World Wide Views on Global Warming

Newsletter 1, Australia

Monday, 24 August 2009

On the web

You can check in for all the latest here on the web: http://wwviews.org.au. We’ll be putting information for participants and facilitators on the site, plus media releases, and more.

We’re also embracing Web 2.0 for this event, so you can follow us on twitter to receive short messages leading up to the event www.twitter.com/wwviews_oz. This is an adjunct to the more traditional media relations and communications channels.

Circulate our news!

We will be sending you several updates between now and the big day, and using it to provide a wrap-up after the event. If you know someone else in your organisation or networks who you think might like to receive this update please send their name and email address to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . If you would like to stop receiving this newsletter please reply with the message “unsubscribe.”

Participant update

Recruitment of randomly selected citizens has been taking place over the past few weeks. Participant recruitment is nearly finished and has been very successful. From the pool of interested people, the project team will be making the final participant selection this week to reflect the diversity of the Australian population. Look out next week for news on the final numbers and where they’re coming from.

Global context

In December, Australia will join world leaders in Copenhagen at the biggest international summit on climate change yet, twelve years after the Kyoto Protocol was adopted worldwide to make a first attempt at emissions cuts. The decisions made by negotiators at this United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 15) will influence the everyday lives of people right across the world.

This is the first-ever global citizen engagement. Nations represented in World Wide Views include all the major players in climate change politics and many of the world’s more populous nations. The results of the discussions will consider the crucial decisions being taken in Copenhagen, forming a link between citizens and their negotiators.

World Wide Views on Global Warming is a global public consultation project initiated by the Danish Government to empower ordinary citizens to have a voice at the negotiations. We agree that ordinary citizens should get to have their say!

Government support

The World Wide Views Australia project has received a letter of support from Hon. Penny Wong, Minister for Climate Change and Water, saying that “the opportunity for community to find a voice in UNFCCC negotiation process is a valuable one” and that “through community consultations … national governments have a valuable opportunity to directly access the climate change concerns and aspirations of the communities they represent.” The Victorian Government’s Department of Sustainability and Environment is also a supporting sponsor.

The team

The team members are listed below, phone numbers and emails are listed on our contacts page.

Confirmed sponsors

Thank you for your generous support of this initiative. We are thrilled to see the private sector and NGO partners supporting the concept of giving citizens a say in the international climate negotiations.

Major Sponsor and Australian WWViews Partner: University of Technology, Sydney

Platinum Sponsor: PriceWaterhouseCoopers

Supporting Sponsors: National Australia Bank, WWF, Victorian Government

And with our thanks to Auspoll and Accor hotels for their support of the project.

Next newsletter

Stay tuned for updates on who has volunteered to facilitate the event; where our participants are coming from; which other countries world wide have signed up to run a WWViews event and how the results will shared.