Climate change communications

Mobile lectures, a mock newsroom tussle between journalists competing for their editor’s attention, and imagining a day in the life of policymakers and poor farmers were just some of the innovative elements of two workshops on climate change communication run by IIED in Zimbabwe in February 2011.

With deforestation and forest degradation being the third largest global contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, forests have an enormous role to play in any attempts to combat climate change. An international scheme called REDD+ (Reduction of Emissions from Deforestation and Forest degradation, conservation, sustainable forest mangement and enhancement of carbon stocks) offers a financial incentive to keep trees standing and reduce global greenhouse emissions. Our workshop on 27 November shared perspectives on how we can make REDD+ deliver for people who depend on the forests.

Development and Climate Days are critical for people interested in learning about the latest in climate change and international development and for building contacts with key policymakers, researchers and negotiators from around the world. Please register to participate in this event.

Negotiators from nearly 200 governments are in Durban, South Africa for crucial talks towards a new global agreement on how to tackle climate change. The fate of the Kyoto protocol – the only agreement that legally binds countries to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases – hangs in the balance, as its first commitment period expires in 2012.

The Fifth International Conference on Community-Based Adaptation (CBA) took place in Dhaka, Bangladesh from Monday, 28 to Thursday, 31 March 2011. Participants, represented NGOs, government, international organisations, and academia. Here are some of the things they had to say.