A Future International Interactive Website to Address Climate Change and Engage the Public Announced by the Chief Scientist. (November 16, 2010)

Speaking from the Governors' Global Climate Summit 3 in California Australia's Chief Scientist, Professor Penny Sackett, noted that while the effect of human activities on climate is a
global issue, that resultant impacts vary regionally, along with the means and abilities of different communities to act and adapt. To help address this issue an initiative is being undertaken that is intended to place "an interactive, science-based tool into the hands of citizens around the world so that, for the first time ever, they can find answers to their own questions about the impact of global greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) on their own local communities.

An international partnership is being undertaken by "the best climate scientists and social experts in the world, including from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany" to deliver scientifically sound information through an "interface that is user-friendly and user-centric.

Professor Sackett:

  Citizens want to know how emissions affect their local climate, environment and community, and how their actions make a difference in their region and to others around the world. To help citizens answer these and other questions, we are creating a web-based tool that will empower citizens, businesses and governments around the globe to explore the impacts of climate change in their own region and how these effects are related to different emissions trajectories. The web tool has the potential to link top-down global knowledge and national policy with bottom-up local knowledge and community action networks in a positive and productive way - a unique partnership between scientists, citizens and local governments around the globe to produce benefit for all.

Click to watch the short video

The utility of the website is seen to be its potential "to link top-down global knowledge and national policy with bottom-up local knowledge and community action networks in a positive and productive way - a unique partnership between scientists, citizens and local governments around the globe to produce benefit for all".