06064 - Climate Change in the Capital Region

Project Member(s): Riedy, C., White, S.

Funding or Partner Organisation: NSW Cabinet Office

Start year: 2006

Summary: In December 2006, the Institute for Sustainable Futures at the University of Technology, Sydney held an innovative event called the Capital Region Climate Change Forum. The Forum ran over three days in Canberra and was funded by the NSW and ACT Governments. It used a citizens jury format to bring together twenty randomly-selected citizens to deliberate on how Australia s Capital Region should respond to climate change. The primary objectives of the Forum were to: Test the use of a citizens jury as a way of helping the community to engage with the issue of climate change and develop informed recommendations on how to respond Provide a greater understanding of how the community in the Capital Region would like to respond to climate change Improve understanding of community perspectives on climate change more broadly. In addition, the Forum was intended as a pilot for a larger process that could be held Australia-wide to improve communication of climate change issues and facilitate direct participation of Australian citizens in decisions on how to respond to climate change. The citizens demonstrated their ability to engage with complex material and develop an integrated response in the form of a Citizens Report. The participants were generally satisfied with the process and many were inspired by the opportunity to learn about climate change and have their say on how we should respond. However, there were also many lessons and opportunities for improvement identified from the pilot that are documented in the Evaluation Report.

FOR Codes: Natural Resource Management, Public Policy, Civics and citizenship, Environmental policy, legislation and standards not elsewhere classified, Climate change, ISFRA-ENERGY AND CLIMATE CHANGE, Climate Change Processes