternative energy sources, the role of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, construction along the coastline and the importance of strengthening the public transport network were some of the topics covered.
In the audience the idea that public policy must set an example in mitigating climate change was dominant, and that an integrated vision of the problems is pressing, directing the solutions to the sphere of behaviours and attitudes of the population.
“Conversas Sobre Ambiente” (Series of Conversations about the Environment) returns to the Library of Serralves on the 19th of November to debate “how to adapt our forests to climate change”. The cycle of conferences extends to June, on a monthly basis.
By: Isabel Pereira
The researcher from the University of Minho started by exposing the perceptions and representations of society in relation to climate change. She cited a study by the Pew Research Center, released in May 2015, to explain that climate change is one of the world’s main concerns, especially in developing countries in Latin America and Africa.
“In Europe, it is considered the third most serious global issue, only after hunger/lack of water and the economic situation, and Portugal is among the most concerned countries”, she says. However, “in Portugal and in Europe, there is the idea that governments and the industry should act upon the issue of climate change, and personal responsibility is undervalued”.
According to Eurobarometer data, when asked about their action in this field, 50% of Europeans claimed to have an active role. This intervention focuses, however, on small gestures (like recycling) that alone do not significantly reduce the emission of greenhouse gases. Among the reasons for this inertia, we highlight the lack of accountability, the lack of information on adaptation and mitigation measures and the fact that individual action is generally considered to have no impact.
Anabela Carvalho concluded her speech by focusing on examples of civil initiatives that can motivate others to action. She highlighted the organisation of the “Conferencia Mundial de los Pueblos sobre el Cambio Climático y los Derechos de la Madre Tierra” (World People’s Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth), in which the citizen took the lead role in the debate, and the Transition Movement, “a movement with over a thousand initiatives around the world, looking for answers at the community level and promoting sustainability”.
Teaching and research to empower society
Susana Neves, executive producer of the Clima@EduMedia project, brought to the conversation the subject of teaching climate change through the media. “The media are a major source of information and influence to the general public on issues related to climate change. They can influence the level of concern of the public, their participation in the debate about political decisions on this area and the adoption of adaptation and mitigation behaviours”, she affirmed.
Nevertheless, “the information conveyed is sometimes partial, diffuse and contradictory, and media and scientific literacy skills are thus necessary to be able to critically interpret the information.” According to Susana Neves it is this need that justifies the relevance of a project like Clima@EduMedia.
Margarida Marques, project research fellow, complemented the intervention by presenting some of the activities that contribute to the objective mentioned.
José Castanheiro, researcher at the Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies (CESAM) of the University of Aveiro, also stressed the importance of society being informed about the meaning of basic concepts such as climate, climate change and climate variability. He also emphasises the importance climate projections have for policy decisions.
The physicist advocates, therefore, that we should address “the need to act safely, before we address the need to take action”, in other words, “to encourage research so that climate projections are increasingly accurate and correct”.” As an example, the expert mentioned the project CLICURB. The main objective of this project developed at the University of Aveiro is to analyse in an integrated manner climate change and urban development, considering the inclusion of adaptation strategies in urban planning and in the decision-making process. The project uses as a case study the urban area of Porto and aims to create an urban atlas for the current situation and for the mid-21st century.
The debate then extended from the invited panel to the audience. Alternative energy sources, the role of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, construction along the coastline and the importance of strengthening the public transport network were some of the topics covered.
In the audience the idea that public policy must set an example in mitigating climate change was dominant, and that an integrated vision of the problems is pressing, directing the solutions to the sphere of behaviours and attitudes of the population.
“Conversas Sobre Ambiente” (Series of Conversations about the Environment) returns to the Library of Serralves on the 19th of November to debate “how to adapt our forests to climate change”. The cycle of conferences extends to June, on a monthly basis.
By: Isabel Pereira