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Contact:
St. Lucia National Trust
Saturday, September 26, 2009 -38 countries in 6 continents participated
in the first-ever global citizen consultation: World Wide Views on Global
Warming. The topic was global climate change policies and the message from
the citizens to the political negotiators was clear: We do not have time to wait
any longer!
In Saint Lucia the citizens spent Saturday at Spinners in Castries, where the
meeting took place. The citizens answered the same questions as they did in all
the other countries that participated. One of the clearest statements from all
countries deals with urgency: 90% of the citizens answered that it is urgent
that the political leaders reach a global agreement at COP15.
Ms. Connie Hedegaard, host of COP15 and Danish Minister of Climate and Energy,
says:” World Wide Views has given us politicians a unique insight into the views
of ordinary citizens from all corners of the world on the climate crisis. It is
a strong signal to the politicians, when citizens all over the world agree that
action is urgent. It underlines the importance of reaching an ambitious
agreement in Copenhagen this December.”
Drastic Demands from Citizens to CO2 Reductions
In all types of countries, rich and poor as well as new growth economies, there
is a majority in favour of a higher level of ambition regarding CO2 reductions
than what you see in current political discussions.
Currently, politicians aim for short-term CO2 reductions of less than 25%, but a
significant majority of the citizen participants in rich countries and growth
economies say that they themselves should reduce emissions by 25-40% or more.
The same tendency can be seen with regards to the questions of how much the
global temperature should be allowed to increase; politicians talk about setting
the limit at maximum 2 degrees Celsius. However, 52% of the citizens want to set
the limit at a lower level.
World Wide Views on Global Warming is the first global citizen
consultation, and the Saint Lucia National Trust organised the Saint Lucian
meeting. Citizens responded to 12 questions on future climate policy, and all
results, both national and global, are available on
www.wwviews.org,
including the recommendations of the citizens. In Saint Lucia the top
recommendation to the politicians read: “Make green technology more
affordable in order to reduce dependence on fossil fuels, and educate the public
on the urgency of reducing one’s carbon footprint”.
In the forthcoming weeks, the global result from the 38 citizen meetings will be
further analyzed and published in a report, which will be handed over to
politicians on November 19, 2009.
See all the results on
www.wwviews.org
See photos and videos from the participating countries on
http://teknologiraad.surfoffice.eu/
(Username: WWVpress, password: 269pressDown)
For any further information please contact:
Saint Lucia National Trust
Tel: 1-758- 452-5005
Email: advocacy@slunatrust.org
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