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

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

Education activities for environment and sustainability: A Snapshot of eight New South Wales councils

This paper describes in brief the findings of a research project undertaken by the Institute for Sustainable Futures (ISF) at the University of Technology, Sydney, Australia. The research was commissioned by and undertaken on behalf of the New South Wales (NSW) Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water (DECCW). The aim of the project was to investigate current practices of environmental and sustainability education and engagement within local government in NSW. The research was commissioned by DECCW as the preliminary phase of a larger project that the department is planning to undertake, commencing in 2010

Planning for Sustainability in NSW Local Government

Local councils in the state of New South Wales (NSW) in Australia are starting to give serious consideration to how they can include ‘sustainability’ in their planning for the future. There is no statutory requirement to create a sustainability plan – and therefore no standard definition of what constitutes such a plan for local government in NSW. The same is true of the term ‘sustainability’, for which there is no standard or legislative definition. However, the NSW state division of Local Government Managers Australia (LGMA - a professional organization for council managers) has recently released a ‘Sustainability Health Check’ as a resource to assist councils in assessing their current performance and devising appropriate strategies and action plans for sustainability. In addition, several individual councils have used the opportunity provided by the state government’s Urban Sustainability Program to make a first attempt at developing a sustainability plan

LG-Community-Engagement.pdf

This working paper provides a snapshot of what is taking place across the Australian local government sector in relation to community engagement, and identifies the ongoing challenges and questions for councils in engaging communities. A supplementary annotated bibliography of key community engagement resources and guides is also available

Local government and community engagement in Australia

This working paper provides a national update on what is taking place across the local government sector in relation to community engagement, and identifies ongoing challenges and questions for councils in engaging communities. It is part of a series from ACELG’s Research and Policy Foresight program. See also the annotated bibliography, ‘Community Engagement Resources for Local Government’ produced in conjunction with this report. The research addresses the following questions: What are councils in Australia currently doing to engage communities in decision making? What are some stand-out examples of effective practice? How do moves to more extensive and direct community engagement impact on the roles of elected councillors and how have “representative” and “direct” democracy been combined most effectively in local government? What is the role of organisational culture, policy, resourcing and staff expertise in the suite of engagement approaches offered? To what degree have deliberative approaches been taken up by councils in Australia, and what have the challenges and successes been? What typologies of engagement exist and which of these seem to best reflect the diverse array of engagement activities taking part in the sector? What are the ongoing questions and challenges for councils in engaging communities for the second decade of the 21st century

Overcoming cross-scale challenges to climate change adaptation in local government: A focus on Australia

Abstract This paper aims to identify key cross-scale challenges to planned adaptation within the context of local government in Australia, and suggest enabling actions to overcome such challenges. Many of the impacts of climate change and variability have or will be experienced at the local level. Local governments are embedded in a larger governance context that has the potential to limit the effectiveness of planned adaptation initiatives on the ground. This study argues that research on constraints and barriers to adaptation must place greater attention in understanding the broader multi-governance system and cross-scale constraints that shape adaptation at the local government scale. The study identified seven key enabling actions for overcoming cross-scale challenges faced by local governments in Australia when undertaking climate change adaptation planning and implementation. A central conclusions of this study is that cooperative and collaborative approach is needed where joint recognition of the scale of the issue and its inherent cross-scale complexities are realised. Many of the barriers or constraints to adaptation planning are interlinked, requiring a whole government approach to adaptation planning. The research suggests a stronger role at the state and national level is required for adaptation to be facilitated and supported at the local level

Participation and deliberation : could deliberative processes empower civil society participation in climate governance?

Participation of civil society is one of three key mechanisms of democracy (Lindskog and Elander 2010) and thereby crucial to effectively addressing socially complex problems (Kahane 2010) such as climate change. The principle of civil society engagement in global governance of climate change is enshrined through the United Nations to ensure that actors with differing perspectives and interests are incorporated to address socially complex global challenges. 22,000 accredited civil society representatives registered to attend the Copenhagen climate talks as observers, in addition public protests involved approximately 100,000 people on the streets of Copenhagen (similarly large citizen protests were held internationally). Despite such high levels of involvement, criticisms of exclusion, marginalisation and voicelessness of civil society have formed the common refrain. Following the outcome of the 2009 Copenhagen Conference, these criticisms raise questions about the essential nature and extent of civil society participation in international climate change negotiations as “authentic, inclusive and consequential” (Dryzek 2009); and how the diversity of civil society interests can and should be represented in global fora. In this paper we explore how deliberative processes could be utilised to increase the capacity of civil society to participate in future climate change discourse and also consider the potential of participatory processes to engage and empower ordinary citizens. We draw on observations of deliberative practices across multiples scales as a basis for theorising how participation could influence and/or offset prevailing power and interests around climate change governance. The paper draws on research outcomes from two deliberative processes, firstly, local Australian grassroots community-based climate action groups and; secondly, global deliberation undertaken in the lead up to the Copenhagen talks. Based on these findings, we propose potential ways in which the deliberative space can increase the capacity of civil society and citizens to participate in future climate change deliberations