United Nations Climate Change Conference, 4 December, 2008, Poznań, Poland

by John Takang

The Bali Roadmap for a post 2012 Climate Change Commitment established mitigation, adaptation, technology transfer and financing as the four building blocks necessary to develop such a framework.

Within the Education Caucus of the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development, it is clear that the fifth building block, Education for Sustainability or simply the human dimension, is missing. It was in this light that the Stakeholder Forum for a Sustainable Future organised a side event entitled “An Actionable Guide: Investing in a Well-Prepared Society” on 4 December in Poznań. Chaired by Pam Puntney, co-chair of the education caucus, and including John Manyitabot Takang from UNU-IHDP, Bremley Lyngdoh, co-chair of the education caucus and Felix Dodds from the Stakeholder Forum for a Sustainable Future, the discussions at the event centred around demands made by the Caucus to United Nations climate community and government delegates.

A first demand was to move the human dimensions agenda for building a well-prepared society to the centre-stage of the post-2012 long-term commitments for mitigating and adapting to climate impacts. In this regard, the IHDP position on the human dimensions of global changes was emphasised. In his talk, John Manyitabot Takang discussed the building of human institutions required to combat global change, the scale at which such interventions could be made and highlighted research gaps in education for sustainable development.

A second demand was that of mainstreaming environmental education into integrated policy approaches, eco-effectiveness programmes of action and climate change national and international cooperative activities (Agenda 21, JPOI).

Thirdly, the preparation and adoption of a clear strategy, together with a linked action plan to implement the above points, was demanded. Such a strategy should incorporate well-defined timeframes, together with mechanisms for reporting and evaluating progress made and future needs.

A final demand dealt with funding mechanisms to finance and facilitate the building of the human capital necessary for effective prevention and impact reduction response over the long-term.