Agenda Item: ATCM 13, CEP 5 Presented by: An Antarctic Climate Change Communication Plan

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1 IP Agenda Item: ATCM 13, CEP 5 Presented by: Original: ASOC English An Antarctic Climate Change Communication Plan 1

3 An Antarctic Climate Change Communication Plan Summary The Antarctic Treaty Meeting of Experts on Implications of Climate Change for Antarctic Management and Governance held in Norway in April, 2010 recommended that the ATCM consider developing an Antarctic climate change communication plan to bring the findings of the SCAR s Antarctic Climate Change and Environment report to the attention of other decision makers, the general public and the media [Recommendation 2]. At ATCM XXXIII, delegates agreed to give full consideration to this and other recommendations at ATCM XXXIV. In this paper, ASOC provides a draft communication plan to help bring this recommendation forward to reality. 1. Introduction Thirty recommendations were produced at the Antarctic Treaty Meeting of Experts on Implications of Climate Change for Antarctic Management and Governance (Svolvær, Norway, April 2010). Some of these recommendations were reviewed comprehensively at ATCM XXXIII (Punta del Este, Uruguay, May 2010). Parties at ATCM XXXIII agreed that the recommendations that were not given full consideration should be considered in the following year at ATCM XXXIV (ATCM XXXIII final report, para. 421). In this paper, ASOC focuses on the need to discuss and implement the following recommendation: Recommendation 2: The ATME recommends that the ATCM considers developing an Antarctic climate change communication plan to bring the findings of the Antarctic Climate Change and Environment (ACCE) report to the attention of other decision makers, the general public and the media. Giving effect to Climate Change ATME Recommendation 2 is a natural next step to follow: Decision 8 (2009) Letter to UNFCCC; and Resolution 4 (2010) SCAR Antarctic Climate Change and the Environment (ACCE) Report In Decision 8 (2009), the Chair of the ATCM forwarded the ACCE report to the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in light of the relevance of the ACCE report to the work of the UNFCCC. In Resolution 4 (2010) the ATCM welcomed the ACCE report as a first step in compiling a comprehensive assessment of scientific information on the climate system in the Antarctic region and recommended ATCPs to forward copies of the report to their respective departments and agencies engaged in climate change negotiations and to disseminate the findings of the report to the general public and the media. The implementation of ATME Recommendation 2 is the logical next step in disseminating the important information contained in the ACCE report, in demonstrating the importance of Antarctic science in the understanding the implications of change within the Antarctic and Southern Ocean region and how those changes influence change to our global Earth system. 2. How this can be achieved The communication of climate science can be a challenge. Climate science is often highly technical and needs to be simplified without losing the key messages. Demonstrating relevance or newsworthiness to key audiences is also difficult. The challenge lies in distilling down the essence of the science undertaken, the results that have been obtained and the implications of that science for the Antarctic and Southern Ocean region and / or to the global Earth system. Taking it one step further, when addressing both the general public and key government decision makers, communicators need to be able to tell them as simply as possible, what it means for their day-to-day life now and in the future. With this paper, ASOC aims to demonstrate a way ahead and provide impetus for the implementation of Recommendation 2. We provide a draft communication plan for the ACCE targeted at news and social media. The plan is explained in detail in the Annex attached to this paper. The plan focuses on key elements that need to be considered in the communication of Antarctic climate change science. It can be used by a

4 body of communications specialists endorsed by the ATCM and SCAR to communicate the key findings of the ACCE. There are many ways to communicate climate change science. Our draft communications plan serves as a demonstration of the ease of implementing Recommendation 2 from the 2010 climate change ATME. The draft plan will serve as a starting point, but it can be expected that communications specialists will be able to add value to the draft plan in carrying it out. The draft communication plan contains the following components: Goal Communications aim Communications objectives Identification of audience Identification of key messages Identification of mix of communications channels Identification of timeline It has been prepared based on the following assumptions: The ATCM, the AT Secretariat and/or SCAR will be the decision-making bodies: determining who will be responsible for undertaking and executing the communication plan, what to communicate, where resources come from, etc. Additional employment of appropriately skilled communications and media consultants for a short contract period is likely to be needed to complement the lack of communications capacity within the decision-making bodies. External consultants (science communicators) will undertake the execution of the plan under the direction of the decision-making bodies. ASOC would be willing to make its resources available and help develop and implement a communications plan if the decision-making bodies so wish. ASOC s members have had many years in communicating the complications of climate science to the general public and to decision makers. We stand ready to contribute our expertise to bring the findings of the ACCE report to a wider audience. We estimate that employment of two experienced external science communicators for four weeks would facilitate the effective execution of the attached communications plan. One consultant would have expertise working with traditional media (news, press conferences, etc.), while the second consultant s experience would be more focused in working with electronic media. The exact cost will vary depending on the location of the communicators and any events to be organised. As an estimate, it would range from 5,000 to 8,000 Euros. 3. Conclusion Taking action on climate change ATME Recommendation 2 follows from the earlier ATCM Decision 8 (2009) and Resolution 4 (2010). By disseminating the important information contained in the ACCE report, it would add value to SCAR s important report, demonstrate the importance of Antarctic science in the understanding the implications of change within the Antarctic and Southern Ocean region and how those changes influence change to our global Earth system. The draft communication plan annexed to this paper demonstrates the feasibility of meeting ATME climate change Recommendation 2 and only requires the simple endorsement of ATCM XXXIV to be put into action. 4

