22/08/2023
The European Euroclima programme supports the involvement of Panamanian citizens in shaping the National Action Strategy for Climate Empowerment
Participatory workshops for citizen consultation
The citizen consultation process of the National Strategy for Climate Empowerment, aimed at promoting citizen participation in the fight against climate change, has started in Panama City.
The consultation, launched by the Ministry of Environment with the support of the European Union’s Euroclima programme, will be carried out through a national workshop and seven regional workshops. More than 600 people representing the national government, regional governments, municipalities, academia, the private sector and the country’s civil society, including representatives of Panama’s indigenous and Afro-descendant peoples, will participate in the workshops.
“We want to deepen and expand the scope of the coalition that we have established in recent years between the government and the citizens of Panama to fight climate change,” said Ligia Castro, Director of Climate Change at the Ministry of Environment of Panama.
“It is impossible for public policies to be successful in the fight against climate change without the involvement of citizens. That is why the Euroclima programme and the FIIAPP are committed to citizen participation and climate empowerment,” said Elsa Velasco, coordinator of the Euroclima programme.
“The EU-Panama cooperation on climate change is part of the Global Gateway Strategy, launched by the EU in 2021 to build more resilient connections and partnerships with the rest of the world to overcome the great challenges of our times,” said Adolfo Campos from the EU Delegation in Panama.
Action for Climate Empowerment is based on six elements: education, training, social awareness, access to information, citizen participation and international cooperation. These elements enable the development of climate competences, a key factor in the global fight against climate change, as ensured by Article 6 of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and Article 12 of the Paris Agreement.
These climate competences are defined as the set of knowledge, skills, practices, motivation, ethical values, attitudes and emotions that enable us to understand the moment of historical crossroads in which humanity finds itself, evaluate the options that exist to face it and act accordingly in an ethical and responsible manner, with the ultimate purpose of moving towards societies that are safe for living beings, resilient and capable of sustaining life as a whole with dignity and rights.
The Euroclima programme has supported the promotion of these climate competences through the development of national Climate Empowerment Action Strategies in several Latin American countries, which Panama now joins with this participatory process.
