AESEDA News :: AESEDA Participation in the 14th Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Poznan, Poland, December 2008
Dr. Petra Tschakert (Assistant Professor of Geography and AESEDA), Katie Dietrich (PhD student in Geography), and Regina Sagoe (visiting student in Geography) participated in the 14th Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, held in Poznan, Poland in December 2008. They represented AESEDA and the Pennsylvania State University with a booth at the Main Exhibit Hall and participated in several side events. Through a poster, they showcased a recently funded NSF project on Anticipatory Learning for Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience (PI Tschakert) involving partners in Ghana and Tanzania. The study assesses and supports iterative, forward-looking ways of learning for climate change adaptation as opposed to the current learning-by-shock approach. Pamphlets were available to share latest approaches and findings from the Climate Change Collective Learning and Observatory Network Ghana (the three-year USAID-funded CCLONG project).
Finally, the three participants introduced learning materials on climate change and adaptation produced by students in an AESEDA course titled "Living on the Margins" that was co-taught by Tschakert and Dr. Robert Crane in the Fall 2008. The learning tools included "Climatching" (a memory-like game for children, produced by Andra Barraclough and Nancy Pazmin), "Farming the Future" (a booklet illustrating decision-making for a farming family in Tanzania, designed by Maureen Biermann and Chelsea Hanchett), "Jomoro: Facing Climate Change" (a methodological guidebook for researchers interested in pursuing community-based climate studies, prepared by Arielle Hesse and Siobhan O'Connor), and a fact sheet on climate change for policy makers in the Kwahu North District of Ghana (by Regina Sagoe and Natsuki Ikeda). These tools can be accessed through Wiki Adapt.
During the side events, Tschakert spoke at a panel organized by Penn State's Rock Ethics Institute on "Ethics in Adaptation Decision-Making: Learning Tools and Tipping Points". She discussed challenges for the implementation of adaptation actions through the newly launched Adaptation Fund. These include the lack of culturally and literacy-sensitive learning tools for adaptation as a socio-cultural process, the overemphasis on measuring and evaluating adaptation rather than supporting flexible decision-making under uncertainty, and unequal and often ineffective solutions in reducing risks that are associated with tipping points of 'dangerous' abrupt climatic changes.
Dietrich was the only representative of research and science on a U.N.-sponsored panel on youth that focused on how actors can compromise to contribute to a collective solution for a post-2012 climate agreement. She noted that adaptation requires a collective and inclusive process and stressed that a compromise must be made on commitments required for adaptation funding.
Finally, Tschakert, Dietrich, and Sagoe participated at the Development and Climate Days, including the presentation of a 10-minute participatory video on the Ghana CCLONG project as part of a two-day film festival. This video depicts the foundations and methodology used in the USAID-sponsored CC LONG project. It shows the project's attempt to build an information exchange structure that brings the science and implications of climate change to a level that is understandable and beneficial to rural stakeholders and policy makers. More specifically, the video introduces team members (University of Ghana and Penn State University) who engage with communities in the Afram Plains and Wenchi and Tain Districts. It also explains methods and activities used to explore livelihood vulnerabilities and currently experienced climate change impacts. A link to the video can be found at http://www.geog.psu.edu/people/tschakert/.
We would like to thank AESEDA for funding our participation in this important policy, science, and application conference.