Wise Response Mediated Participatory Climate Modelling Workshop
Hi – This is for anyone who might be interested in joining a workshop on “mediated participatory climate change modelling” this Sunday 12 February, 1- 5pm at Forest and Bird Office, 205 Victoria St, Te Aro, Wellington Central. There are a few remaining places and it seems a pity not to fill them if there is the interest. There is no charge.
Attendees
It will be suitable for virtually anyone wanting to know more about climate change and the nature and level of change we would need to make to stay below the 2 degrees above pre-industrial average agreed in Paris (i.e. laypeople, students, educators, consultants, public servants, policy makers, negotiators, politicians etc)
Workshop outline
This will be a participatory workshop run by Dr David Rees and Dr Marjan van den Belt on modelling climate change scenarios. The workshop will be built around “World Climate”, a climate negotiation role-playing exercise that puts people into the role of negotiators at the UN Climate talks. Utilising a computer simulation model of the dynamics of the climate system that has influenced the actual global negotiations, the exercise explores the science and geopolitics of international agreements.
People, as representatives of different countries and country groupings will be able to put forward their commitments and, by using the simulation model, see how they affect future trajectories. The model will also be used to show the impact of current INDCs on global temperature, sea level and other key indices. Building around this core exercise David will:
- Introduce the nature and size of the task confronting us and the effectiveness of mitigation options.
- Provide insight into the role that dynamic simulation models can play in increasing understanding and building consensus.
- Provide insights as to what climate models are available (including ‘micro-models’ that apply more locally), how they have been used by others for wider education purposes.
- Reflect on both the potential and pitfalls of these tools for wider impact through education and consensus-building
Dr David Rees is a founding partner of Synergia and was a Director from 1999 to 2009. He combines his extensive facilitation skills with a range of systems methods to help individuals and groups better understand the complex systems within which they live and work, and their ability to design effective systems that effect change. Working with public and private sector clients both here and overseas, and in universities, David utilises qualitative systems methods and quantitative simulation models to guide his consulting and research work in the areas of health, social services and energy sustainability.
A/Prof Marjan van den Belt is Assistant Vice-Chancellor (Sustainability) at Victoria University. She is an Ecological Economist and recent participatory research projects focussed on shifting conversations by making visible the (investable) benefits people get from ecosystems if we work with ecosystems rather than undermining their capacity to function properly. This applies to cities, rivers, oceans and coastal zones as well as the atmosphere. Marjan has build several energy models and wrote a text book on ‘mediated/participatory modelling’.
Registration
Everyone who wishes to attend needs to confirm their place by emailing me at <dugald@es.co.nz> no later than Saturday evening. An alternative is to video link in on skype in which case we would need a skype address.
Sir Alan Mark and Dugald MacTavish (Tel 03 439 4824)
(For Wise Response Inc)
