Community members from across the state will gather in Sydney this week for the NSW Community Climate Summit - a unique forum where people from all walks of life will discuss their views on climate change and contribute to government decision making.
“The first of its kind in NSW, the summit will provide an opportunity for everyday Australians to discuss our response to the critical issue of climate change and deliver recommendations to the NSW Government,” Summit Organiser from the Nature Conservation Council of NSW, Marnie Kikken said.
“The NSW Deputy Premier and Minister for Climate Change and the Environment, Carmel Tebbutt, will open the summit and will receive the community recommendations after the event. The NSW Government has committed to considering the recommendations in the development of its NSW Climate Change Action Plan, due for release in mid-2009.
“Over the two days summit participants will hear from a range of expert speakers, engage in interactive panel sessions and enter a number of small group deliberations to arrive at a set of recommendations for the NSW Government on how we should respond to climate change.
”Community participants come from a variety of backgrounds, professions and interests.
Using deliberative democracy, a variety of recruitment methods and ABC data was used to invite 90 largely non-aligned community members to the summit, who closely match the NSW community demographic in relation to age, gender and residential location in NSW. This means the recommendations of the summit can be considered reflective of the NSW community view.
“It’s not often people get the opportunity to be part of grassroots, democratic deliberations that will have the ear of the government,” Ms Kikken said.
Summitpanellists will include:
Dr Peter L. Smith, Manager, Climate Change Science, DECC NSW
Dr Gabrielle Kuiper, Sustainability Manager, Investa Property Group
Geoff Evans, University of Newcastle
Sue Lennox, Co- Founder and CEO, OzGREEN Australia
Simon Smith, Deputy Director-General, Climate Change, Policy and Programs, DECC
Dr Mark Diesendorf, Deputy Director Institute of Environmental Studies, UNSW
Emma Synnott, Senior Sustainability Consultant, Arup Sustainability Australia
Dr Peter Burn, Associate Director, Public Policy, Australian Industry Group
NSW Community Climate Summit (Redfern Town Hall)
- Introductory evening: Thursday 19 February (6.00pm – 8.30pm)
- Summit: Friday 20 and Saturday 21 February (9.00am – 5.00pm)
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Opening address by NSW Deputy Premier: Friday 20 February at 9am