5 Draft communication plan for SCAR ACCE prepared by ASOC Goal To implement the following recommendation from the Antarctic Treaty Meeting of Experts on Implications of Climate Change for Antarctic management and Governance: Recommendation 2: The ATME recommends that the ATCM considers developing an Antarctic climate change communication plan to bring the findings of the ACCE report to the attention of other decision makers, the general public and the media. Communications Aim By committing to action this communications plan, the ATCM will improve public and media understanding of the climate change impacts in Antarctica and their relevance to the global Earth system and facilitate science based decision making within the international forums tasked with addressing the climate change issue. Core Components of a Communication Plan 1. Identify audience 2. Objectives for each audience 3. Key message(s) for each audience 4. Communications vehicles appropriate for each audience Identify audience For the purposes of this communications plan, the key target audiences will be: 1. Mass Media Science / Environment Journalists 2. Key Social Media Commentators Secondary target audiences will in turn be the general public and key decision makers in governments. If, in executing the plan a good job is done in reaching and motivating action from the primary target audiences, reaching the broader secondary targets will follow. Communications Objectives To bring the findings of the SCAR ACCE report to the attention of other decision makers, the general public and the media. To help encourage support of future investigations of the impacts of climate change in the Antarctic and Southern Ocean region Key messages Key messages are the three or four most important statements linked to the report or scientific findings that are to be communicated. They should communicate both key facts and have resonance with the key media audiences and their readers. Examples (taken from the Executive Summary of the ACCE): Ice shelves in the Antarctic Peninsula have changed rapidly in recent decades. Warming has caused retreat of ice shelves on both sides of the Peninsula. Disappearance of ice shelves has led to the speeding up of glacier flow from inland. Increased warming may lead to West Antarctica making a substantial contribution to global sea level. Models predict that loss of ice from the West Antarctic ice sheet could cause sea level rise of tens of 5

6 centimeters by We cannot yet say with confidence how the large ice sheets of Antarctic will respond, but observed recent rapid changes in West Antarctica give cause for concern. Continued ocean warming and expanded tourism and scientific activity may lead to the wider establishment of non-indigenous species by 2100, and consequent possible reduction or extinction of some local species. Emperor penguins and other ice-dependent species depend on the sea-ice habitat to complete their life cycle and are already responding to sea ice change. A significant decline in sea ice is likely to affect their populations, and may lead to true Antarctic species being displaced by immigrating sub-antarctic species in low latitude areas. The absence of wide latitudinal and environmental gradients around the Antarctic continent minimises the advantage of migration for survival. Depending on the scientific findings to be communicated it may be important to both repeat some key messages, and introduce new messages as the project evolves for example, when an update of the initial findings are set to be released. This will depend on the material to be communicated, which in turn will be based on the content of the SCAR ACCE and any updates to that report. Communication vehicles Communication vehicles include: Media releases Are 1-2 page texts, traditionally used by most communications professionals to disseminate information to the press about a story. Web postings Websites of relevant organizations need to be updated with the information that is being disseminated to the media. Some of these websites include: those of the AT Secretariat, SCAR, National Antarctic Programs, relevant research institutes and research funding agencies. Social media posts Are short stories or key facts specially developed to be disseminated over the internet. They are often written in more colloquial language. The most relevant social media posts of the information to be communicated by this plan will be blogs that can be posted on key social media web sites. Events / Press Conference Stories can be sent out to coincide with major events. o Events can be scheduled and organised by other organisations, e.g., the o Conference of Parties of the UNFCCC; or Events can be scheduled and organised by the ATCM or the Secretariat or SCAR or the bodies endorsed to execute the communication plan, e.g., press conference in order to attract large numbers of relevant media. Feature Stories These types of news stories often appear in the more important daily newspapers. Often they form part of special weekly sections dealing with specific issues or are part of the larger weekend papers and news magazines. They are developed by key journalists with expertise or experience in reporting on scientific issues in advance of an actual media release. These key journalists receive advance briefings about the upcoming stories in return for exclusivity of coverage of the issue in their media market. Timeline Below a typical timeline is provided independent of specific dates that provides a step by step overview of the key tasks that would need to be undertaken to execute this communications plan. Week 1 Scientific communicators assess key scientific findings for importance and newsworthiness, basing their decisions on what scientific information to present on what they believe will resonate with the target audience(s). 6

7 Week 2 The scientific communicators then develop key stories based on the decisions made about what the most important and newsworthy scientific findings are. These stories are formatted into communications formats such as media releases, media packs, blogs etc. Supporting material for the stories is also compiled and can include audio and visual material, the specific scientific papers that support the findings, etc. Week 3 Final approvals are sought from relevant authorities on the stories that have been developed. This could include the approval of the Secretariat as well as the approval of SCAR to ensure the scientific content of the stories that have been developed is correctly represented. Advance briefings on the stories that have been developed are provided to key journalists by the scientific communications consultants. This can include working with key journalists to develop larger feature stories for their respective publications. Week 4 The developed communications stories and associated materials are circulated to key journalists and social media. If necessary, the scientific communications consultants follow up with key journalists to ensure their receipt of the stories. A report is prepared by the scientific communications consultants on the effectiveness of the media activity. Such a report is based on the level of pick up of the stories within the key media channels that the stories were provided to. Media relations and contacts A list of media relations and contacts will be developed to target individual countries, cities and audiences. 7

Requests for Reconsideration of Library Materials 2011 Annual Report

STAFF REPORT ACTION REQUIRED 22. Requests for Reconsideration of Library Materials 2011 Annual Report Date: June 25, 2012 To: From: Toronto Public Library Board City Librarian SUMMARY The purpose of this