The participatory meeting aims to enrich the preparation of a National Strategy that consolidates awareness-raising, training, and public participation with respect to the climate agenda.
Buenos Aires, 8 October 2021 - The First Climate Empowerment Action week of Argentina took place on 4, 5, 6 and 7 October, with the participation of representatives from various ministries of the country - Education, Culture, Labour, Employment and Social Security, Women, Gender and Diversity, Foreign Affairs, International Trade and Culture, and Leadership of the Cabinet of Ministers -, different sectors of civil society, and the collaboration of the EUROCLIMA+ programme through the International and Ibero-America Foundation for Administration and Public Policy. The sessions were introduced by specialists in some of the areas covered by the 6 dimensions of ACE in the UNFCCC - education, awareness raising, training, public access to information and citizen participation.
The objective of the meeting was to promote debate with all stakeholders - public institutions, academia, workers, civil society, representatives of political parties, trade unions, municipalities, indigenous communities, the private sector, among others - on how national climate policy should be structured with respect to Action for Climate Empowerment. At the same time, it sought to investigate how different actors and sectors can collaborate in the design and inclusion of this issue in the National Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation Plan, the Long-Term Low Emission Development Strategy, and the National Strategy on Action for Climate Empowerment.
The second NDC of the Republic of Argentina, submitted in 2020 to the UNFCCC, reflects a balanced treatment and substantive improvement in the basic pillars of action against climate change. In this regard, the fulfilment, strengthening and solidity of the measures designed are linked to entities for articulation, debate, and reflection among various actors, both thematic and territorial. This shows the need to promote public policies linked to the components of Action for Climate Empowerment (ACE), in order to achieve the country's vision for the year 2030, with a vision extended to 2050 considering the commitment to carbon neutrality established by the Republic of Argentina during 2020.
In the first session, dedicated to Education - ACE component, Yayo Herrero, ACE expert in FIIAPP / EUROCLIMA+, presented the general framework of the ecosocial crisis in which we find ourselves, as well as the urgency of the call for the mobilisation of the population to act against climate change. Yayo outlined the concept of climate competences that are being developed in the framework of the advisory work for the programme. Also held was a workshop on ACE in International Cooperation, moderated by Fátima Andrade, FIIAPP technician, with the participation of Johanna Arriagada presenting the Chilean experience in the development of its Capacity Development and Climate Empowerment Strategy, also accompanied by the programme through FIIAPP, and Adriana Vásquez who presented the first conclusions of the work initiated for ACE in Costa Rica.
On the second day, dedicated to Citizen Participation and Public Access to Information, there was an intervention from Yago Bermejo, expert on citizen participation involved in transnational deliberation processes such as the Global Assembly for Climate Emergency or the Citizens' Panels of the Future of Europe Conference, presented the processes of accompaniment for the implementation of the Climate Assemblies
Training was the closing element of this SACE and included the intervention of Heike Freire, an education expert and main figure in the "Green Pedagogy" trend, who presented this approach as a necessary tool for approaching environmental education with a new look. Finally, Federico Buyolo, Director General High Commissioner Office for the 2030 Agenda between 2018 and 2020, and current Deputy Director of the Cabinet of the Minister of Education and Vocational Training of Spain, participated with a presentation entitled “Talking about new approaches to environmental education”. For him, empowering citizens requires four elements: informing about the reality, because in order to solve the problem we must know the problem; culture as an instrument for the transformation of reality through the development of new narratives; guaranteeing the economic sustainability of individuals, so that the changes do not put them at risk; and acting with coherence.
In addition, daily workshops were held that have provided valuable inputs for the preparation of the future National ACE Strategy in Argentina; the definition of its elements, a mapping of initiatives that are already underway or of actors, will be some of the contributions.
About EUROCLIMA+
EUROCLIMA+ is a programme funded by the European Union to promote environmentally sustainable and climate-resilient development in 18 Latin American countries, particularly for the benefit of the most vulnerable populations. The Programme is implemented under the synergistic work of seven agencies: the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID), the French Development Agency (AFD), the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ), Expertise France (EF), the International and Ibero-America Foundation for Administration and Public Policy (FIIAPP), and UN Environment.
Contact:
Daniel Fernández · This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Day 1:Education
Day 2: Citizen Participation and Public Access to the Information
Day 3: Raising Awareness
Day 4:Training