EVENT
Video | Event series: National Dialogues at crossroads
National Dialogues x Climate Change
Watch our video to learn more about the opportunities and challenges for National Dialogues to contribute to mitigating climate-related social or political crises.
Climate change is regarded by many as the biggest challenge facing humanity today. A great deal of time and energy has rightly been spent trying to identify how to mitigate the physical impacts of climate change. Less time, however, has been dedicated to identifying how to address the social upheaval that will come with it.
At the launch event of the paper “National Dialogues x Climate Change”, we explored whether National Dialogues may be one mechanism to address climate-related social change, mitigate vulnerability and enhance resilience. During the event, experts and practitioners discussed how climate change can act as a catalyst for National Dialogues. Drawing on experiences from Sudan, France and Chile, speakers discussed opportunities and challenges of designing National Dialogues in the context of conflict, energy transition or systems change.
Over the last two decades, National Dialogues have been increasingly recognised as a comprehensive tool for preventing violent conflicts and reaching inclusive political settlements. As nationally-owned political processes aimed at generating consensus among a broad range of national stakeholders, they have the potential to provide societies with a platform to address high-stakes social, political, and economic issues in ways that contribute to short- or long-term transformation. However, questions remain open on how to best integrate certain topics in the design of National Dialogues and how to meaningfully include specific societal groups. The series “National Dialogues at crossroads” aims at addressing this gap. It compiles lessons learned and recommendations on three cross-cutting issues: climate change, digitalisation, and protest movements.
Event series: National Dialogues at crossroads
National Dialogues x Climate Change
24 January 2024
15:30 - 16:30 CET
Online event via Zoom.
This event was held in English.
Opening remarks by Andrew Gilmour, Executive Director, Berghof Foundation
Speakers:
- McKenzie Johnson, Assistant Professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences
- Pauliina Törmä, Political Affairs Officer and former lead on climate change and peace processes at the United Nations Mediation Support Unit
- Nicolás Santa María, former Legal and Political Advisor to the Constitutional Convention in Chile
Moderated by Sonja Neuweiler, Senior Advisor in the Middle East and North Africa Department, Berghof Foundation.
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Florian Lüdtke
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