Global Climate Change Voices from United Nations Headquarters
Posted 11:49 PM by Internal Voices in Labels: 10th edition
"We must take action now regardless of where you are coming from. Rich and poor countries, we must address climate change together."
Ban Ki-moon, U.N. Secretary-General
GCCV-UNHQ was the first project of GCCV-Worldwide and its objective was to do some pre-Copenhagen interviews (2 November through 2 December 2009) with UNHQ visitors about their concerns and perceptions on climate change issues.
The project is managed by Global Climate Change Initiatives (GCCI), a subsidiary body of Global Climate Change Open Research Initiatives (GCCORI). GCCI was recently registered as an NGO in New York City. Global Climate Change Initiatives (GCCI) is an independent not-for-profit, non-governmental organization whose mission is to partner with global institutions and individuals to develop new climate change initiatives. These initiatives will raise awareness, enhance behavioral change, empower bottom-up global governance and assess the effectiveness of current and future climate change programs and projects.
The project was initiated by two UN interns, Xiaochen Zhang and Florian Lux, supervised by Mr. Kai-Uwe Schmidt and Ms. Gelila Terrefe, and implemented by UN interns and volunteers. This project has provided a forum for individuals from various sectors of the public to express their concerns, to share their insights, to engage themselves in overall global climate change discourse and to make their contribution to Copenhagen. The idea was to tap into this unique resource to access grassroots opinions and engagement on a UN priority issue.
After weeks of very enjoyable interviews, the team can share much of the project with the world.
Andrea Milan: I am glad I have had a chance to take part in this important project and it was a pleasure to see that most people were very willing to be interviewed. Some people did not know much about climate change but the main lesson that I learned from the interviewees is that people care about climate change, they would like to know more about it and they hope for a big commitment from Copenhagen.
Xiaochen Zhang: There were 50 days left before the Copenhagen Conference when I initiated this project. The world is looking to seal one of the most important deals in human history. It is a deal which will endow human beings with hope, protect us from danger and sustain the livelihood of our descendants. To make the change now or to live with regret for the rest of one’s life, this is the time to make our choice.
In a deal with hope, we need bigger mitigation commitments. We need more funds for installing new technologies. We need better institutions to facilitate the greening process. But what we need most of all is a grassroots voice.
We need their voice to be heard. We need their messages to be passed on to the policy makers. We need their actions to be integrated in the climate change solution basket to save us and to save the world.
The interviews turned out to be very productive and very interesting raising many questions for global leaders. Those interviewed also expressed their concerns on issues such as vulnerability in developing countries, consumerism in the developed world, climate financing, etc. These voices were uploaded to different channels and the messages were well received by the public.
The grassroots voices from UN Headquarters to the leaders in Copenhagen say: “Seal the Deal, we count on you”.
The GCCV Management Team
This article was written just before the beginning of the Copenhagen Conference. For more information about the work of GCCI, please visit www.gccinitiatives.org
Ban Ki-moon, U.N. Secretary-General
GCCV-UNHQ was the first project of GCCV-Worldwide and its objective was to do some pre-Copenhagen interviews (2 November through 2 December 2009) with UNHQ visitors about their concerns and perceptions on climate change issues.
The project is managed by Global Climate Change Initiatives (GCCI), a subsidiary body of Global Climate Change Open Research Initiatives (GCCORI). GCCI was recently registered as an NGO in New York City. Global Climate Change Initiatives (GCCI) is an independent not-for-profit, non-governmental organization whose mission is to partner with global institutions and individuals to develop new climate change initiatives. These initiatives will raise awareness, enhance behavioral change, empower bottom-up global governance and assess the effectiveness of current and future climate change programs and projects.
The project was initiated by two UN interns, Xiaochen Zhang and Florian Lux, supervised by Mr. Kai-Uwe Schmidt and Ms. Gelila Terrefe, and implemented by UN interns and volunteers. This project has provided a forum for individuals from various sectors of the public to express their concerns, to share their insights, to engage themselves in overall global climate change discourse and to make their contribution to Copenhagen. The idea was to tap into this unique resource to access grassroots opinions and engagement on a UN priority issue.
After weeks of very enjoyable interviews, the team can share much of the project with the world.
Andrea Milan: I am glad I have had a chance to take part in this important project and it was a pleasure to see that most people were very willing to be interviewed. Some people did not know much about climate change but the main lesson that I learned from the interviewees is that people care about climate change, they would like to know more about it and they hope for a big commitment from Copenhagen.
Xiaochen Zhang: There were 50 days left before the Copenhagen Conference when I initiated this project. The world is looking to seal one of the most important deals in human history. It is a deal which will endow human beings with hope, protect us from danger and sustain the livelihood of our descendants. To make the change now or to live with regret for the rest of one’s life, this is the time to make our choice.
In a deal with hope, we need bigger mitigation commitments. We need more funds for installing new technologies. We need better institutions to facilitate the greening process. But what we need most of all is a grassroots voice.
We need their voice to be heard. We need their messages to be passed on to the policy makers. We need their actions to be integrated in the climate change solution basket to save us and to save the world.
The interviews turned out to be very productive and very interesting raising many questions for global leaders. Those interviewed also expressed their concerns on issues such as vulnerability in developing countries, consumerism in the developed world, climate financing, etc. These voices were uploaded to different channels and the messages were well received by the public.
The grassroots voices from UN Headquarters to the leaders in Copenhagen say: “Seal the Deal, we count on you”.
The GCCV Management Team
This article was written just before the beginning of the Copenhagen Conference. For more information about the work of GCCI, please visit www.gccinitiatives.org
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